Elements of a Story

1. Plot
The plot is the events or actions that drive your
story — it describes the “what” of your tale. The plot
lets the reader know what’s happening, describes
the problems your characters are trying to solve, and
gives the details on how they attempt to solve them.
Elements of Plot

To keep your reader engaged and interested, your

story should include these plot
elements: exposition, rising action, climax, falling
action, and resolution. Let’s explore each one.

1. Exposition
Exposition gives the reader the background info
they need to jump right into your story’s world. This
is often found towards the beginning of your story.
Even if you choose to jump right into the action,
somewhere along the way your reader needs to get a
crash course on your characters’ or setting’s history.

Exposition can be given in a variety of ways. Some

examples include:
Flashbacks-a short part of a movie, story, or play
that goes back to events in the past
Character dialogue
Letters from the past
Setting or character descriptions-characterization
  Point of View (aka POV, such as the narrator or
main character’s thoughts)

2. Rising Action
The rising action is the moments in your story that
lead up to the climax — choices your main
characters have made and the events happening that
are at odds with your characters’ goals. This is where
your story builds and your reader begins to invest in
your characters.
This is likely going to be the longest section of your
story. A whole lot happens between the start of the
novel and that moment, but often you’ll find yourself
holding your breath and waiting to see what will
happen. That is the power of rising action.

3. Climax
This is it — the primary turning point and what
your story has been building towards. What are
your main characters going to do? Will they succeed
or fail? Typical climaxes include victories or defeats.
The main goal of the climax is to resolve the conflict,
but whether that positively or negatively affects your
character is up to you. Or maybe it’s not that simple.

4. Falling Action
Now that the main conflict is resolved, it’s time
to begin wrapping everything up. The falling action
is a great time to tie up any loose ends while also
giving your characters a chance to deal with the
aftermath of the climax.
5. Resolution
It’s time to end your tale! If you still have
unanswered questions in your plot, answer them
now. The resolution is also the time to show the
next step in your characters’ lives. Do they live
happily ever after? Is a new era dawning? Or do they
just continue on with their ordinary existence with a
new experience under their belt? The resolution of
one story can also be the start of another. You can
introduce a new conflict or raise more questions for
your reader. Wrap it up, then begin again!
2. Setting-The setting establishes a time, place, and
environment in which the characters and events of
the story are based.

Aspects of setting:

1. Time: A story is usually set in a time period. This

includes the historical time of the story, its specific
time frame, and even the time of the day when the
events take place.
2. Place: Place is the geographical landscape, real or
imaginary, where a particular story unfolds.

3. Environment: The environment of a story can

include anything from weather conditions to the
social, cultural, and political backdrop to a given
story.

3. Characters
 The characters are the people, animals, beings, or
personified objects driving your story. A story can
have many characters or just one main character as
the focus. Going back to our example, The Hunger
Games focuses on Katniss, but there are many
supporting characters that play a major role in her
story: Haymitch, Peeta, Gale, Rue, Primrose, and
many, many more. On the other hand, Edgar Allen
Poe’s poem “The Raven” has only three: the narrator,
Lenore, and the raven. But that’s plenty for an
exciting tale.
 Your story’s characters should be compelling.
Whether good or evil, you need your reader to invest
and care about their journey. So, what kind of
characters does your story need?

Kinds of Characters
There are many different kinds of characters, but
most stories include these two common types:
Protagonist
The protagonist is typically the ‘good guy’ in your
story — the one the reader is rooting for. This main
character is super important and central to your plot.
They are often trying to overcome the conflict while
finding themselves at odds with our next character
type.

Antagonist
 The antagonist of your story doesn’t have to be a
single person. It can be any character, group, or force
that is at odds with your protagonist. This doesn’t
mean they have to be ‘evil’ or the ‘bad guy’, but the
antagonist is often pushing the conflict onto our
protagonist.

Other Types of Characters

Foil characters
 A foil character is a character in a story who is used
to highlight the opposing traits in someone else. For
example, the protagonist’s personality might be shy
and reserved, while a supporting character is
outgoing and gregarious. This would make them foils
of each other. Or, one character might be a
suspicious conspiracy theorist, while another is
overly gullible and naïve.

Round characters
 The term “round character” refers to a well-
developed, multilayered character who exhibits
believable nuance and depth. These characters have
empathetic motivations and relatable tragic flaws;
they’re messy and imperfect and full of
contradictions, just like real people.

