Two-Column Notes
A conversation with your novel focusing on Plot Elements
You will need to write your quotes and responses on separate sheets of paper.
Use brief passages from the story to
complete this side. Include page numbers.
1. Exposition: or introduction, is the part of
the work that introduces the characters,
setting, and basic situation.
Answer the questions or explain your quotes on
this side.
Explain your understanding of the exposition.
2. Setting: the time and place. Record words
or phrases that provide clues to the main
location of the story.
How is the setting important to the overall story?
How would a different setting change the conflict?
3. Character Development: What the main
character thinks, says and does, and what
others say about the main character.
What can you infer or guess about the main
character from the passages you have quoted?
4. Diction, syntax, and Imagery: Find
examples of passages created to achieve a
specific effect.
What is the effect of the word choice, sentence
structure, and/or imagery in the passages you have
selected?
5. Main Conflict: the problem that drives the
action.
Make a personal connection or comment to the
main character’s problem.
6. Secondary Conflict: Other problems in the
story?
Explain why this is a conflict, and whether it is
internal or external.
7. Climax: Turning point in the story, when
the conflict is solved.
Explain why this is the turning point. What/who will
be changed by this event?
8. Resolution: the outcome for the major
characters as a result of the conflict’s ending.
Why do you feel this is the resolution?
9. Theme: universal message or a lesson
learned
Connect this theme to the world beyond this book.
10. Coming of age
What has caused the protagonist to change, grow,
or mature? How might he/she be different after
the coming of age event(s)?
D