Plot and Setting How an author creates his/her story. 13 September 2011

Participation Point Opportunity! What are the two primary types of conflict? Participation Point Opportunity! What are the two primary types of conflict? Once upon a time… ✘ Plot is the sequence of related events that make a story hang together (everything between “once upon a time” and “happily ever after”). ☠ Characters who experience a problem/conflict ☠ Conflict is resolved in some way ☠ Fills in interesting details along the way ☠ Takes place in a specific span of time

Building Blocks of Plot ✘ Part 1: Basic situation (exposition) ☠ Presents a main character who wants something very much and who encounters a conflict while trying to get it ☠ Conflict: a struggle between a character and some force External conflict: a struggle between a character and something outside himself/herself (another character, nature, God, fate, society, etc.) External conflict: a struggle between a character and something outside himself/herself (another character, nature, God, fate, society, etc.) Internal conflict: a struggle between a character and himself or herself (a struggle inside the character’s mind) Internal conflict: a struggle between a character and himself or herself (a struggle inside the character’s mind) Participation Point Opportunity! What’s the literary term for “main character”? Participation Point Opportunity! What’s the literary term for “main character”?

Building Blocks of Plot ✘ Part 2: Complications ☠ Problems that arise during a story that keep the main character from getting what he/she wants ✘ Part 3: Climax ☠ The story’s most exciting or suspenseful moment, when something happens that decides the outcome of the conflict Participation Point Opportunity! Were you paying attention? What are two types of external conflict? Participation Point Opportunity! Were you paying attention? What are two types of external conflict?

Building Blocks of Plot ✘ Part 4: Resolution (denouement) ☠ The last part of the plot, where the problems are resolved and the story ends Participation Point Opportunity! Complete this statement: a conflict keeps a character from getting what _____. Participation Point Opportunity! Complete this statement: a conflict keeps a character from getting what _____.

Playing with Time ✘ Chronological order: the author begins at the beginning of the story, then tells about each event in the order in which it happens ✘ Flashback: the present action in a story is interrupted with a scene or scenes from the past ✘ Flashforward: the present action in a story is interrupted with a scene or scenes from the future ✘ En media res: the author begins in the middle of the story and the beginning is filled in later (through flashbacks, dialogue, etc.)

Participation Point Opportunity! What is a “flashback”? Participation Point Opportunity! What is a “flashback”? What Happens Next?!? ✘ Foreshadowing: the writer plants clues that hint at something that will happen later in the plot ✘ Suspense: the quality in a story or play that makes the reader eager to discover what happens next and how it will end ☠ Authors often manipulate time and use techniques such as foreshadowing in order to build suspense (and keep us reading)

…in a land (or galaxy) far, far away… ✘ Setting: where and when a story takes place ☠ Puts us in the situation with the characters ☠ Includes customs (food, dress, behavior) ☠ Gives the story a truth or believability ☠ Allows us to visit faraway places and times without ever leaving home

Does Setting Matter? ✘ Setting helps create a story’s: ☠ Mood: how the story makes the reader feel while reading ☠ Tone: how the author feels about a given subject (a character, society, an idea, the reader, etc.) ☠ Characters: We all affect our environment in one way or another, so setting can provide clues as to what a character is like. ☠ Conflict: In some cases, the setting can provide the conflict for the main character, or reflect the character’s internal conflict.