Abstract Few studies have discussed the conception of “water space” in novels and its influence on the plot structure of novels. Since water transport played a very important role in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the plot of “water space” could be frequently found in classical novels, several issues can be investigated: How did authors effectively make use of water space to form the plots of novels? Would the incidents occurred at water space affect the development novels or simply act as transportation method? This study intended to investigate the questions above. The publication of Hua Ben in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was in the largest amount. This study selects several classical novels San Yan Liang Pai (三言兩拍), Xing Shi Yan (型世言), Huan Xi Yuan Jia (歡喜冤家), Ren Zhong Hua (人中畫), Gu Zhang Jue Cheng (鼓掌絕塵), Zheng Zhu Bo (珍珠舶), Yun Xian Xiao (雲仙笑), Jing Wu Zhong (警寤鐘), Sheng Xiao Jian (生綃剪), and Lian Cheng Bi (連城璧) as research materials and inspects the descriptions concerning “traveling,” “running business,” “official career,” and “commuting between two places” to explain the “normal function” of water space in novels. In addition, this paper also discusses the phenomena of “taking refugee,” “encountering disaster,” “hiding suspects,” “abandoning corpse,” and “casual meeting” to further investigate how novelists used the conception of water space to facilitate plot formation.