Story Elements Notes and Practice (In-Depth)

What Is Plot?

Building Block 1: Conflict

Building Block 2: Events

Building Block 3: Climax

Building Block 4: Resolution

Practice

Plot: A Story’s Building Blocks

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Plot is what happens in a story.

What Is Plot?

Listen to this group of students talking about the plot of a movie.

Most plots have four parts, which are like building blocks.

Exposition Jen wants her soccer team to win the state championship.

Rising Action

Climax

Her team loses a game, then wins five games.

The team makes it to finals—and wins!

Resolution Jen goes home happy.

What Is Plot?

You can use a simple plot diagram to show what happens in a story.

• It is the “high point”—the part where the conflict in the story is settled.

Why does the climax of the story appear at the top of the diagram?

• All the other events lead up to it.

What Is Plot?

You can use a simple plot diagram to show what happens in a story.

Why is the basic situation (exposition) at the bottom of the diagram?

• All the events grow out of it.

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What Is Plot?

• It is the first thing you read—it sets the stage for the action.

A conflict is a struggle between opposing characters or opposing forces.

The conflict is usually revealed at the beginning of a story as part of the basic situation.


In an external conflict, characters struggle against something or someone outside themselves.

Internal conflicts happen inside a character’s mind.


Look carefully at each picture below. Decide whether the picture best represents an external conflict or an internal conflict.

Be prepared to explain your answers.


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Each plot includes a series of events that make it hard for the characters to solve their problems or work out their conflicts.

Sometimes these events are called complications.


If there were no complications, a character would solve the problem too quickly, and there would be no suspense in the story.

Suspense is what keeps you reading to figure out what is going to happen next.


Another way that writers create suspense in a story is to foreshadow, or hint at, future events.

A writer uses foreshadowing to plant interesting clues for the reader.

If someone throws a brick through a character’s window, we have a hint that something dangerous may happen in the character’s future.


Study the picture below. What does this character want? What complication prevents him from getting what he wants?


Read these sentences from stories in Collection 1. Which sentences are examples of foreshadowing?

In the room next to ours I found a message scrawled on the wall. “Beware the Sentinel,” it said in big black letters.

“Duffy’s Jacket”

He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail but quite like a weasel in his head and his habits.

“Rikki-tikki-tavi”

Three Skeleton Key . . . earned its name from the story of the three convicts who, escaping . . . in a stolen dugout canoe, were wrecked on the rock during the night, managed to escape the sea, but eventually died of hunger and thirst.

“Three Skeleton Key”


These two passages are examples of foreshadowing.

In the room next to ours I found a message scrawled on the wall. “Beware the Sentinel,” it said in big black letters.

“Duffy’s Jacket”

Three Skeleton Key . . . earned its name from the story of the three convicts who, escaping . . . in a stolen dugout canoe, were wrecked on the rock . . . “Three Skeleton Key”

This sentence suggests that a dangerous person or animal is lurking around. The sentence foreshadows an encounter with the Sentinel.

This passage suggests that “Three Skeleton Key” is a story about an island, or “key,” with a frightening reputation.

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The third part of plot is the climax. The climax is the story’s most exciting or emotional moment.

Usually the story’s conflict is resolved during the scene that is the climax.


Which of these scenes seems more like the climax of a story?

In scene A, a soccer player is about to make a goal—perhaps the winning goal of the game. Scene A best represents the climax—or most exciting part—of a story about a soccer team.

A B

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The resolution is the last part of the story—where the loose ends of the plot are tied up and the story ends.

During the resolution, we often find out what happened to the characters after their conflict was resolved.

Terrence and his big brother walked home together, still talking about their amazing game against the neighborhood champs.


Here are some examples of story resolutions. Do you recognize the stories?

The prince and the princess lived happily ever after. The king would allow no frog in his kingdom to be harmed—or kissed.

The children went home with their woodcutter father. Their stepmother was never seen again. The house made of candy was sold for parts to the village baker.

After losing so much, the three brothers started a charity organization to build more sturdy houses for other victims of wolf-wind.

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2. What is the conflict in this story?

