Internal vs. External Plot, and Achieving the Perfect Balance

The term “plot” tends to bring to mind one thing: the action of a story. It’s the doing of a character rather than the thinking of a character. Some of the earliest stories, fairy tales, are completely plot-driven; and there’s the problematic yet everlasting debate between the superiority between “literary” fiction and “genre” fiction that stems from either the characters or the plots ruling the story.

As it turns out, this divide isn’t so simple. Story, like everything else, is effectively created from dualities that rely on each other in a symbiotic relationship; in this case, it’s the characters and the plot that must work together. (And, if you’re like me, you might also come to the conclusion that plot and character are the same things.) Action is created by character, which then affects that character and others, which then promotes more action (and reaction). Therefore, it stands to reason that both of these types of plots must be balanced in a way that creates tension, promotes conflict, and keeps the reader engaged.

We’ll cover—

• Defining internal plot & external plot
• The “Page-Two” Move, or too much thinking
• Info-hoarding, or too much action
• How to balance internal and external plot to move your story forward
• Strategy for balancing your plotlines

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Defining internal plot & external plot

Internal Plot refers to the emotional/mental journey of your characters: the progress of their motives, ideologies, and personal relationships. You might also know this as your character’s journey.

External Plot refers to the physical journey of your characters: the events they witness as well as their actions which lead to more events. This is what we traditionally call plot.

The challenge to balancing these plots is giving your reader enough information about your characters’ motives, ideologies, and personal relationships without distracting from the present action (the dreaded “info dump,” or as an old mentor described it, the “page-two move”).

*Note: for the purpose of this post, we’re focusing solely on main characters, i.e. the characters whose journey we follow every step, and every chapter, and every word.

The Page-Two Move, aka the Info Dump: Too Much Internal Plot

Contrary to what the title of this move states, it can happen on any page, not just the second. Most also know this as the “info dump,” where the writer pauses the present narrative in order to provide background information about the character or the world they live in.

It’s hard to avoid, too: At some point, you’re going to have to pause to explain something a character says or does; your readers need to understand their history, motives, and how they came to this system of ideologies in the first place. The readers need to understand who the character is and where they come from in order for their present journey and decisions to make sense.

It’s also why I promote utilizing the page-two move while drafting (but this must be removed, I must emphasize, during revision). Because you, the author, need to know the information as much as your readers do, and because you can always edit it out later.

Info-Hoarding: Too Much External Plot

There’s another type of writer: one who doesn’t explain things at all. Instead, in their initial draft, they drop important information—a “truth bomb,” so to speak—and then they move on without much fanfare. Or they don’t even offer that much.

I understand the urge for this: by not providing background information, you’re not in danger of the page-two move. Besides, revealing information about your characters slowly serves to heighten tension, and the right build-up of tension is key for an explosive conflict later in the novel.

However, not providing your readers with particular information can also be a gimmick: your characters know something your reader doesn’t, and it creates a barrier to your reader’s understanding of character motive, i.e. why they help a certain character, why they act in certain ways

Balancing Internal and External Plot: Moving Forward, Not Back

So here’s the question: How much information about a character is too much information, and how do you decide when to tell the reader what?

It’s a confusing question for a confusing stage of editing. And, unfortunately, there’s no formula. The amount of information you reveal—and when—relies solely on the unique rhetorical situation of your novel.

In a previous post, I discussed strategies for developmental editing, one of which was to make a timeline of character motives; i.e. map out your novel by event, and then track how your main character(s) are affected by each external event (for example, considering how your character feels after committing murder, witnessing murder, and hearing about a murder from a third-party).

Using this timeline of character motive, you have a chance to focus on identifying not only the character’s motives, but also how those motives change over time, which is crucial for understanding the events in your novel, the pacing of information vs. action, and the balance of internal and external plot.

PS: the writing tip of “show, don’t tell” is also immensely important to remember in balancing info-dumps with action. However, there comes a time and a place where the writer needs to tell, particularly when it comes to longer works. Don’t worry, we’ll look at this in a future blog post.

Balancing Your Plotlines: A Strategy

Here’s an exercise for you to consider:

1. Make a list of your characters, from most-important (i.e. your main character/protagonist) to least-important (side characters and those who only show up a handful of times). Essentially, you’re prioritizing your characters’ roles.
2. Under each character, create a list of motives, making sure to include details on where those motives came from and what kinds of ideologies they’re related to (as well as where those ideologies come from). Think of it like a motive family-tree.
3. Now, look just at character motives. Organize those by priority as well, i.e. determine which of these motives has the most effect on the plot vs the least. And here’s where it gets tricky: it can sometimes help to look at these motives scene-by-scene, because motive can differ depending on whether a character is making decisions that will impact a personal relationship, an academic standing, the fate of the world, etc. This is where that timeline of motives comes in handy (because you’ll have already done these three steps.
4. Now, consider this: what does the reader need to know in order for the next scene, dialogue, etc. to make sense? Only tell your reader that much, being aware that you can expand on this information later, and only as that expanded information is needed.

Your novel is literally unfolding as you read/write. Think about your story as a folded up piece of paper: when it’s at its smallest, you can’t fit everything the reader needs to know. But as you unfold, there’s more room, and more room, and so the story grows.

Think about context clues: we can infer a lot about a word we don’t know based on the other words around it. The same goes for plot and character: you can leave a little mystery, so long as the reader can infer what they need to know from what you’ve given them.

I like to even give my creative writing students this dreadful anecdote: writing fiction isn’t all that different from writing an academic paper. When you write an academic paper, there are moments where you need to provide context and definitions so the reader understands what you’re talking about later on.

This is the same reason why the beginning of a novel is so important, and why not telling your readers enough is just as dangerous as telling them too much. The reader needs enough information about the current, or starting, state of your main character, so as they change, those changes are logical.

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Whenever I’ve been faced with the question of whether I prefer character-driven stories or plot-driven stories, I can never give a straight answer. characters and plot cannot be pulled apart because of the intricacies of how they affect each other, and how every action by a character creates a web that connects them to more characters—and more actions. Change one, and you change an entire character.

To me, it’s what makes storytelling beautiful, because of the way it mimics our reality while also offering that escape.

Tell me: How do you consider the relationship between character and plot? Let me know in the comments below!

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