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Literature vocabulary · Plot and Structure

Plot development

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounCommon term

In literature, plot development means: The way a story's events are built, connected, and expanded from beginning to end.

In Turkish: olay örgüsünün gelişimi

How it is used

Used in literary analysis, teaching, and editing to discuss pacing, cause and effect, tension, and how scenes move the story forward.

Example sentences

  1. The report praises the play's plot development, noting that each courtroom scene adds pressure instead of repeating the same dispute.

    Here, the term refers to the effective progression of events, especially how scenes increase tension and move the action onward.

  2. During peer review, we suggested cutting two pages because they slow plot development without deepening the sister's decision.

    In this example, plot development means the forward movement and shaping of the storyline, not just any description or background detail.

Common collocations

  • plot development in the novel
  • slow plot development
  • effective plot development
  • plotThe series of connected events in a story and the way the writer arranges them, especially how one event causes another.
  • conflictThe struggle between opposing forces in a story, such as two characters, a character and society, or a character and their own desires, which drives the plot.

More terms: Plot and Structure

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