they're in a motel room because they're in love and want to have sex, they're driving home because they want to, and it's important to the story in the sense that 'falling in love and going home' is the story?

I think so, because that assumes the couple is part of a larger world. For some reason, they decided the motel was a better venue. Those reasons are based in something outside the walls of the room. Though I've read stories I've thoroughly enjoyed that take place solely within four walls.

that assumes the couple is part of a larger world. For some reason, they decided the motel was a better venue.

So to write a story that's not plotty at all, you have to assume that they aren't part of a larger world? That there is nothing outside the situation?

So to write a story that's not plotty at all, you have to assume that they aren't part of a larger world? That there is nothing outside the situation?

For me it's a vibe issue, and tough to define exactly. (I very much like connie's definition, FWIW.) It's not so much that there isn't a larger world but whether or not it matters to the characters.

It's not so much that there isn't a larger world but whether or not it matters to the characters.

Ooo! I like this.

It's not so much that there isn't a larger world but whether or not it matters to the characters.

Ooo! I like this.

Yes-- put that way, it feels like it works.

Works for me.

Is there a thought going on that plotty is better than non-plotty? That plottiness is something that should be worked towards? I'm wondering at the provenance of the original question.

Hah, used provenance in a sentence, yay, me.

So... thinking about this some more, though maybe I should stop while I'm ahead... if the plot or action takes place just to give the writer a chance to see what happens to the characters, that wouldn't seem terribly plotty to me. Hurt/comfort, for instance, can have oodles of stuff happening, even fairly complex series of events, but mostly I wouldn't call it plotty. It's All About Them.

if the plot or action takes place just to give the writer a chance to see what happens to the characters

But if you're not in the writer's head, you can't tell -- surely the estimation should be from the reader's POV.

I know, for many stories that live in my head, that I have an emotional beat sheet, and an event beat sheet. Half the time I don't know which drives which -- but if I come up with a intricate and compelling sequence of events that works well with what I really want to do -- get her from emotion A through F -- it still might be a plotty story. Or vice versa.

Ooo, Plot in Service to the Emotions vs. Emotions in Service to the Plot!

Episodes of hurt/comfort in the context of a larger story score higher on the plotty scale (heh, she said score [my god, where is my head today?]) than a series of events designed to bring about a hurt/comfort scenario. That said, I have to admit that h/c is my favorite guilty pleasure genre.