Diagram of the Plot

Diagram of the Plot

{The plot is a blueprint of the story. This blueprint is made up of all the major events/happenings in the story from the exposition (what be call the beginning of narrative stories) to the resolution (the things that happen at the end of the story.}

STUDY THIS SHEET AND COMMIT IT TO MEMORY!

Climax

THEMES

Resolution

Exposition

• Characters
• Setting
• Conflict

Journal Notes – Literary Elements for Narrative Short Stories

These are some of the basic elements of stories. If you are writing a story, brainstorm about what you want to write first keeping these elements in mind. Try to address each of the following parts of your story before you write.

Title: Many stories have clever and creative titles. Titles are very important and doing a good analysis of the title will give you important insight into the story plot, themes, and even character and/or author motivations.

Genre: In elementary school they called this the story type, but we call it genre. It is important for you to decide before you start writing what genre your story will be. Genre affects the type of things that can believably happen in the plot of your story. Realistic fiction, historical fiction story, mystery, action/adventure, science fiction, folktale, horror, and myth are a few examples of genre?

Credibility: Decide whether your characters will do things that are credible (believable and realistic) or incredible (extraordinary, unbelievable, or not realistic). Credibility is usually affected by the story genre, but is also affected by characters’ age, physical traits, character traits, gender, and many times the setting.

Setting(time and place clearly described): When you are reading a story the author weaves the description of the time and place where the action happens into the beginning of the story. They never write, “This story takes place in____.” Instead they write the description into the exposition (beginning paragraphs) of the story. You should do the same when you write your story.

Characters (with clearly and easily identified basic physical and character traits): Your story should have clearly NAMED and DESCRIBED characters! We should be able to figure out the type of person each character is by the character traits you give to them within your story. You want your audience to feel a certain way about each character. You achieve this through the way you describe your characters and how they work toward the resolution of their conflict during the story.

Conflict (revealed in the first few paragraphs): Every story MUST have an easily identified conflict that has been revealed in the exposition (beginning) of the story. The conflict is the problem that the main character(s) is facing and must work to solve or overcome at the climax of the story. Your conflict can be an internal (within the character) and/or external (something outside the character) problem that the character(s) struggle with or against. *Conflict is the motivation behind the story plot.*

Rising action: As your main character(s) works to deal with the conflict they will have other minor obstacles and problems thrown in their way. Other things will happen in the story to make the story interesting and exciting and move the action along. There will also be interactions with other minor characters to spice up the plot. This action in the story is called rising action.

Climax: The climax is the most suspenseful and exciting scene in the story. It is when the main character is faced with a major decision that will affect his/her life and the lives of others. This decision or discovery at this turning point in the story will determine how the story will end (the resolution). It is usually the decision or discovery that solves the original conflict.

Credible resolution: Your resolution, or what happens to the main character(s) at the end of the story, must make sense and be a result of the events of the climax. This is the point when you finally “wrap up” the story. If your resolution is good it will give your audience a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction that things turned out like they ought to have. A bad resolution leaves the audience with many unanswered questions.