Fiction and Parts of Plot

The best advice “Act I, get your guy up a tree. Act II, throw rocks at him. Act III, get your guy outta the tree.” - Julius Epstein

Kurt Vonnegut http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/kurt-vonnegut-on-the-shape-of-stories-why-hes-my-favorite-writer

Story as a Journey Character is someone capable of change. Story is the process of that change. A Theme (a deep message or truth) should be present in your story. You can write in different genres (tell me some different ones), but all fiction has the same plot stages, uses imagery, usually has dialogue, etc.

Questions to help Where does your protagonist want to go? What does he/she desire? What are the obstacles encountered? What does he/she do to overcome these obstacles? (What decisions are made?) Is the goal reached? How does the character change?

Story as a Power Struggle We can also look at the story focusing on conflict, crisis, and resolution. (Think beginning, middle, and end.) You have to remember: only trouble is interesting. The pattern of trouble and the effort to overcome it is repeated in every story on a larger or smaller scale.

Nature of the Power Struggle In the conflict-crisis-resolution model, story is seen as a power struggle between two nearly equal forces: protagonist and antagonist. The antagonist represents the obstacles to the protagonist’s desires and may be another human being or some other force – nature, the self, society, and so forth.

Keep it going. It is important that the protagonist and antagonist are nearly equal in strength. Our uncertainty about the end is what keeps us reading and we want to be kept in suspense.

The Plot Diagram

Exposition

Rising Action

Climax

Falling Action

Resolution

Tips for Revising Change the beginning? Perfect the first sentence Rearrange Action Read Dialogue aloud Look at your hard copy visually Sympathetic Characters? Point of View Consistency Check every scene…and trim! Choose a great title…should relate to the Theme Annnd….your story should have a Theme