What is a story? As the following statements are read aloud, stamp your feet for the statements that you think do not suggest a story.

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What is a story?As the following statements are
read aloud, stamp your feet for the statements
that you think do not suggest a story.

• My shoes are tied
• Once, there were 3 raccoons and a skunk on my
  porch
• The beach is beautiful
• My name is Cori
• My cat escaped through the window this summer

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PLOT The series of events that create the basic
situation

• Somebody
• Wanted
• But
• So

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What is PLOT?
Plot is the literary element that describes the
structure of a story. The plot is all of the
related events in the story that make-up the
basic situation from beginning to end.
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Plot Components
Climax the turning point, the most intense
momenteither mentally or in action when you
discover at last how the conflict ends
Rising Action the series of attempts the
character makes to try to solve the problem
Falling Action all of the action which follows
the climax
Exposition the start of the story, the
situation before the action starts meet the
characters and establish the setting
Resolution the conclusion, the tying together of
all of the threads
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Types of Linear Plots

• Plots can be told in

flashback
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Setting

• Where and when a story takes place.
• Sometimes, we must guess the location or time
  period of a story from contextual clues, because
  the author does not tell us.
• anachronism a detail of a story that does not
  fit the setting
• A computer in a Shakespearean tragedy would be
  out of place.

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Mood

• Overall feeling of a story. (Ex. Happy, sad,
  depressing, scary)

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Character A person or animal that takes part in
the action. This includes the main character,
called the protagonist.
Types of Characters Protagonist Main
character Antagonist the opposing character or
force to the protagonist Static characters
(flat) Characters who do not change within the
context of the story. Characters we dont get to
know very well. minor characters . Dynamic
characters (round) Characters who change, grow,
or develop within the context of the story.
Characters we get to know well. We know their
fears, fantasies, history, etc.
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Characterization

• Authors reveal a characters personality and
  motivation by what they THINK, FEEL, SAY, and DO
• 1) Appearance How does a character look and
  dresswhat does this reveal about the character?
• 2) Personality Is the character emotional or
  rationalshy or outgoingskillful or clumsy
  happy or depressedcaring or coldhonest or
  dishonest?
• 3) Background Where and how did the character
  grow upwhat is the social status of the
  characterhow have they been educatedhobbies or
  skillswhat do they do for a living?
• 4) Motivation What does the character want? What
  are the characters wishes, desires, dreams,and
  needs?
• 5) Relationships How is the character related to
  the other characters and how do they interact
  with each other?
• 6) Change Does the character change in the
  course of the narrative? Does he or she learn or
  grow? In other words, is the character static
  (unchanging) or dynamic (changing)?

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Conflict

• Conflict is the dramatic struggle between two
  forces in a story. Without conflict, there is no
  plot.

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Types of Conflict
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Theme

• The message or moral the author is trying to
  convey about society or just a truth of life.
  Usually suggested by characters thoughts or what
  the main character learns.
• Bugs
• The lightning bug has wings of gold,
• The goldbug wings of flame
• The bedbug has no wings at all,
• But it gets there just the same.

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Point of ViewThe perspective from which the
story is told

• First Person When a story is told from the
  perspective of one of the characters in the
  story.
• Uses the pronoun I.
• Third Person 
• When a story is told from the perspective of
  someone outside the story looking in.
• Third person limited perspective is limited to
  what one character does, observes, or thinks.
  (He, she, it)
• Third person omniscient the story is told from
  the perspective of someone who knows and sees all
  (he, she, it)

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Flashback

• An interruption of story action to tell about
  something that happened earlier.
• Foreshadowing
• Hints of clues in a story about what is to come.

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Genre a category of artistic, musical, or
literary composition characterized by a
particular style, form, or content.

• There are 5 major forms genres of literature
• Plays
• Non-fiction (autobiography, biography)
• Fiction (fantasy, historical fiction, magic
  realism, mystery, science fiction, realistic
  fiction, Western)
• Poetry
• Folk tale or classic