PlotThe exposition is the beginning of the story, where you are introduced to the setting and characters, as well as the basic situation.
Soon, a complication is thrown into the story, one that is usually the catalyst for the major conflict. This first complication is sometimes referred to as the initial or inciting incident--it sets the plot in motion. Once the plot is in motion, the next series of events are referred to as the rising action. If you think of the plot as a long rope, all of these events serve to tie the rope further into knots. The rising action leads to the climax of the story, which is the turning point. This is where the main conflict of the story and the character's attempts to resolve them comes to a head. This is the moment that is most likely to engage the emotions of the reader. After the climax, the rope starts to unravel itself as it nears the ending. These actions are the falling action. There can be a lot happening here, or hardly anything. The resolution, the the denouement, is the conclusion of the story. In most cases, the conflicts will be resolved (for better or worse,) and typically the characters have grown or changed in some way due to their struggles. ConflictConflict can be divided into two categories: internal and external conflict. Internal conflict is tension happening within a single character (character vs. self). External conflict is when a character experiences tension outside of itself. External conflict can come in a variety of forms, but the main ones are character vs character, character vs nature, and character vs society.
A story revolves around its conflict--in fact, there is no story if there is no conflict. And a story can have several different types of conflicts within it. While there may be just one main conflict, there are likely to be a number of co-existing minor ones as well. |
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