Plot
Reading Standard 3.2: Identify the events
that advance the plot and determine how
each event explains past or present action(s)
or foreshadows action(s)
What is plot?
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story’s skeleton
series of related events
– each growing out of another
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generally 5 parts
important elements
What is the purpose of
plot?
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make story more compelling
involves reader in story
suspense
– keeps reader on edge of seat
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foreshadowing
– gives reader clues to future events
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twists, turns, surprise endings
Basic Plot Parts
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Exposition
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– Problem introduced
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Rising Action
– To be continued…
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– Problem gets worse
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Suspense
Foreshadowing
Climax
Falling Action
– Problem = ripples in
a pond
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Resolution
– Finale
Exposition
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Basic situation
– Central conflict
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Setting
Introduces main characters
What they want
Potential conflicts
Exposition
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“Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra
before…He knew that all a grown
mongoose’s business in life was to
fight and eat snakes.”
– “Rikki-tikki-tavi”
Exposition
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“I’m not sure I can tell you what you want to know
about my brother; but everything about the pet fox
is important, so I’ll tell all that from the beginning.
It goes back to a winter afternoon after I’d hunted
the woods all day for a sign of our lost pet. I
remember the way my mother looked up as I came
into the kitchen. Without my speaking, she knew
what had happened. For six hours I had walked,
reading signs, looking for a delicate print in the
damp soil or even a hair that might have told of a
red fox passing that way—but I had found
nothing.”
– “Last Cover” by Paul Annixter
5 Types of Conflict

External Conflict
– Man vs man
– Man vs nature
– Man vs fate
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Internal Conflict
– Man vs himself
– Man vs society

“She saw herself three
years later, marching
for graduation,
everyone taking
photos, smiling,
everyone happy,
except she wouldn’t
be because she’d
remember having
cheated that time
back in ninth grade.”
– “The Dive” by Rene
Saldana Jr.
Rising Action
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Complications for main character
“Roadblocks” create struggle
Tension increases
Past events hint/foreshadow future
actions
Rising Action
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“Just then the wind rose and the
Cornelius de Witt changed course,
leaned to port, and headed straight for
us once more.”
– “Three Skeleton Key” by George G.
Toudouze
Rising Action
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“One evening he was returning home along the river path
when he saw Leita in front of him, down by the water. A swan
had sailed up to the verge and she had her arms round its
neck and the swan’s head rested against her cheek. She was
weeping, and as he came nearer he saw that tears were
rolling, too, from the swan’s eyes.
“Leita, what is it?” he asked, very troubled.
“This is my sister,” she answered. “I can’t bear being
separated from her.”
Now he understood that Leita was really a swan from the
forest, and this made him very sad because when a human
being marries a bird it always leads to sorrow.”
– “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken
Climax
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Most suspenseful
Outcome of conflict
decided
To be continued…
Turning point
Change for main
character
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“Rikki-tikki shook
some of the dust
out of his fur and
sneezed. “It is all
over,” he said. “The
widow will never
come out again.”
– “Rikki-tikki-tavi” by
Rudyard Kipling
Falling Action
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Eases suspense
– Tension lessons
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How main character begins to resolve
conflict
Resolution
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Ties up loose ends
May have twist or
surprise ending
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“Melly could smell
the sweetness of
the flowers and
herbs wafting from
across the street.
She smiled, closed
her eyes, and
slept.”
– “The Dive” by Rene
Saldana Jr.
Basic Plot Parts
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Exposition
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– Problem introduced

Rising Action
– To be continued…

– Problem gets worse


Suspense
Foreshadowing
Climax
Falling Action
– Problem = ripples in
a pond

Resolution
– Finale
Plot at a Glance