Plot

Lesson 3
Assignment 6-3

Target 

Assignment


Plot is a series of causes and effects or conflicts and consequences.
The pattern for narrative comes from ancient Greek dramas that had a beginning (exposition), middle (action rising to climax), and end (action falling to conclusion).



The plot line of a novel follows this format: 

  1.  Opening or Exposition 
  2.   Inciting Incident
  3.   Rising Action 
  4.   Climax 
  5.   Falling Action
  6.   Resolution

Novel Opening/Exposition

       




"Orchids make me anxious. It's not just the glamorous good looks, the frail stems, the supermodel attitude. It's their habit of dropping dead. Or worse: near dead." 
-Leah Eskin (Chicago Tribune Food Column) 

OR
“All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, "Oh, why can't you remain like this for ever!" ...Two is the beginning of the end.” 
- J. M. Barie Peter Pan 
 
i. Irony or surprise (an event or object seems perfect or ordinary until the shocking twist)


Salvo is standing nearly fourteen hundred feet above solid ground.  It is the highest walk Salvo has ever done, but height is unimportant; you're just as dead if you fall from forty-four feet as you are from fourteen hundred.  Distance-wise, Salvo has walked two and even three times as far, which is tricky because the longer the wire, the greater the danger it will snap.  A very long wire will sag in the middle, and there are few things more difficult than walking the downhill slope of a wire...Here he is timeless, one man on a wire far above it all, in a separate place. He is not free, but as free as he will ever be. 

-Steven Galloway Ascension ch. 1 

ii. Clear and simple sentences

iii. Hints and suggestions

iv. Clear descriptions 

v. Layers of meaning added through symbolism, complex sentences, or thought-provoking ideas.





Saskatchewan: "Original name: Ksiskatchewanisipi. 
Are you serious? Yes. 
Why did they change it? Because they didn't want to have a name that was difficult to pronounce or spell. 
Are you kidding? No." 

-Will Ferguson How to Be a Canadian: Even if you Already Are One
vi. Short dramatic sentences 
vii.  Questions to engage the reader



 "Banished!" The wild wind shrieked as it tore at my face. 
"Banished!" the savage waves roared as they drenched me with freezing water.
"Banished!" they howled. "Banished!"
There is no sadder word in the English language. The very sound of it — like echoing iron gates crashing closed behind you; like steel bolts being shot shut — makes your hair stand on end, doesn't it?
"Banished!"
-Alan Bradley As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust

viii. Powerful verbs 

ix. Dramatic vocabulary 

x. Imagery

Novel Middle - Rising Action

            
From the beginning to the middle of the story, the plot builds through conflict. 

Previously, you have learned three types of conflict:                

  • Person vs. Person: The character has a problem with another person or a group of people.
  • Person vs. Environment: The character has a problem with his or her environment (a jungle, desert, forest, snowstorm, hurricane, flood, aliens, or even biotechnology).
  • Person vs. Self:  The character has a problem within himself or herself. 

Plot Types


  1.  Comedy - Shakespeare's love stories involve mistaken identities and humorous mix-ups that are resolved happily in the end. Gordon Korman novels are often comedies. 
  2.  The Journey and Return - The main character, such as Alice in Alice in Wonderland or Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, enters a new world, setting, or experience and encounters many tests.  After the character is rewarded, and transformed by the experiences he or she returns to the ordinary world. 
  3.  Mystery - A baffling crime has been committed and the main character must solve the puzzle, as in Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Benedict or Flavia de Luce mysteries. 
  4.  The Outsider - The main character, like "Little Red Riding Hood" or "Hansel and Gretel", must protect family or home by killing wolves, witches, monsters, or aliens. 
  5.  The Quest - The main character, such as Frodo, the Pevensies,  Indiana Jones, or Monty Python tries to reach an important object, such as the Holy Grail, five magical rings etc.  Along the way, the main character and friends face numerous dangers. 

  6.  Rags to Riches - The main protagonist, such as  Cinderella or Aladdin, begins with nothing, grows as a person and gains riches, a kingdom, and the perfect mate. 
  7.  Rebirth - A villain becomes a more likeable person by the end of the story.  Scrooge in A Christmas Carol is a good example of rebirth.
  8.  Tragedy - Shakespeare's sad tales involve heroes who have one character flaw.  They are tripped up and come to a bad end because of this flaw.  Other stories that feature tragedy are Tuck Everlasting, Romeo and Juliet, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and  The Book Thief.

Sub-Plot



Novels always have more than one kind of conflict.
A sub-plot
  • is a minor story or parallel story within the main story 
  • is less important than the main plot is 
  • exposes individual stories of supporting characters in the novel 
  • is different from the main plot, but it has a similar theme to that of the main plot



         



Writers develop conflicts by adding
  • unexpected complications
  • plot twists
  • moments in which suspense is lessened (called tension relief) and then increased until it moves to the climax 

Novel End - Climax, Falling Action. Resolution



The story is over when conflicts are resolved. The key question is How did the protagonist resolve his or her conflict? The main character(s) in the novel has been
  • striving toward a goal
  • overcoming obstacles in pursuit of a goal
  • solving a mystery
  • resolving a problem
  • bringing order to chaos 
  • completing the journey
  • being pursued or escaping a situation
  • growing from innocence to experience 
  • growing personally or inwardly 




    1.  Comic Resolution: The story has a happy ending.  The main character is better off than he or she was when the story began.  The ending may be based on an improbably ending such as a fairy tale ‘happily ever after’. This does not mean the ending comes out of the blue!  Your conclusion must be logical and appropriate to what has come before. 
    2.  Tragic Resolution: The story has an unhappy ending.  The main character is worse off than when he or she was the story began, as in the last line of the novel The Book Thief: "A Last Note from Your Narrator: I am haunted by humans." The Book Thief Markus Zusak 
    3.  Linear Resolution: The protagonist is unchanged by the events in the story, as in "Tomorrow, I'll think of some way to get him back.  After all, tomorrow is another day." Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell 
    4.  Dénouement: The story may conclude with tying up loose ends.  The author may provide information about each of the characters' future lives.  The author may provide information on how the mystery was solved.

       Go to Assignment 6-3 and complete it now.

    When you have completed all parts of Assignment 3,

    • be sure you have renamed your file (YOURNAME)la 9-6-3
    • upload the completed assignment into the Assignment 6-3 file on the next page.
    Check your Submission box in a few days for your marked assignment with feedback from your teacher.