Plot and Story - What's the difference?

This is my understanding of what I gleaned from the various confusing resources on internet. You are free to form your own conclusion.

Let me give an example from 'Aspects of the novel' by Somerset Maugham to explain it. (I have not read the book. I have just read from a site which cites the book)

The king died. Then the queen died. --example of story
The king died and then the queen died of grief -- example of plot.

An Indian example would be

Ravana abducted Sita. Rama took the help of Sugriva and invaded Lanka. They killed Ravana and brought back Sita -- Example of Story.
Ravana abducted Sita because he fell for her beauty. Rama while searching for Sita met Sugriva. He pledged his support to sugriva against his brother Vaali if he would help in finding Sita. Rama killed Vaali and Sugriva became the king. Sugriva's army fanned across the country in search of Sita. Hanuman found Sita. Rama and the monkey army invaded Lanka and killed Ravana and brought home Sita. -- Example of plot.

Well, what is the difference between plot and story.
In a story, we talk about the events that happen in chronological order. We focus on what happens after what.
In a plot, we talk about why the events happen. Why did Ravana abduct Sita? Why did Rama help Sugriva? We focus on what thrusts the story forward.
This is the basic difference.

Story comes first. Then comes plot. Always.
An absorbing plot will make an ordinary story a good read. But not a great read. For that, you need to work on the story.

Short Story - Tips to an aspiring writer:Start with your story.

I vaguely remember starting my first story with the below lines
"It was midnight on a new moon day. She was alone in the street."

I was probably twelve or thirteen then. I didn't like the opposites, night and day, coming in the same sentence. Apart from that, I was convinced that it is how my story should start. In

fact, I spent quiet a time trying to figure out the intelligent clues that the detective would have to eventually find. I don't know how far I proceeded. But suffice it to say, I don't remember

anything of the story but for the first line I penned in my notebook.

The mistake I made is, instead of finding a story I could tell, I started out with a story I wish I could tell.
Many of us do that mistake. City dweller writing about the pleasures of living in a village. Software engineer in Bangalore writing about the harsh life of the people in the fringe of the

society. Powered by their imagination, they do depict a true picture. But limited by their experience, they fail in producing a true insight.

At the other end of spectrum, many people positively believe that there is nothing in their life that is worth telling.
You should read Chetan Bhagat. He started his literary life with a story on college life in IIT. It was so successful that it spawned an even more successful movie! Now there is a

commercially viable genre called IIT/IIM/college campus story as can be seen in the slew of novels that have come out since chetan bhagat.

This is one reason why I don't like many of the exercises they give in the creative writing workshops or creative writing groups. They give a starting line of the story. Or they give a

situation or a theme and then to ask you to write about. It has its merits: It would get everyone started, it would give a homogeneous platform for comparison, contrasting and feedback.
But I always find it constraining and and invariably find tweaking the story that occupies my mind right then to the stated line or theme.

My tip to aspiring writer is: Let the story, at least the first few ones, be rooted in your experience.

Short Story - Read this before you write one OR Three rules of great writing

For Sale: Baby shoes. Never Worn.

As short story goes this is one of the shortest. And one of the best. Don't go by my word. Ernst Hemingway, who penned it by the way, claimed to be his best. So, there you go.

The first rule in short story is - Make it as short as possible. But not any shorter.
The above story follows it to the hilt. It does not waste any words in describing the shoes or the seller or anything else. It goes for the jugular straight. You should try to keep the words to

a minimum as well.

The second one in short story is - Begin right at the beginning. Not a tad earlier
The story starts with the information about a sale. Not when the shoes were bought. Not when the unfortunate mishap hapenned, if it did happen. They are not the correct beginnings.

They may be, for some other story. But not this one. You should put the reader in the in the middle of the things right in the beginning. Don't go for a prologue where you ramble about

the weather.

The third one in short story is - Hold that punch till the end.
There is no story after 'Never worn'. A mediocre writer would have added some dead words at the end. But not hemingway. He knows when he has given all the details needed. From

then on he leaves the reader to wonder, to figure out. Try not to give away too much too early in your story. The reader will feel disappointed when he finishes the story. At the same

time be careful not to introduce an unexpected twist in the end just because you have to. Then the reader will feel insulted! The ending should take the reader by surprise, but at the

same time he should also feel that it was a probable ending. Not easy, isn't it? Who said it is?

Four tips that will keep you in good stead

Tip 1: Write. Write regularly.

Lots of people say that they have some good ideas and want to write about it too. Atleast, as a blog. But they don't have time, they lamely add. Well, How many times have you heard of the phrase, 'Ideas are dime a dozen'. You figure it out.

You go to work 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month and 12 months a year. You need to if you have to hold a job. And so should you write regularly if you intend to make anything out of it.

Writing is lot like working in that sense.


Tip 2: Have a ball.

Few have written a couple of short stories and then have stopped because they dont see it going anywhere. 'Well, what is the point? Its not that publishers are queueing up in front of my house, anyway.' is their logic.

You have played street cricket as a kid, right? Do you remember the day the when the older boys took you in to their team the first time? As the last player to bat. Do you? Did you quit playing cricket that night because you were not called for Indian cricket team? No. You just went out and enjoyed cricket. Only few land up in the Indian team. But all enjoy playing cricket. Now why should writing be any different?

Writing is like playing too.

Tip 3: Learn the craft.

OK. You write regularly. You enjoy it too and dont bother about getting published. What next? You have got to learn to write the correct way. Is there a correct way? Of course, yes. Few people will instinctly get it. But all can learn it. Hard to believe?
Or are you the type who prefers breaking the rule? Well, even to break you should learn the rules.

If you are a programmer, you will learn the importance of the craft. Remember your first program. The crash because of the null pointer. You took hours to write a ten line program. How do you fare now? Is it because you wrote programs everyday or is it because you decided you will learn about pointers. If you are not a programmer, try the example of swimming. Did you thrash the pool the first day unable to breathe in the water. How did you start gliding in the water? Did it happen just because you went to the pool daily. Or is it because you concentrated on learning the breathing technique.

Writing is just like any other skill that way.

Tip 4: Open up.

Eventually there come a point where you would like opinions from others. We all seek to be noticed, preferably in favourable light, right? Well, the reaction of somebody to your first literary creation will more often than not reflect how much they love you than how good the output is. 'Wow! It is great' means the person is your spouse. 'I like it. It is very good.' means the peson is your friend. 'Well, I read the first paragraph. But then something came up.' is probably the comment from that not so close acquaintance.

So it is better to find someone who does not care about your fragile ego. And someone who loves reading and reads a lot. Eventually, how popular your writing becomes will be decided by how good your writing is. No short cuts there.

Writing is lot like life that way.