PLOT DEVELOPMENT

WHAT IS PLOT?

Plot is the literary element that describes the structure of a story.

It’s the sequence of events that make up a story.

THE EVENTS OF A STORY ARE DIVIDED INTO 5 DIFFERENT SECTIONS

EXPOSITION

FALLING ACTION

RISING ACTION CLIMAX

RESOLUTION

PLOT DIAGRAM GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

SETTING

•The place where the story occurs.

•(year, time of day, country, state, city, region or room)

Plot Development Terms

CHARACTERS

•Protagonist: The

main character of a story. The character who experiences the main conflict in a story.

•Antagonist: The

character who opposes the protagonist. May work against the main character.

POINT OF VIEW

WHEN A WRITER BEGINS A NEW STORY HE MUST DECIDE:"WHO WILL TELL MY STORY?"

• Point of View

• First-person Point of View

• I, me, we

• The one telling the story. They are involved in the story

• Third-person Point of View

The story is being told by an outside observer (someone who is not in the story). The author uses the pronouns he, she, and they.

• In third-person point of

view, the author can tell about the thoughts, actions, and feelings of

the other characters.

Second-person Point of View

The reader directly addresses you, your, and yours.

This doesn’t have very often in novels or fiction.

LIMITED, OMNISCIENT, AND OBJECTIVE

• A limited point of view

• Is only limited to one persons side of the story.

• Basically, omniscient point of view means that the story is told from an all-seeing God-like viewpoint.

When you’re using Objective Point of View, it’s a case of giving just the facts. The reader is never allowed into any of the characters’ minds, nor given any of their feelings or emotions. The reader has to judge what the character is thinking or feeling by what they say, what they do, and their facial expressions - much like real life, in fact!

INCITING INCIDENT

• This is an event that occurs to cause the rising action to start.

• Here are other ways to conceptualize the inciting incident:

• it jolts your hero out of his everyday routine

• it is the event which sparks the fuse of your plot

• it’s something that MUST happen in order for your hook–your movie’s special premise–to kick in

Inciting Incident: Sherlock is asked to track down Blackwood

Inciting Incident: the tornado sweeps Dorothy and Toto out of Kansas

SOME OTHER VOCABULARY YOU NEED TO KNOW!

•Suspense: The

anxiety a reader feels about what will happen next in the story

•Flashback: The

author interrupts the plot of the story to recreate an event of an earlier time.

•Foreshadowing: Hints

or clues that suggest what will happen later in the story

•Theme: The central

idea or truth a story reveals about life.

•Aladdin Elements of a Plot Structure

• http://youtu.be/ffAOkGg2Lr4