Plot: The plot consists of the events that happen in the story. In a plot you typically find an introduction, rising action, a climax, the falling action, and a resolution. Plot is often represented as an arc. To learn about plot in detail, read the article: “What is a Plot.” 4. Rules of the Game Summary. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Plot Summary of “Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.

This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

This page is not considered a Wikipedia guideline on Wikipedia, but MOS:PLOT and MOS:FAIR USE are. Whenever possible, the guidelines should be followed. But most importantly, the point is that plot summaries shouldn't swamp an article. This ispolicy.

As explained in Wikipedia:Plot-only description of fictional works, an encyclopedia article about a work of fiction frequently includes a concise summary of the plot. The description should be thorough enough for the reader to get a sense of what happens and to fully understand the impact of the work and the context of the commentary about it. On the other hand, however, the plot summary must be concise because Wikipedia's coverage of works of fiction should be about more than just the plot. Plot summaries that are too long and too detailed can also be hard to read and are just as unhelpful as those that are too short. Finding the right balance requires careful editorial discretion and discussion.

The objective of a plot summary

The objective point of a plot summary is to condense a large amount of information into a short, accessible format. It is not to reproduce the experience of reading or watching the story, nor to cover every detail. For those who have not read or seen the story, it should serve as a general overview that fills in on the major points. For those who have, it should be detailed enough to refresh their memory, no more.

What plot summaries are not

A plot summary is not a recap. It should not cover every scene and every moment of a story. A website like Television Without Pity was a great resource, but we're not doing the same thing that it was, and we shouldn't follow its lead on summaries. However, we should be sure to use the best source available for summaries. This is a case where secondary summaries may not be appropriate—a summary of a summary is less likely to be useful.

Not only should a plot summary avoid a scene-by-scene recap, but there's also no reason that a plot summary has to cover the events of the story in the order in which they appear (though it is often useful). The point of a summary is not to reproduce the experience—it's to explain the story. If the original is nonlinear or experimental in its structure, then the article should state that fact in prose, not through regurgitation of the plot.^[1] In fact, for a confusing story, we should assume that some of our readers will look the story up because they didn't understand it. Just repeating what they have already seen is unlikely to help them.

Do not attempt to re-create the emotional impact of the work through the plot summary. Wikipedia is not a substitute for the original.^[2]

How are plot summaries used on Wikipedia?

A plot summary is generally used to provide a concise description of the work in question, to allow the reader to understand the discussion related to that plot, and to illustrate points within an article. Where a specific plot point has been commented upon by academics or the media, it is necessary to describe that plot point.

Ways of organizing a plot summary

The most common organization of a plot section is generally a self-contained section (designated by Plot or sometimes Synopsis ). By convention, story plots are written in the narrative present—that is, in the present tense, matching the way that the story is experienced.^[3] Provide a comprehensive plot summary. For articles that do not have a dedicated cast section, as key characters are introduced in the plot of a film or play with a known cast, list the actors' names in parentheses after them, Character (Actor), where applicable. If it makes the plot much easier to explain, events can be reordered; for instance, a backstory revealed later in a novel can be put first, or an in medias res opening scene of a film can be described where it would occur later. A nonchronological narrative structure can be made chronological; for some works of this nature, the original nonchronological structure of the plot is of interest to commentators, such as for Pulp Fiction or Memento. In these cases, it can be useful to include a brief out-of-universe summary to explain how the nonchronological narrative is presented in the work before presenting the chronological summary. Plot summaries should be written from the real world perspective by referring to specific works or parts of works ('In the first book', 'In Act II') or describing things from the author or creator's perspective ('The author introduces', 'The story describes'). This gives the summary a more grounded tone and makes it more accessible to those unfamiliar with the source material.

This section may contain commentary on the work, as in Candide, though this is not required and great care must be taken to avoid original research. For example, to describe an alleged deficiency in a plot as a 'gaping plot hole' expresses an opinion that cannot be included in Wikipedia as if it were an established fact; it requires attribution to a source. In general, commentary is better suited to a Themes or Reception section.

What to cut

Michelangelo is said to have created David by 'taking a block of marble and cutting away everything that was not David'. Writing a plot summary is a similar process—you take a long work, and you cut out as much as possible. The question is, what do you cut?

The basic structure of many narrative plots includes a lengthy middle section during which characters repeatedly get in and out of trouble on their way to the climactic encounter. Most episodes of Doctor Who, for instance, involve the main characters getting captured and escaping repeatedly in the middle portion of the adventure. Although such events are exciting to watch, they often clutter a plot summary with excessive and repetitive detail. Cutting less important ones can make the plot summary tighter and easier to understand.

Necessary detail, however, must be maintained. A summary of Odyssey as 'Odysseus, returning home from the Trojan War, has many adventures which he uses his wits to escape until he reunites with his wife and kills the men who were trying to take over his kingdom' would omit almost all of the important passages and confuse the readers. Even though they may know how the Odyssey ends, it's hard to say that they understand the work well enough to appreciate its context and impact.

However, the Odyssey contains various scenes where people recount myths to each other, and other such scenes of little importance to the main plot. If most of these get left out, or mainly consist of a sentence or two, that is not a problem, and helps keep the focus on the main story. In works less vital to the foundations of academia and the founding of the Western literary tradition, even more detail could safely be left out as unimportant, including entire lengthy subplots.

The three basic elements of a story are plot, character and theme. Anything that is not necessary for a reader's understanding of these three elements, or is not widely recognized as an integral or iconic part of the work's notability, should not be included in the story.

A Plot Summary