PlotBuilding your story

Unit Essential Question

•What are the essential components of a

plot?

•What are the components that make a

plot compelling?

Unit Terms

•TENSION: A situation in a story in which there is conflict or strain because of differing views, aims, or elements

•CONFLICT: A character’s struggle•THEME: The driving force behind forms

of expression and art. Usually reveals a truth about human behavior

•SYMBOL: Something that represents something else, usually a material object representing something abstract

Basic Plot Line of a Short Story•1. Create a character with motivation- he

or she wants something. Present your character in a situation right in the beginning of your story. This situation should have opposing forces and alternatives. Your character should have choices of acting and not acting.

This is the exposition

•2. To create tension and suspense, invent a series of events that puts hurdles, problems, troubles- conflict- in your characters way- without giving away how it will all turn out.

•3. The situation should evolve from its original elements into a more complicated and grave situation until it reaches a crisis.

These steps are the rising action

•4. At the point in your story when you have your readers anxiously reading on you will write the climax- the turning point.

•The resolution of both the crisis and the story will follow. Your character will succeed, fail, or realize the futility of it all and give up. Things have almost always changed.

Basic Structure

Exposition Ris

ing

Actio

n

Climax

Falling A

ction

Resolution

Plot Activity – Why did A do B?

•Write a piece that answers this question.On the wiki-discussion page, under the topic heading "Why did A do B" write the last scene of a short story that supplies the motive for this odd behavior. Do not answer the question directly: "So and so did.... because." Supply setting and supply a conflict that would be resolved by the odd behavior.

Mini-Stories

 Write three mini-stories, each one accounting for a man and woman standing on a sidewalk. Each story should be different in terms of characters, plot, theme, setting, details, and even play around with point of view!

•Title Your Post: •“Your User Name- City Street”

•Story 1 – Hector and his mother arguing about his new girlfriend outside of a bank

•Story 2 – Two strangers waiting for a taxi in NYC

•Story 3 – Brother and sister talking about their father’s medical condition

Cause and Effect

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j79H2dkFND4

• Using the example from the chart for guidance,

make two of your own cause and effect examples.

• Choose one of your cause/effect examples and turn

it into a short story.

• Title your post: Your User Name – Cause/effect

Linear Story

•A linear plot story follows the basic plot

structure. It begins at point A and ends at

point B.

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srk8aA

aTFXE

•Write a linear story in which your character is on a quest for something specific and important (the importance is a given, you don’t have to explain it). Your main character starts acting immediately. He/She meets a specific and strong obstacle; finally he/she triumphs over the obstacle by means of a magical or supernatural element that comes from the outside.

•Title Your Post: •“Your User Name- Linear”

Tension and Conflict

•Tension or conflict is the problem or crisis of a story. It is often introduced in the exposition of short stories.

•Stories that have tension or conflicts are more interesting to read than stories that obviously lack any form of conflict.

•There are two types of conflict: •1) External - A struggle with a force

outside one's self. •2) Internal - A struggle within one's self;

a person must make some decision, overcome pain, quiet their temper, resist an urge, etc.

•There are four kinds of conflict: 1) Man vs. Man (physical) - The leading character struggles against other characters

•2) Man vs. Nature – A character has to battle against the forces of nature

•3) Man vs. Society - The leading character struggles against ideas, practices, or customs of other people.

•4) Man vs. Self (psychological) - The leading character struggles with himself/herself; with his/her own soul, ideas of right or wrong, physical limitations, choices, etc.

Examples

•Man vs. Man – Star Wars

•Man vs. Nature – The Day After Tomorrow

•Man vs. Society – V For Vendetta

•Man vs. Self – Fight Club

•Write a short piece intensifying conflict, magnify tension and shrillness at every turn, even to the point of absurdity or hyperbole. Add stress wherever possible, both between characters and within them as individuals. Exaggerate the obstacles they face: BE EXTREME!

Title Your Post: “Your User Name- Tension & Conflict”

•BRING IN ANY OBJECT FROM HOME for MONDAY 4/16!!

Theme and Symbol

•Theme - "Theme is a statement, or series of related observations, about some aspect of the human condition, interpreted from the unique viewpoint of the author."- Dean Koontz

The theme of a novel is the deeper layer of meaning running beneath the story's surface.

What is a theme in…

•The Lion King

•Tangled (or Rapunzel)

•Beauty and the Beast

• Symbol – a thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.

“Picture the scene: a boy has just been dumped by his girlfriend and he has shut himself away in his bedroom to be by himself. He is sitting by the window with his nose an inch from the glass watching the sky turn blacker and blacker as a storm blows in. When the rain starts, he watches the water streak down the window pane.

“The heavy skies symbolize the boy's heavy heart and the raindrops symbolize his tears. The boy's feelings were barely mentioned in the summary above, but the description of the weather nevertheless conveys precisely how he is feeling.”

What does this symbol stand for?•The American Flag

•A dove

•An elephant (or the color red) and a donkey (the color blue)

•Eagle

What is a symbol in…

•The Hunger Games

•Harry Potter 7

•Theme and Symbol should enhance each other. For instance, consider the symbol of the phoenix- a mythological symbol for rising from misfortune to fly once again. This theme is found in countless stories.

•Often, a writer may not even be aware if the symbols they create. If, while writing a story, something continues to appear, like a marble in your character’s pocket that they roll around in their hand when deep in thought, it probably has more significance than you originally thought. Just don’t force it! Symbols should grow naturally out of your material. Many strong stories have no symbolic black clouds or regenerating sunrises- it could just be a marble in a pocket!

Probe the Familiar•Reading teaches us more about ourselves and

why the world works as it does, which is why recurring character types, plot patterns, descriptions, and symbols exist in literature. When you write a story that is appealing to readers, it is probably because you have “probed the familiar” through the exploration of your character and his or her actions. You have touched upon the frequent conflicts, joys, dreads, terrors, strengths, and weaknesses in the lives of the everyman/woman.