Building Blocks of a Story

• Plot: what happens in a story

• There are conflicts (struggles) in a plot:

1. Internal conflict- characters struggle with themselves (within their own minds)

2. External conflict- characters struggle with other characters or outside forces (like nature)

What else is important to a story?

• Themes: the main idea, what can be learned from the story

• Foreshadowing: when author gives hints or clues about what will happen in the future

Point of View

• Point of View: the perspective the story is told from

• Narrator: person telling story– 1st: story is told by a character who refers to himself as “I”, “me”,

“my”, “we”– 2nd: person telling the story refers to the character as “you”,

addressing them as in a letter– 3rd limited: the characters are talked ABOUT (by an outside

narrator) using “he, she, they…”, reader only knows thoughts and feelings of 1 character

– 3rd omniscient: characters are talked ABOUT by outside narrator using “he, she, they…”, reader knows thoughts and feelings of all/several characters (“all-knowing”)

Parts of a plot

• Parts of a story:– Exposition: beginning, where author sets

stage, introduces the setting (where & when), introduces characters and their situations

– Rising Action: series of actions or complications that sets up conflict for the main character (suspense is used here)

– Climax: turning point where the conflict comes to a head

Creating plot charts…

• Parts of a story continued:– Falling Action: events after the climax, wrap up the

story and lead to a conclusion (may sometimes not exist if conclusion comes immediately after the climax/conflict)

– Resolution or Denouement (“untying”): point of closure, conflict has ended

Characterization• Characterization: the way an author creates people in

their story and brings them to life.• Protagonist: main character• Antagonist: opponent of the main character

– Characters may be:• Flat- the good guy is always good, the bad guy is always bad• Round- complex; characters may have many sides to them-

good, bad, everything• Static- character doesn’t change at all through the story• Dynamic- character changes and grows during the story

Tone

• Tone: the mood the writer creates in his/her story

• Think about tone in terms of music: scary, funny, serious, dramatic, excited