3. Is it an internal or external conflict?

1. What does each character want?

Let’s Try ItPractice

“Hi there, Red,” said a wolf to a little girl in a red velvet hood. “How’d ya like a ride on my motorcycle?” “Thank you, sir, but I can’t,” replied Little Red Riding Hood. “As you can see, I’m carrying this basket of ginger cookies to my grandmother, and I can’t be late.” “Tell you what, Red. You just hop on the back, and I’ll run you over to Granny’s in five seconds flat.” “My grandmother lives way out at the end of Lonely Road,” Red protested. “It’s miles and miles.” “This here motorcycle eats miles.” “No, thank you,” said Little Red Riding Hood. “I’ve made up my mind.”

Let’s Try It

4. Find an example of foreshadowing in this part of the story.

Practice

“Hi there, Red,” said a wolf to a little girl in a red velvet hood. “How’d ya like a ride on my motorcycle?” “Thank you, sir, but I can’t,” replied Little Red Riding Hood. “As you can see, I’m carrying this basket of ginger cookies to my grandmother, and I can’t be late.” “Tell you what, Red. You just hop on the back, and I’ll run you over to Granny’s in five seconds flat.” “My grandmother lives way out at the end of Lonely Road,” Red protested. “It’s miles and miles.” “This here motorcycle eats miles.” “No, thank you,” said Little Red Riding Hood. “I’ve made up my mind.”

Let’s Try It

“Suit yourself,” chuckled the wolf, who had thought of a wicked plan. He would go alone to the end of Lonely Road, gobble up Red’s grandma, and then, when the little girl turned up, he would gobble her up too. So, arriving at the last house on Lonely Road, the wolf raced his engine, scaring Grandma out her back door and under the woodshed. The wolf was puzzled to find the house empty, but he put on Grandma’s nightcap and nightshirt and climbed into the bed to wait for Red. It was nearly dark when Red arrived, but as she approached her grandma’s bed, she sensed something was wrong.

5. What complications have occurred in the story so far? (What events have prevented the wolf from eating Little Red Riding Hood?)

Practice

Let’s Try It

6. The boldface words are examples of ____________.

Practice

“Suit yourself,” chuckled the wolf, who had thought of a wicked plan. He would go alone to the end of Lonely Road, gobble up Red’s grandma, and then, when the little girl turned up, he would gobble her up too. So, arriving at the last house on Lonely Road, the wolf raced his engine, scaring Grandma out her back door and under the woodshed. The wolf was puzzled to find the house empty, but he put on Grandma’s nightcap and nightshirt and climbed into the bed to wait for Red. It was nearly dark when Red arrived, but as she approached her grandma’s bed, she sensed something was wrong.

Let’s Try It

“Are you all right, Granny?” Red asked. “Your eyes look bloodshot.” “All the better to see you with,” replied the wolf. “And your teeth—suddenly they look like fangs.” “All the better to eat—” the wolf began, but he stopped at the sound of his motorcycle engine thundering in the front yard. “Wait right there, Red,” said the wolf, bounding from the bed.

7. What part of the plot is about to happen?

Practice

Let’s Try It

“All the better to eat—” the wolf began, but he stopped at the sound of his motorcycle engine thundering in the front yard. “Wait right there, Red,” said the wolf, bounding from the bed. The wolf was startled to find Grandma sitting on the motorcycle. “Hey!” he shouted. “Stop fooling with my bike.” As he lunged for her, Grandma found the gearshift, and the cycle leapt forward, scooping the wolf up on its handlebars and hurling him into a giant thorn bush—

8. What words and phrases make this part of the story exciting?

Practice

Let’s Try It9. How is the story’s conflict resolved?

10. Write a different resolution for the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

The wolf . . .

Granny . . .

Red . . .

The motorcycle . . .

Practice

“Hey!” he shouted. “Stop fooling with my bike.” As he lunged for her, Grandma found the gearshift, and the cycle leapt forward, scooping the wolf up on its handlebars and hurling him into a giant thorn bush—which is where the police found him when they arrived. The wolf was brought to trial and sent to prison. Granny became a popular guest on talk shows. Red lived happily ever after.

On Your Own

Think about a story you know well—maybe a movie or a TV show or a novel. Show the story’s main events in a diagram like the one on the right.

Practice

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The End

Plot: A Story’s Building Blocks

Education

Story Elements Notes and Practice (In-Depth)