Elements of an Imaginative Story Review

Plot

Plot is the literary element that describes the structure of a story. It shows arrangement of events and actions within a story.

Exposition: the start of the story, the situation before the action starts

Rising Action: the series of conflicts and crisis in the story that lead to the climax

Climax: the turning point, the most intense moment—either mentally or in action

Falling Action: all of the action which follows the climax

Resolution: the conclusion, the tying together of all of the threads

Plot Components

Plot: ConflictConflict is the dramatic struggle between two forces in a story. Without conflict, there is no plot.

Plot: Types of Conflict

Character vs Nature

Character vs Society

Character vs Self

Character vs Character

Setting• The setting is the environment in which a story or event takes

place.

• A powerful tool authors use to create atmosphere and make the story come alive.

• Ask yourself these questions to help you recognize and understand setting:– Where is it?– When is it?– What is the weather like?– What are the social conditions?– What is the landscape or environment like?– What special details make the setting vivid?

"When the short days of winter came dusk fell before we had well eaten our dinners. When we met in the street the houses had grown somber. The space of sky above us was the color of ever-changing violet and towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns. The cold air stung us and we played till our bodies glowed. Our shouts echoed in the silent streets. The career of our play brought us through the dark muddy lanes behind the houses where we ran the gauntlet of the rough tribes from the cottages, to the back doors of the dark dripping gardens where odors arose from the ash pits, to the dark odorous stables where a coachman smoothed and combed the horse or shook music from the buckled harness."

Where is it? In a neighborhood

When is it? Wintertime in the evening, during an era when it was still common to see driving horses—maybe the late 1800s.

What is the weather like? Cold, and the night falls early.What are the social conditions? In this neighborhood it seems people mostly stay

inside in the evening; the narrator is aware of "rough tribes from the cottages" nearby—probably members of a lower social class.

What is the landscape or environment like? Dark and quiet, with a sense of heaviness that contrasts with the narrator's shouting and playing.

What special details make the setting vivid? Sensory details: the violet color of the sky, the dim lanterns, the stinging cold, the ash pits' odors, the music of the horse's harness.

ImageryLanguage that describes something that can be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled.

– Sight-The sun’s beams shimmered and danced on the ocean’s gentle waves.

– Smell- The fragrant roses drifted through the room. – Sound- They could hear the eerie of his knife upon their door.– Taste- The cheesecake’s exquisite flavor traveled from his

tongue to his spine.– Touch- The icy breeze gently brushed against the hair on her

neck.

Mood and Tone

• Mood is the emotions that you feel while you are reading. Some literature makes you feel sad, others joyful, still others, angry.

• Tone is the attitude that an author takes toward the audience, the subject, or the character. Tone is conveyed through the author's words and details.

Mood and Tone• Tone is often created using plot and literary devices.

• Mood comes more from word choice and sentence structure. Mood can be created in descriptions of the surroundings, feelings of the characters and actions that take place.

• Choosing appropriate words for different events will

create the mood that is right for a particular scene.

Developing Characters

– Actions (What they do)

– Speech (What they say)

– Reactions from other characters (What others felt about them)

– Inner thoughts (What they think to themselves)

Figurative Language

Simile- a comparison between two unlike things using like or as.The moon was round and as my Sunday hat.Life is like a box of chocolates.

Hyperbole- An extreme exaggerationMy dog is as big as a ten-ton elephant.I am so hungry I could eat a horse!

Alliteration- Repetition of the same sound at the beginning of two or more words that are next to each other or near each other.Drat! I’d deem that a dastardly deed, Duane!

Metaphor- Comparison of two different things to show a likeness between them that does not use like or as.

Personification- Giving human qualities to an animal, object, or idea. The tree sighed and sadly waved its arms in farewell.

Dialogue• Dialogue is the part of the narrative that

indicates conversation between two or more characters.

• Why use dialogue?– By having your character speak, you can give the

readers some insight into the character’s personality.

– Having characters speak makes the story less boring--helps bring the characters to life.

– Having your characters speak can help you build suspense.

Rules for Written Dialogue1. A character’s direct speech is always in quotation marks.

2. A character’s direct speech is always separated from any indirect speech by a comma or an end mark inside the quotation marks.

3. If a character delivers direct speech in multiple, uninterrupted sentences, only a single set of quotation marks is required.4. New paragraph every time there is a change of speaker.