Flat characters
The opposite of a round character is a flat
character. “Flat character” refers to simplistic
characters with limited personality traits and
motives. They fulfill limited roles to move the story
along.
Most characters in classic fables and fairy tales are
flat, because they exist more as symbols and
metaphors than as real, recognizable human beings.
However, some secondary and tertiary characters
can be flat if their inner workings don’t contribute
much to the story. George Wickham from Pride and
Prejudice is an example of a flat character.

Dynamic characters
 A dynamic character is one who undergoes a
significant change between the beginning and the
end of their story. They follow a broad character arc
that takes them from one state of being or belief
system to another. Most protagonists will be
dynamic characters, particularly in character-driven
fiction with a lot of internal conflict.

Most dynamic characters will also be round

characters, as we looked at above, because their
potential for change comes from their depth of
characterization. Dynamic characters make for
engaging heroes because readers love seeing the
way these characters slowly emerge into their
ultimate potential. Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit is a
perfect example of a dynamic character.

Static characters
The opposite of a dynamic character is a static
character: one who remains the same across the
entire story. This doesn’t necessarily mean they’re
poorly developed or “flat”; it might mean that
they’re already set in their ways and unable to
change, or that they may have undergone an internal
shift prior to the start of the story and have arrived
at a state of completion.
Static characters are popular in serialized novels
and TV series, such as soap operas. This is because
long-term audiences enjoy coming back to familiar
ground over and over again. Jay Gatsby in The Great
Gatsby is an example of a leading static character.

Stock characters
 A stock character is a character that fills a
predetermined role in an archetypal story. These are
often used as a framework upon which to build new
characters, or to convey a thematic social message.
Many characters from classic stage plays and fairy
tales are stock characters. This includes things like
the mad scientist, the femme fatale, the wise old
wizard, the wicked stepmother, or the ditzy prom
queen.

4. Point of view
 What changed in our two stories above about the
Wicked Witch of the West? The point of view! Point
of view (or POV) describes the lens through which
the story is being told.

Types of Point of View

The POV you choose can help shape your entire
story. There are several different POVs to consider,
but the most common are first person, second
person, and third person.
1. First-person POV: The first-person
perspective allows readers to experience the story
through the eyes of a character, often the
protagonist. It creates intimacy and immediacy,
drawing readers into the character’s internal world.
However, it can also limit the narrative to the
character’s knowledge and biases.

2. Second-person POV: Less common in short stories,

the second-person perspective addresses the reader
directly as “you”, creating an immersive and
 sometimes disorienting experience. It can be
effective for experimental or interactive storytelling
but may be challenging to sustain over a longer
narrative.

3. Third-person POV: It offers a more objective view

of the story than other perspectives, allowing the
narrator to observe and describe events from
outside the characters’ minds. There are two main
variations within third-person POV:
 Third-person omniscient: With this POV, the
narrator has unlimited knowledge and can access
the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters.
This POV provides a broad perspective. It allows the
exploration of various viewpoints. However, it can
also feel distant or detached, making it challenging
to relate to individual characters on a personal level.

 Third-person limited: This narrator focuses on the

thoughts and feelings of a single character. It creates
a sense of connection and empathy, but it can also
limit the reader’s understanding of other characters
and events.

5. Conflict
The conflict is the big problem of the story. What is
your main character trying to overcome? That is the
conflict. Conflict comes in many different forms, but
will almost always involve an antagonist of sorts.
There can be one major conflict in your story, or your
characters may encounter several throughout the
tale. But more than likely there is one big theme
driving the major conflict. So, what does that look
like?

Types of Conflict

Character vs Self
In this type of conflict, your main character must
overcome something within themselves to achieve
their goal. These internal conflicts may look like a
doubt, fear, or grudge. It’s whatever is holding them
back from their desires.
Character vs Character
In a character vs character conflict, someone is
standing in our protagonist’s way. This is a very
common conflict type in superhero tales. There’s a
‘bad guy’ our main characters must defeat before the
story ends.

Character vs Nature
 Character vs nature conflicts pit our characters
against some kind of natural force. It could be a
natural disaster (tornado, hurricane, wildfire,
avalanche) or any other kind of survival tale. Many
post-apocalyptic stories involve both character vs
nature and character vs character conflicts.

Character vs Society
In our final conflict type, characters are battling
oppressive societal norms. In character vs society,
our protagonist feels like they are at odds with the
whole world. This can often be broken down into
character vs character to get a strong emotional pull
(such as a kid at odd with their parents) but the
themes are much bigger than any one person.

5. Theme
A theme is what children would call the moral of
the story. It can be the subject of the story, an idea
that runs through it, or simply the message that is
conveyed from the writer to the reader through the
short story. The writer can use all the other
characteristics of a short story to best articulate their
theme into words.