What is the plot etc anyway?

1) The plot is just the sequence of events that occur in the story. Beginning-middle-end. This happened, then this, then this. That's the plot.

2) The theme or motif is the underlying message/lesson that your story is trying to get across through the use of various writing elements/techniques. Most stories have more than one theme but the stories with the most noticeable themes are the cautionary/morality tales you read during childhood.

3) Prose is a form of written language, either nonfiction or fiction and comes in many forms (novel, novellas, short stories, etc, essays, etc). If a writer refers to the 'prose' in their story, they are referring, however, to the exposition or narrative writing within the story. This includes the descriptions, the passages narrating the plot/character actions, back story, etc.

4) Monologue is the internal thoughts of the character (usually italicized, not in quotation marks...but I'll use single quotes for the purpose of this example). 'No. Not another traffic jam. I'm going to be late for the meeting,' he thought.

5) Dialogue is the verbally spoken thoughts of a character that is denoted in quotation marks. "Yeah, stick it where the sun don't shine, buddy!"

6) Dialogue tags: are the clause(s) used to describe the attributes of how the dialogue was spoken. "Oh my god!" She [screamed/shouted/gasped]

7) Adverbs/Adjectives: Adverbs are the clause/sentence that modifies a verb (the action in the story. 'He said quickly'... quickly is an adverb that modifies 'said'). And adjectives are the clauses/sentences that modify a noun (person/place thing. The fluffy pillow...'fluffy' modifies the thing "pillow").

8) Figurative language: is a language that uses figures of speech to denote an underlying meaning. metaphors/similes/hyperbole are examples. Metaphors are comparisons between two unlike things "Life is a roller coaster".. is a metaphor with two meanings. That life is a ride like a roller coaster and that life has it's ups and downs. Simile is a comparison between two unlike things using words "like/as" ..."Life is like a roller coaster" or "life is like a box of chocolates." Hyperbole is obvious and intentional exaggeration used to provoke imagery, as rhetoric, or comedy. "He was a train wreck" "waiting an eternity" etc.

9) Narrative Tense: Are tenses used to express a point in time (past/present/future or 1st person point of view, 2nd person, 3rd limited, omniscient).

10) Imagery: are the mental images created through the use of descriptive words. It's "word painting."

11) Character development: Is the process of developing a character's traits, back story (history), and person motivations/fears/etc to create a well-rounded, 3-dimensional person who is believable and relatable to readers.

12) Milieu stories: stories that focus exclusively on traveling (like adventure tales. Often use the man vs nature plot structure).

13) Other writing elements: alliteration (repetition of same-sounding words--Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers), Onomatopoeia (a word that sounds like the thing it refers to--sizzled, slithered, the cow moooooooooo'd ... the horn ahoooo ahooo ahoooooo'd, etc). Personification (giving an inanimate object human-like qualities--The clock 'sighed' at each hourly interval). Idioms (expression that is unexpected b/c it's not literal--'put a lid on it' means to be quiet, not to actually put a lid on it).

Hope this helps. Cheers.

You'll learn it in English class.

But prose is kinda the opposite of poetry. Paragraphs instead of rhyme and meter.

Theme is an underlying concept that the story is about, that is exemplified by the story but not necessarily the objective of the plot of the story.

A plot is an area, usually a term designated to a chunk property. "I bought a plot of land."

Plot can also be the series of conflicts that the protagonist undergoes in a story thought his journey up the story arc to the crisis and then down the rollercoasteresque slope to the denouement.