The Four Parts to a Story

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The Four Parts to a Story

• All Secrets Revealed

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I. Setting

• Time when in history the story takes place
• Also includes over what time frame the story
  takes place.
• Place where the story takes place
• Social Conditions daily life of the characters
• Social Class
• Gender
• Education Level
• Occupation/s
• Mental/Physical Disabilities

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II. Characterization

• Types of Characters
• Protagonist main person in the story
• May or my not be a hero
• person on a quest for truth, beauty, or to save
  his/her society.
• Antagonist causes the conflicts/obstacles in
  opposition to the protagonist
• May or may not be a villain
• does evil for evils sake
• Anti-hero a character with some of the qualities
  of a villain, up to and including brutality,
  pessimism, and heartlessness, but with the
  motivations of a typical hero
• Supporting Character fairly important, but not a
  leading character

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Character Labels Applies to all types of
characters

• Flat a character w/out much development, usually
  a minor one
• Round a character with great development,
  usually a major one
• Static a character that does not change
  throughout the course of story
• Dynamic a character that changes throughout the
  course of a story
• Stock basically a stereotype

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Four Ways to Find Character Traits

1. Physical description of character
2. What the character does/does not do
3. What the character says/thinks
4. What others say about the character

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III. Conflict

• Definition struggle between two opposing forces
• Internal
• Character vs. Self Outside elements cause
  tension within a character.
• The character may have to struggle against a
  personality defect or struggle spiritually or
  emotionally.

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• External
• Character vs. Character
• Character vs. Nature
• Character vs. Society
• A character struggles with a group of people or a
  belief system held by his/her society.
• Character vs. Science/Technology

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IV. Plot
- The events of a story in sequence
C
D
B
E
A
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A. Exposition

• Characters are introduced.
• Setting is established.
• Introduced to the main conflict (main problem).
• Add all 3 Mood or Atmosphere feeling that is
  created at the beginning of a story

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Inciting Incident/Action/Force
Something happens that gets the action moving,
usually in the first three chapters of a novel or
the first act of a play.
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B. Rising Action

• Event that begins to develop the main conflict(s)

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C. Climax

• Turning point of the story
• Usually the main character comes face to face
  with a conflict.
• The main character will change in some way.

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D. Falling Action

• Loose ends of the plot are tied up.
• Consequences of the climax
• The conflict(s) and climax are taken care of.

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E. Final Crisis

• Sometimes called mini climax
• Occurs mainly in plays and novels, but not a
  requirement
• Final test/challenge/moment of suspense that will
  test the morality of the protagonist and
  supporting characters

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E. Dénouement or Resolution

• The story comes to a reasonable ending.
• Reasonable is determined by what makes sense
  based on the events of the story up to this point.

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• By studying all four of these elements, one can
  conclude a theme or themes that the author has
  created.
• Theme a major idea that an author develops in
  his/her writing written in a declarative
  sentence
• Can include
• Moral lesson
• Comment author is making on society

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Genres of Literature

• Genre type of literary work
• Fiction
• Novel
• Short story
• Play
• Folktales/Fables
• Fiction can be further divided into
• Realistic every day situations
• Gothic supernatural elements
• Fantasy supernatural elements plus supernatural
  creatures and settings
• Science Fiction heavy on technology usually
  set in the future
• Comedy humorous situations positive ending for
  the protagonist

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• Nonfiction
• Essay
• Narrative
• Persuasive
• Article in newspaper or magazine
• Biography
• Autobiography/Memoir
• Journal
• Letter
• Speech
• Poetry