3. PLOT
• Sequence of related events that
make a story hang together.
• Includes characters who
experience some conflict or
problem.
• Details are filled in before, during
and after the problem takes place.
• The story takes place within a
specific span of time.
4. A PLOT HAS FIVE BASIC PARTS:
•Exposition
•Rising Action
•Climax
•Falling Action
•Resolution
5. EXPOSITION
• Also called the Basic
Situation
• Opening / Introduction
• Introduces a main character
who wants something very
much and who encounters a
problem or conflict while
trying to get it.
6. RISING ACTION
• Otherwise known as “the
complication”
• The writer develops the
elements of conflict
further, and new
complications or
problems arise.
7. CLIMAX
• High point of the plot
• The most exciting or
suspenseful moment in the
story
• The climax is when
something happens that
decides the outcome of the
conflict.
8. FALLING ACTION
•The after-effect of the
climax
•The story just begins
to wind down;
however, the
problems are not
necessarily solved
yet.
10. PLOT TIMING
• Sequence of events in a plot
• Chronological Order – start at the
beginning and tell the story in the order
that it happened
• Other techniques can be used to
manipulate time and control the reader’s
feelings.
• Slowing time down can help
accomplish this.
11. PLOT TIMING
• Flashback – the present action is interrupted
with a scene or scenes from the past
• Can reveal the past life of a character or explain
why someone is in a current situation
• Flash-forward – visiting a character’s future
• Foreshadowing – a writer plants clues that hint
at something that will happen later in the plot
12. SETTING
›Where and when a story takes place
›Is it possible for an interesting story to have no
setting … no indication of where or when the
action takes place?
Yes!
If the characters and situations are strong enough, they
will hold our attention in empty space, just as a play
presented on a bare stage could hold our interest.
13. SETTING, MOOD, AND TONE
• Setting can contribute to a story’s emotional effect.
• Mood – the story’s atmosphere
• gloomy, cheerful, etc.
• A setting in the spring can give a sense of hope or rebirth. / A setting in the
winter can give a sense of death.
• Tone – the writer’s attitude toward a subject or character (like a tone of
voice)
• mocking, tender, joyful, vindictive, etc.
• Setting details can help to reveal the tone.
14. A STORY AND ITS CHARACTERS
A good story…
tells us more about ourselves – about how human beings feel and behave in any
situation
For example…we can imagine how if feels to be a woman who has lived all her life on the
prairie … or, how it feels to be a soldier lying wounded on a battlefield.
We connect mentally and emotionally with others in an attempt to understand them
completely. In the end, we may sympathize or we may not.
Characters
The story’s actors
Influence of characters on readers
When characters in a story behave in convincing ways, then we (the reader) believe in
them, leading us to potentially love them or even hate them.
Characterization
Method used by a writer to develop a character
15. CREATING A CHARACTER
• How do writers create characters?
• Writers must decide upon the traits (special qualities) they want
their characters to possess.
• Writers reveal the characters traits directly or indirectly.
• Direct characterization – a writer simply tells us directly what the
character is like.
• “Danielle was the most serious person in the school. She
longed for fun but was afraid of disappointing her very serious
aunt.”
• Indirect characterization – a writer does not reveal traits directly.
The reader my have to infer based on evidence. The writer reveals a
characters’ traits in five unique ways:
• Appearance
• Dialogue
• Private Thoughts
• Actions
• Effects
16. INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
Revealing a characters’ traits through appearance:
“Danielle, tall and thin, wore her mouse-brown hair pulled tightly back
into a ponytail. She always dressed in a gray skirt and blouse and never
wore jewelry.”
This description of her appearance reveals a lot about Danielle. We imagine
her as a quiet, serious, and perhaps shy person.
Revealing a characters’ traits through dialogue:
“Hey, Danielle, want to come with us to the movies tonight?” Jim asked.
“Oh no,” Danielle sighed. “My aunt would never allow it. She says I have
to work on my research paper all weekend.”
We learn even more by listening to her speak to other characters. She is clearly
studious, serious, and afraid of upsetting her aunt.
17. INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
• Revealing a characters’ traits through private thoughts:
• “Why can’t I be like the other kids?” Danielle moped. She pressed her nose
against the window. “I’d like to be out there with everybody else – laughing,
skating and going to movies, just belonging.”
• We learn from these private thoughts how lonely and isolated Danielle feels not
being able to have fun with friends.
• This technique is especially effective if the narrator is the main character –
discovering what the main character wants, fears, worries about, etc. It’s like we
are eavesdropping on them throughout the story.
18. INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
Revealing characters’ traits through actions:
That afternoon, John ran to catch up to Danielle as she walked home.
“Hey,” he called excitedly and tapped her on the shoulder. She
flinched – then looked away, blushing.
By simply reading or observing these actions, we receive more evidence
that Danielle is shy, slightly isolated, and lonely. She clearly is afraid of
talking to others.
Revealing characters’ traits through effects:
John, puzzled, wondered why Danielle was so upset by his friendly
gesture.
This reveals that Danielle’s actions have affected others around her. In this
case, it’s John that is also now affected and slightly upset.
19. TYPES OF CHARACTERS
• Flat Character
• Two-dimensional with only one or two key personality traits
• Extremely stubborn
• Round Character
• Three-dimensional qualities of real life people with many traits and complexities
• Many times, writers include flat characters instead because too many round
characters can be distracting.
• Stock Character
• Fits our preconceived notions about a “stereotype”
• As soon as we encounter a well known trait of theirs, we can imagine the rest of
their personality on our own
• The mad scientist / cruel-looking villain twirling his waxed mustache
• Unlike real people... due to the fact that real people are often complex and
unpredictable
20. TYPES OF CHARACTERS
• Static Character
• Does not change during the course of the story
• Are exactly the same at the beginning of the story and they are at
the end
• Almost always subordinate characters
• Dynamic Character
• This character changes in some important way as a result of the
story’s action.
• Gained a new understanding, made an important decision, or
taken crucial action
• The change must be believable, not some miraculous, magic-wand
transformation that happens and neatly wraps up the plot.
• The change will provide a key to understanding the character and
lend a clue to the story’s theme (meaning).
• Capable of growing, learning or changing. The protagonist is
almost always dynamic.
21. TYPES OF CHARACTERS
• Protagonist
• the main character that the story is focused on
• Often realistic, complicated human beings with just enough strengths,
weaknesses and contradictions to remind us of ourselves.
• Propels a story’s plot by wanting something and then setting out to get it
done.
• Antagonist
• character or force that blocks the protagonist from achieving his/her
goal.
• Not necessarily evil
• Protagonists and antagonists do not make up the whole story. A
story will contain other subordinate characters (neighbors, family
members or passing strangers) may help reveal the character of the
protagonist or antagonist and may help develop the story’s conflict.
22. CHARACTER INTERACTIONS
• Conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist is what hooks the
reader’s interest, creates suspense and moves along most stories
• Review:
• External conflict – struggle between the protagonist and some outside force
(possible another character, outside force, society or a force of nature)
• Man vs. Man
• Man vs. Nature
• Man vs. Society
• Internal conflict – protagonist wrestles with his/her own fear or worry or the
need to make a decision
• Man vs. Self
23. CHARACTER INTERACTIONS
• Motivations
• what makes the character tick – the needs, reasons or conflicts that drive a
character
• Conflict and Motivation work together!
• When a character is motivated to fulfill a certain desire and is prevented
from doing to, conflict occurs.
• Conflict often arises when people are strongly motivated to influence one
another
24. CHARACTER INTERACTIONS IN POETRY OR DRAMA
• Dramatic Monologue
• Found in poetry
• Features a single character who addresses one or more silent listeners,
reflecting on a specific problem or situation.
• From what this character says and the way it is said, we can infer his or her
personality traits.
• Soliloquy
• Found in a play
• A character speaks his or her thoughts aloud while alone on stage – often to the
audience
• Shakespeare’s plays are filled with soliloquies.
