1. Plot Elements
Fiction

2. What is a plot? The plot is the main events that make up the story.
These events are in a sequence or pattern of cause and effect.

3. Plot diagram * CLIMAX Falling Action Rising Action Resolution
Exposition
Resolution *
Inciting Incident

4. I can sequence the plot elements.
Exposition
Inciting Incident
Rising Action(s)
Climax
Falling Action(s)
Resolution

5. Exposition
* In the exposition, you are to give your readers the setting, main characters, and main conflict.
* It is important that you show your readers these early on in the story.
* The exposition generally sets up what is going to happen.
* You must use some sort of hook in order to interest people into continuing to read your story. Many celebrated authors start their stories in the middle of some sort of action. It gets your readers involved right away.

6. Inciting Incident * The inciting incident “gets the ball rolling.”
* In the Hunger Games, the inciting incident would be when Prim’s name is drawn in the Reaping. This causes Katniss to then volunteer in the place of her little sister. The entire story happens because Prim’s name was called instead of someone else’s!
* Without this element, the story wouldn’t even happen.

7. Rising Action(s)
* The rising actions are the events that lead up to or cause the climax to occur.
* They might include conflict or obstacles that the main character or characters have to face.
* Hunger Games: Katniss faces the man-made fireballs. Katniss takes Rue as an ally. The Capital “changes” the rules so that Katniss and Peeta can both go home if they win the Games. Peeta acts like a career in order to save Katniss.
All of these events are leading up to the climax of the story. Each of these pose a conflict, obstacle, or new plot twist.

8. Climax
* The “EUREKA!” moment in any story. It is what all the events in the story have been leading up to and is the turning point. The climax is subjective (meaning it could be different parts in the story), but you must be able to back up your claim.
* Hunger Games: The climax is when Katniss realizes that the Capital must have a victor, so she decides that if both she and Peeta die, then she is no longer just a piece in the games.

9. Falling Action(s)
* The falling actions are those that follow the climax and help lead us to the resolution. It is in this stage that you are start to tie up the loose ends.
* This is where the characters also face consequences from the climax (good or bad).
* The falling actions in the Hunger Games: The Capital lets both Katniss and Peeta win. Haymitch warns Katniss about the trouble she has started.
* These are all leading to the resolution of the book.

10. Resolution * Easy, this is where you wrap up and conclude your story.
* All loose ends must be tied up (unless, of course, you are planning to write another story).
* Hunger Games: Peeta and Katniss make it back to District 12 together. However, darkness looms on the horizon because of Katniss’s fateful decision to take out the berries. (This sets us up for the next book.)

11. Conflict
* A plot without conflict is BORING. Even Napoleon Dynamite has conflict! (Pedro is trying to get elected…Napoleon has to dance in front of the school…Napoleon’s lips hurt “real bad”.)
* Conflict is a battle between two “forces.” Conflict develops your plot and characters.
* Sometimes conflict can be a good thing as it creates needed change on occasion.

12. Character vs. Character
* The first type is character vs. character.
* This means that at least two characters (one is the protagonist) are pitted against the other.
* This might actually be a literal fist fight, but it doesn’t always have to be that way.
* In the Harry Potter series, you’ll find several types of conflict. However, one of the main ones is character vs. character. Voldemort is intent on finishing Harry off. The final battle is the culmination of this conflict.

13. Character vs. Nature
* In this type of conflict, the protagonist is against nature itself.
* This could include survival in the wild, storms, and etc.
* In Hatchet, Brian is trying to survive in the Canadian wilderness. In The Perfect Storm, the men aboard the Andrea Gail are trying to get back to shore and decide to sail right through a hurricane-nor’easter mega storm. These are both examples of character vs. nature.

14. Character Vs. Society
* This form of conflict is when the protagonist is against a society or government. Several of the newest (and older) young adult fiction today are based on this conflict.
* Examples: Hunger Games trilogy, Matched series, The Giver, Maze Runner, Divergent, and several others.

15. Character Vs. Self
“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe is an EXCELLENT example of character vs. self.
* This last type of conflict is called character vs. self.
* This means that the protagonist is pitted against himself/herself. They must overcome something within themselves in order to succeed.
* In A Beautiful Mind, John Nash must overcome his own mind in order to save himself and his family.

16. Man VS. Technology/Machine
* This type of conflict is prevalent in science fiction many times. Characters in the story might be pitted against some man-made machine or technology.
* Examples include:
The Matrix
Smart House
The Terminator
Man VS. Technology/Machine

17. Man Vs. Supernatural
* Stories with this type of conflict pit characters against unnatural forces. This might include magic, ghosts, and etc.
* Haunted Mansion would be an example of this type of conflict.

18. Quiz! 1. What are three types of conflict?
2. What plot element “gets the ball rolling?”
3. What do you call the “EUREKA!” moment of a story (or the turning point)?
4. Give an example of rising and falling actions.
5. What does the resolution do?