Learning Target: I can analyze how an authors

choices about how to structure text, order events and

manipulate time create intended effects.
Essential Question: How does the way the plot is
presented affect the way the audience interprets the
story?
Question

Notes

Plot Structure

Elements of Fiction:Climax/
Plot Graph

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Exposition/
Background

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Rising Action 3.

Crisis

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Resolution/
Dnouement/
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Plot: 1. Exposition
Exposition is the introductory material, which
creates the tone, give the setting, and
introduces the characters.
The purpose of exposition is to explain
something.

Elements of Exposition:
Setting
The setting is the physical and social context in
which the action of a story occurs. The major
elements of setting are the time, the place, and
the social environment that frames the
characters.
Setting can be used to evoke a mood or
atmosphere that will prepare the reader.

Elements of Exposition:
Setting
Sometimes, writers choose a particular setting
because of traditional associations with that setting
that are closely related to the action of a story. For
example, stories filled with adventure or romance
often take place in exotic locales.

Elements of Exposition:
Setting
place - geographical location. Where is the action of the story
taking place?
time - When is the story taking place? (historical period, time of
day, year, etc)
weather conditions - Is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc?
social conditions - What is the daily life of the character's like?
Does the story contain local colour (writing that focuses on the
speech, dress, mannerisms, customs, etc. of a particular
place)?
mood or atmosphere - What feeling is created at the beginning
of the story? Is it bright and cheerful or dark and frightening?

Mood
Mood is the prevailing atmosphere or
emotional aura of a work. Setting,
tone, and events can affect the mood.
In this usage, mood is similar to tone
and atmosphere.

CLARIFICATION Mood vs
Tone
Similar to mood, tone describes the authors attitude
toward his material, the audience, or both. Tone is
easier to determine in spoken language than in
written language. Considering how a work would
sound if it were read aloud can help in identifying an
authors tone.
Some words describing tone are playful, serious,
businesslike, sarcastic, humorous, formal ornate,
sardonic, and somber.

Plot: 2 Conflict
Conflict is the struggle within the plot between
opposing forces.
The protagonist engages in the conflict with the
antagonist
The antagonist can be:

Another Character Character vs Character

Society Character vs. Society
Nature Character vs. Nature
an aspect of the protagonists personality, ideas of right or
wrong, physical limitations, choices, etc.
Character vs Self

Plot: 3 Rising Action

Everything from the initiation of conflict to the climax.
The part of the story where complications create some sort
of conflict for the protagonist.
Suspense is the anxious anticipation of a reader to the
outcome of a story, especially concerning the character or
characters with whom sympathetic attachments are formed,
usually the protagonist.
Suspense helps to secure and sustain the interest of the
reader or audience throughout a work.

Plot: 4 Climax/Crisis
Climax the moment of greatest emotional
tension in a narrative, usually marking a
turning point in the plot at which the rising
action reverses to become the falling action.
The protagonist usually makes a decision
that leads to the actions that will end the
conflict.

Plot : 4 Climax/Crisis
It is helpful to consider climax as a three-fold
phenomenon:
the main character receives new information
accepts this information (realizes it but does not
necessarily agree with it)
acts on this information (makes a choice that will
determine whether or not he/she gains his
objective).

Plot: 5 Falling Action

Falling action is characterized by
diminishing tensions. This is the time
where the protagonist takes actions
resolve the conflict.

Plot: 6 Dnouement
Dnouement is the resolution of the plots
conflicts and complications

SIDE NOTE: The simplest plot to graph is a

chronological plot. A Chronological plot is a
plot presents ideas according to the time in
which they occurred.

Exceptions to the Standard Plot

In medias res is a term used to describe the common
strategy of beginning a story in the middle of the
action.
A flashback is a narrated scene that marks a break
in the narrative in order to inform the reader or
audience member about events that took place
before the opening scene of a work.