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Plot is the series of events in a story.
Plot is driven by conflict and suspense, and it engages readers as they ask questions like, “What will happen next?” and “How will it affect the characters?”
Suspense is a sense of anticipation or excitement that a reader feels when they are wondering about what will happen, and how the characters will deal with the changes, and be changed by the events in the story.
Some of the key elements of plot are:
· Exposition: The opening of the story, which introduces and exposes characters, sets the scene, and introduces us to the conflict.
· Conflict: The major challenge or problem in the story. It’s what causes the events to rise, or to become more suspenseful.
· Rising action: Events in the story with increasing levels of suspense, leading to the climax.
· Climax: The story’s crisis moment. The two opposing forces finally meet and confront their conflicts. It’s the most exciting part of the story.
· Falling action: Happens after the climax, after success of failure has been met, and the story is winding down.
· “Resolution”: Some degree of closure as the story ends intentionally. You’ll notice that I put “resolution” in quotation marks, and that’s because it doesn’t meant that everything gets resolved. In fact, in most literary stories, authors don’t try to tie up all the loose ends for us. That’s what makes them realistic.
Some other elements of plot include:
· Flashbacks: An author might include details or events from back in time, to reveal additional information about characters or the conflict.
· Foreshadowing: Hinting about what’s coming up in the plot, helping to build suspense.
Protagonist: The character that we are supposed to relate to as we are reading the story. They are driving the story, and they are driven by an internal objective: they want or need something. That want leads to the central conflict in the story. Usually, the protagonist changes as a result of what they face in the story. This is revealed in the falling action or resolution.