Main content
Course: 6th grade reading & vocabulary > Unit 1
Lesson 5: Reading for understanding: fictionThe elements of a story | Reading
Story elements are the parts of a story that, together, build its plot. We start with exposition, where we meet characters and explore the setting. Then, we face a conflict. We follow the rising action as characters try to solve the problem. We reach the climax, the most exciting part. After that, we experience falling action and resolution, where we see the story end and problems get solved.
Want to join the conversation?
- Can a story have more than one climax?(6 votes)
- Absolutely! A story can have multiple climaxes.
If a story has multiple climaxes, the story map would look like a mountain range with several peaks instead of just one big mountain.
Here's how it might look:
1. Exposition: Introduce characters and setting.
2. Rising Action: Build up to the first big climax.
3. First Climax: A major event or turning point.
4. Falling Action: Things calm down a bit but lead to another problem.
5. Second Rising Action: Build up to the next big climax.
6. Second Climax: Another major event or turning point.
7. Falling Action: Things start to wrap up.
8. Resolution: Tie up loose ends and end the story.(3 votes)
- At, you say most stories follow the same basic plot. What are the other types of basic plots? 0:23(0 votes)
- Most stories will follow the basic structure presented in this video (with some variation), but other types of plot structures do exist!
Here are some examples:
1. Non-linear Narrative: Some stories jump back and forth in time or between different characters' perspectives. This can make the plot map look more like a web or a series of interconnected events rather than a straight line.
2. Circular Narrative: In this type of story, the ending loops back to the beginning. The plot map might look like a circle, where the resolution directly connects back to the exposition.
3. In Media Res: Stories that start in the middle of action can have a plot map where the exposition is filled in later through flashbacks or dialogue, rather than at the beginning.(1 vote)
- Why do we need story elements?(0 votes)
- They're used to separate a story into different parts.
They aren't necessary for enjoying or understanding a story, but make it easier to understand how one thing caused another.
They also make it possible to refer to different parts of a story, and give them specific labels.(1 vote)
- Is it possible to not have a climax in a story? And would there be a resolution with an infinite story? Like a dynasty that passes on and does the same thing each generation.(44 votes)
- From the author:Oh, yeah—by no means is this a prescription about all stories. I think you could have a story with no climax; you could even have a story with no conflict—it might not take the same shape as a more traditional story, but it could still be really interesting to read.(108 votes)
- If the movie ends with a cliffhanger like Infinity War, what would that story map look like?(33 votes)
- Well, I think that would look like just what he said, except there's a small start of a mountain again and ends there.(10 votes)
- Hey David, what happens when it’s a book that has no falling action at all. Can you still have a resolution?(4 votes)
- Yes, you can still have a resolution even if there's no falling action! In some books, the story might go straight from the climax to the resolution. This means right after the big exciting moment, the story quickly wraps up and shows how things end for the characters.(1 vote)
- How do the pigs look like?(1 vote)
- story elements are parts of story that,together(1 vote)
- Isn't the conflict also introduced in the rising action?(0 votes)
- This is actually false.
The conflict "starts," or incites, the rising action. In other words, the conflict causes the rising action. Because of this, they are considered two different parts of the story.
