1. Setting: time, location, and atmosphere in which a story occurs
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?
Authors often use descriptions of landscape, scenery, buildings, seasons or weather to provide a strong sense of setting.

2. Plot: the sequence of events that relate to the central theme, conflict, or idea. 
Introduction / Exposition - beginning of the story where the characters and the setting are revealed.
Rising Action - events in the story become complicated and the conflict in the story is revealed rising to the turning point
Climax - highest point of interest and the turning point of the story; protagonist must make a decision and take action 
Falling action - events and complications begin to resolve themselves as a result of the climax; reader may be able to anticipate events by whether the conflict was resolved or not
Denouement / Conclusion - the final outcomes or untangling of events in the story

3. Climax The climax is a three-fold phenomenon:
1) The main character receives new information .
2)  The main character may accept this information, or perhaps realizes it but does not agree with it.
3)  The main character acts by making a choice that determines whether or not he/she gains the objective.

4. Conflict: the opposition of forces which ties one incident to another and makes the plot move; a struggle between people or things
Person vs. Person (physical) – protagonist struggles with his/her physical strength against other humans
Person vs. Circumstances (classical) – protagonist struggles against fate, or the circumstances of life facing him/her
Person vs. Society (social) – protagonist struggles against ideas, practices, traditions, or customs
Person vs. Self (psychological) -  protagonist struggles with himself/herself; with his/her own soul, ideas of right or wrong, physical limitations, choices, etc.
Person vs. Nature – protagonist struggles against forces of nature or animals

5. Character: Persons in a work of fiction (protagonist, antagonist, minor characters)
PROTAGONIST : character who is clearly central to the story; all major events have some importance to this character ; develops over duration of the story; faces a conflict
The opposition to the main character is called the ANTAGONIST.

6. Characterization: the information the author gives about the characters themselves. 
his/her physical appearance
what he/she says, thinks, feels and dreams
what he/she does or does not do
what others say about him/her and how others react to him/her

7. Narrative Point of View: the angle from which the story is told
Innocent Eye - told through the eyes of a child (his/her judgment being different from that of an adult)
First Person - told by the protagonist or one of the characters who interacts closely with the protagonist; requires use of pronouns I, me, we, and us; reader experiences the story as the narrator experiences it and only knows what the narrator says or feels

8. Narrative Point of View (con’t)
Omniscient Limited - story told in third person (they, she, he, it); reader only knows the thoughts of a single character
Omniscient Objective – story told in the third person, but the view can change to any character at anytime; there is no development or interpretation of  characters’ thoughts.

9. Theme: story’s controlling idea or central insight or belief; the underlying meaning or main idea that the author is trying to convey.