Transcript Teaching Plot Structure Through Short Stories

• What are the parts of a story? What
makes a good story?
Describe all of the things you put into a story to
make it a good one. What are the parts of the
plot? How do you start it? What makes a good
ending? What makes the writing better or more
vivid? Freewrite for seven minutes.
• Take out a sheet of paper to take
some notes!
Plot is the literary element that describes the
structure of a story. It shows the a causal
arrangement of events and actions within a story.
Plots can be told in
Chronological order
Flashback
In media res (in the middle of things)
when the story starts in the middle of the
action without exposition
The basic triangle-shaped
plot structure was described
by Aristotle in 350 BCE.
Aristotle used:
• Beginning,
• Middle, and
• End structure
to describe a story.
This story is:
• Linear (forward moving)
• Follows a cause/effect chain
• Works toward a resolution of the
conflict/crisis.
Climax: the turning point, the
most intense moment—either
mentally or in action
Rising Action: the series of
conflicts and crisis in the story
that lead to the climax
Falling Action: all of the
action which follows the
climax
Exposition: the start of the
story, the situation before the
action starts
Resolution: the conclusion,
the tying together of all of
the threads
Conflict is the dramatic struggle
between two forces in a story.
Without conflict, there is no
plot.
External Conflict:
Man vs Man
Man vs Nature
Man vs Society
Internal Conflict:
Man vs Self
• During the Video: Keep notes on
what’s happening in the story
– make them detailed, at least 10
occurrences
• After Video: Draw a Triangle, dissect
the parts of the plot
• What is the conflict and theme?
• The plot structure: (exposition,
rising action, climax, falling action,
resolution)
• Conflict:
• Theme: What is the ending moral of
the story?
Example:
Draw a Triangle, and, in
groups or alone, identify:
• The plot structure: (exposition,
rising action, climax, falling action,
resolution
• Conflict
• Resolution: What is the ending moral
of the story?