In David's Three Little Pigs story, if the wolf-space-pirate (the conflict) never entered the story, the rising action wouldn't exist (as the conflict causes the rising action). The little pigs cannot fight against a non-existent wolf.(3 votes)
- What is exposition?(0 votes)
- Exposition is the part of a story where everything starts! It introduces us to the characters, the setting (like where and when the story happens), and sometimes the beginning of the main problem.(1 vote)
Video transcript
- [Instructor] Hello readers,
I'm going to draw you a map right now, and it's gonna look like I've drawn a mountain. But it's not a map of a mountain. It's a map of a story. What, your saying, how do you map a story? What makes a story pointy? These are great questions,
and to answer them, I'll say this, today
we're going to talk about the elements of a story, or the parts that make it up, like ingredients in a recipe. Many stories follow a similar pattern. Good readers know what these patterns are, and can talk about them
using the right terms. And this helps everyone
be on the same page, so to speak, when you discuss or write about the stories you read. I'm about to drop a lot
of vocabulary on you, so brace yourselves. The story begins with exposition, where we learn about the
characters and the setting. Then, we introduce a
conflict, or a big problem. As the characters begin to
interact with the conflict or try to solve the problem, we enter rising action. This upward slope of the story mountain. When the conflict comes to a head, we hit the most exciting part
of the story, the climax. Here, the conflict can't go any further. We're at the top of the mountain. There's nowhere else to go, except down. After the climax, after this most exciting part of the story, we
enter falling action. The climax will happen much
closer to the end of the story than to the middle. It's not a symmetrical mountain. The action slows down. The problem has been solved, or maybe the problem has changed, and the characters
prepare for the last phase of story, the resolution. This is where we tie up loose ends, characters reflect on what they learned, maybe you set up a sequel. Now, look, that was a lot
of information all at once. In order to make sense of it,
let's apply all of those terms to a story. Now, our go-to has been
the Three Little Pigs, and while that's a story everyone knows, I'm starting to think it needs to be freshened up a little bit, really working its franchise
potential, you know? So let's go through the elements of story by looking at my new project, a reboot of Three Little Pigs that I'm calling TLP: Starbound. See, it's Three Little
Pigs, but it's in space. That's a space helmet. So I'm gonna put a little
story map here in the corner. Okay, so the exposition. It's the future. Pigs have expanded to
every corner of the galaxy. Three brave little pigs decide
to strike out on their own, exploring a new, exciting region of space. One builds a spaceship out of straw. Go with me here. One builds a spaceship out of twigs. And one builds a spaceship
out of flexible hyper alloy they developed in a laboratory. She's the brainy pig. So, we've got the setting. It's the future, they're in space. We've got our characters, the pigs. Now, the conflict. Along comes the notorious
space pirate, Captain Wolf. He's big, he's bad, he wants
to blow up the spaceships and eat the pigs. He begins hunting down the
pig ships, one at a time. Think Captain Wolf has an eye patch? No, he has a cyber eye; he's part robot. And now we enter our rising action phase. Captain Wolf engages the straw ship. They have an exciting space battle. (instructor making shooting noises) And straw pig escapes
in the little escape pod to the twig ship! But Captain Wolf follows. He is undaunted. The tension continues to rise. He destroys the twig ship! (instructor making shooting noises) The two pigs escape again,
this time to the brick house. I mean, the flexible
hyper alloy spaceship, piloted by the science pig. And now, we come to the climax. Captain Wolf comes to the advanced ship. He tries to blow it up, but he can't! It's too powerful. He decides to board the ship, because that's the only way
he'll get to eat the pigs. But the pigs trap him in a space barrel while he's still in the airlock. They did it! They solved the problem. Captain Wolf is trapped in a space barrel, and he can't eat them now. The climax is passed, and now
we enter the falling action phase of the story. In the version of the story that I know, the three little pigs roll
the barrel in to the river. So I think maybe in this version they punt the space barrel out the airlock in to the cold void of space! Or maybe they strand him
on a deserted planet, but in any case, they never have to deal with the wolf again. The threat is now gone. And that means that the
conflict has been resolved. We're in the resolution
part of the story now. The first two little pigs, the straw ship pig and the twig ship pig, learned that they need to put more work in to their spaceships if
they wanna survive in space. And they build fancy spaceships
just like the science pig. And that's an introduction
to story elements. Now that you're familiar with the ideas, start applying them to
your favorite stories. You can do this with any form of media: books, comics, TV shows, movies, games. What's the conflict? How is it resolved? Once you start looking for story
structure in entertainment, you will find it everywhere. Let us now what you see. You can learn anything; David, out.