Plot is the movement of a story through a sequence of events. It’s like riding a roller coaster! 1.Exposition = basic information that the readers need to understand the events of the story. (Scene, characters, setting). a. This can be a single sentence or a whole paragraph. Elements of Plot 3. Rising Action – a series of events that lead up to the climax of the story. There may be several smaller problems that occur before the story reaches the climax. 2. Conflict – the struggle between different characters in the story. This is usually a problem between the protagonist (good guy) and the antagonist (bad guy).

Elements of Plot (continued) 4.Climax - a peak in the story's action, or a moment of high tension or great importance. 5.Resolution/Denouement (Day-new-mo) - draws the action to a close and answers all remaining questions in the story. a. deus ex machina - an outside force that comes in to save a seemingly hopeless situation. Other Plot Elements: Flashback - when the story moves out of sequence and goes back to a previous event to add important information to the story. Foreshadowing - a situation, event, character, or object that appears early in the story and later turns out to have great significance to the outcome.

Diagramming Plot The events of a story follow a pattern as the story moves forward. This pattern is called the plot. 1. Exposition 2. Conflict 3. Rising Action 4. Climax 5. Resolution/ Denouement

Characters Protagonist: The main character of the story. This is usually the person who struggles to resolve the conflict. Antagonist: someone or something that is going against the protagonist. This is usually the villain, bad guy, enemy, etc. Minor Characters: Other people in the story who interact with the protagonist and antagonist to help the story move forward.

Notes: Characterization Characterization is the way writers develop characters and reveal those characters to the audience. Writers do this in different ways: –Actions: What the character chooses to do and how he/she behaves. –Words: What the character says. –Thoughts: The character’s inner thoughts. –Appearance: Descriptions of what the character looks like. His/her name, gestures, body language. What the narrator and other characters say about him/her.

Thoughts: Character’s Words: Character’s Actions: Other People’s Words About the Character:

Notes: Theme Theme is a message about life or human nature. It is the lesson that the story teaches you about life. –To find the theme of a story look for clues that show the stories most important ideas: Title often reveals the main idea of the story. Conflict by resolving the conflict the characters generally learn a lesson, which shows the theme of the story. Changes in Character can be caused by important lessons that they learn about life or human nature. Character’s Words sometimes reveal the message or lesson they have learned about life or human nature.

When looking for theme, answer the following questions: 1.What does the title tell me about the story? 2.What lesson do the characters learn by resolving the conflict? 3.How does the protagonist change from the beginning to the end of the story? 4.What do the characters say/think about life or human nature? 5.How does the setting fit into the conflict and denouement of the story? Theme