This is rock-throwing time. Learn more our full rising action guide here. Dilemma or crisis, according to Story Grid. Learn more in our full dilemma guide here. This is the big moment! If you did it right, this is the worst i. Learn more in our full climax guide here.
Denouement or Resolution. Your readers can sit with your characters a little in their new normal, emotionally wrapping everything up so your reader can put the book away without flipping back through the pages to see what they missed.
Learn more in our full denouement guide here. Historical Note : One of the earliest writers to talk about this structure was Gustav Freytag, the German author who wrote in the middle of the 19th century. Falling action is usually described as the events to wind down the plot after the climax, but in most stories, the climax happens near the end of a story, usually in the third to last scene.
Thus, the falling action and denouement are virtually indistinguishable. To avoid confusion, we believe the falling action should be phased out from use as an element of plot. In a short story, however, these elements will be necessarily abbreviated.
For example, where rising action might have many complications in a novel, it might only have one complication in a short story. Stories have been told for thousands of years, and as they have evolved, they have started to fall into patterns, patters we call plot types or story types. These types tend to be about the same underlying, universal values and share similar structures, characters, and what Robert McKee calls obligatory scenes.
While plot types are related to genre, they also transcend genre and have been consistent throughout history, dealing with the timeless, universal values behind stories. We fully explore these values, each of these ten plot types, in our complete Plot Types guide here.
While all plots have a set structure, they can have many shapes or arcs. These arcs can be visualized in a plot diagram, like those below. Here are some of the most common story arcs, visualized in plot diagrams. For more on each of these, check out our complete story arcs guide here. Rags to riches is one of the most basic plot diagrams.
A character starts in a bad place at the start and things get better and better. This is a relatively simple plot diagram. Another of the most common arcs, double man in a hole is also one of the most popular shapes for stories, appearing in many bestselling novels and blockbuster films.
Another story arc with a happy ending, one especially popular in romantic comedies, is the Cinderella arc. All stories do not follow this exact shape, and by forcing stories into this shape, we only cause confusion. The one requirement is that a story must move, there must be some kind of change, but the shape that story takes is widely variable. For more on this, including the six main shapes stories can take, plus the three bestselling story arcs, check out our full story arc guide here.
Most great stories, if you dissect them, are made up on not one but two or three plots. Exposition: Lockwood arrives at Wuthering Heights to meet with Heathcliff, a wealthy landlord, about renting Thrushcross Grange, another manor just a few miles away.
While staying overnight, he sees the ghost of a woman named Catherine. After settling in at the Grange, Lockwood asks the housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to relay to him the story of Heathcliff and the Heights. Rising Action: Most of the rising action takes place in the past when Catherine and Heathcliff were young. We learn that the two children were very close. One day, a dog bite forces Catherine to stay for several weeks at the Grange where the Lintons live, leading her to become infatuated with the young Edgar Linton.
Feeling hurt and betrayed, Heathcliff runs away for three years, and Catherine and Edgar get married. Climax: Catherine becomes sick, gives birth to a daughter named Cathy, and dies. Heathcliff begs Catherine to never leave him, to haunt him—even if it drives him mad. Falling Action: Many years pass in Nelly's story. A chain of events allows Heathcliff to gain control of both the Heights and the Grange.
He then forces the young Cathy to live with him at the Heights and act as a servant. Lockwood leaves the Grange to return to London. Resolution: Six months later, Lockwood goes back to see Nelly and learns that Heathcliff, still heartbroken and now tired of seeking revenge, has died.
Cathy and Hareton fall in love and plan to get married; they inherit the Grange and the Heights. Lockwood visits the graves of Catherine and Heathcliff, noting that both are finally at peace. Exposition: Teenager Carrie is an outcast and lives with her controlling, fiercely religious mother. One day, she starts her period in the showers at school after P. Not knowing what menstruation is, Carrie becomes frantic; this causes other students to make fun of her and pelt her with sanitary products.
Around this time, Carrie discovers that she has telekinetic powers. Rising Action: Carrie practices her telekinesis, which grows stronger. The students who previously tormented Carrie in the locker room are punished by their teacher.
One girl, Sue, feels remorseful and asks her boyfriend, Tommy, to take Carrie to the prom. But another girl, Chris, wants revenge against Carrie and plans to rig the prom queen election so that Carrie wins.
Carrie attends the prom with Tommy and things go well—at first. Everybody laughs at Carrie, who goes mad and begins using her telekinesis to start fires and kill everyone in sight. Falling Action: Carrie returns home and is attacked by her mother.
She kills her mother and then goes outside again, this time killing Chris and Billy. As Carrie lay dying, Sue comes over to her and Carrie realizes that Sue never intended to hurt her. She dies. Resolution: The survivors in the town must come to terms with the havoc Carrie wrought. Some feel guilty for not having helped Carrie sooner; Sue goes to a psychiatric hospital. Exposition: Bella Swan is a high school junior who moves to live with her father in a remote town in Washington State.
She meets a strange boy named Edward, and after an initially awkward meeting, the two start to become friends. One day, Edward successfully uses his bare hands to stop a car from crushing Bella, making her realize that something is very different about this boy. Rising Action: Bella discovers that Edward is a vampire after doing some research and asking him questions.
The two develop strong romantic feelings and quickly fall in love. When playing baseball together, however, they end up attracting a gang of non-vegetarian vampires. One of these vampires, James, notices that Bella is a human and decides to kill her. Edward and his family work hard to protect Bella, but James lures her to him by making her believe he has kidnapped her mother. Climax: Tricked by James, Bella is attacked and fed on. At this moment, Edward and his family arrive and kill James.
Bella nearly dies from the vampire venom in her blood, but Edward sucks it out, saving her life. Falling Action: Bella wakes up in the hospital, heavily injured but alive. She still wants to be in a relationship with Edward, despite the risks involved, and the two agree to stay together. Resolution: Months later, Edward takes Bella to the prom. The two have a good time.
Bella tells Edward that she wants him to turn her into a vampire right then and there, but he refuses and pretends to bite her neck instead. Despite what some critics might claim, Twilight does, in fact, have a plot.
What is plot? Exposition, or the introduction, is just one of a plot's many parts. Exposition sets up the story, including the setting, conflict and characters. This vital part of the plot not only indicates what the story will be about, but also draws the reader into the story. The exposition sets the stage for what is next: rising action, turning point or climax, falling action and denouement or conclusion. Just because the exposition is the beginning of the story doesn't mean that the exposition starts at the actual beginning of the story.
Many longer works begin when or right before the conflict or problem begins. Other stories, especially shorter works, however, may start in the middle of the conflict, a technique called "in medias res.
Some stories may even begin at the ending and use flashbacks to tell the story. Whichever technique is used, the elements remain the same: the beginning must introduce the setting, characters and conflict. The main purpose of exposition is to establish what the story is about. The introduction should include the main character. While character development happens throughout a story, the introduction will show some of that character's qualities.
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