Plot is arguably the most important element of fiction writing craft and the most poorly understood. It’s barely taught in MFA programs, and conventional wisdom segments momentum from literary merit, holding that books are either plot driven or character driven, as if the thing that is called “plot” is wholly separate from “people.” Join critically acclaimed and nationally best-selling novelist Emma Copley Eisenberg for a three-session exploration of plot as a holistic approach to writing, that ineffable thing that grips a reader and holds them inside a story instead of reading a different book, watching TV, or doing the dishes. Through reading and discussion of novels that use plot in three different but highly successful ways, short lectures, and craft exercises, participants will come away with tangible insights into the workings of plot that they can apply to their own projects.

Towards (Really) Understanding Plot in Fiction | Led by Emma Copley Eisenberg