So, what is plot anyway? Here's my go at it...

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While I was working on my dissertation, I spent a good deal of mental energy trying to understand various definitions of plot and then formulating a definition that I could use to analyze the thoroughfare motif in the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.
In fact, we often hear about the great plot of a movie or book. But what does "plot" mean anyway, and how can that notion help in analyzing a literary or cinematic work? And perhaps even more challenging, what does it mean for the study of ancient texts like biblical narratives? By the way, did you know that Aristotle wrote about plot in his Poetics? It's amazing to think that we are still working with some of the ideas that he introduced there!

Here's the abstract of an article I wrote entitled "Emplotment, Plot and Explotment:
Refining Plot Analysis of Biblical Narratives 
from the Reader’s Perspective" (Biblical Interpretation, volume 21, Issue 1, pages 64 – 98):

The notion of plot has a long history of various nuances and uses in literary and biblical studies. Consequently, the practice of plot analysis is quite variable. Although most definitions of plot privilege other elements than the reader, this tendency has recently begun to change. This article argues that plot is more comprehensible and constructive when it is located within the reader’s encounter of the storyworld on the cognitive and affective levels. Thus, the activities of composition and reception, emplotment and plot are best considered distinct activities. An evaluation of definitions illustrates this necessary distinction and leads to a fresh formulation of plot, especially in relation to narratives purporting to be factual. As a complementary step, ‘explotment’ is proposed as a link between the interpretation of the past and the evaluation of the reader, thus explaining the immersive and emersive exploration of the story’s central question(s). Equipped with this heuristic, the interpreter can investigate various questions in the study of biblical narratives on the macro and micro levels; for example, the narrative’s progressive ideological and pragmatic force and development as well as single plot-enhancing elements such as various types of pericopes, literary devices and narrative techniques. With this emphasis on reception theory, this type of plot analysis can be especially beneficial to narrative-critical and reader-response studies. The value of plot theory for biblical exegesis is further demonstrated through illustrations and discussion applied to Luke-Acts.

You might notice that I use complementary terms like "emplotment" (used by P. Ricoeur and H. White) and "explotment" (a new term for literary theory as far as I can tell).

Here's the link to My article on plot theory and analysis if you have access through your school. You might want to read it or copy it at a local school of theology or seminary, because to buy it online is quite expensive (in my opinion).

Let me know what you think about plot and these other terms!