I love setting because, in many ways, it’s like a character. This includes the physical location (real or invented) and the social environment of the story (including chronology, culture, institutions, etc.). Setting is one of my personal favorite elements. ![]() Tweet The Third Element of Fiction: Setting However, every really good story has some kind of conflict-even if that conflict is purely an internal struggle with a heavy emotion.Įxtra: If you want to dive deeper into writing an effective plot, I suggest reading the 5 Elements of Storytelling and What Is Plot? A lot of authors struggle with this since conflict is by nature deeply uncomfortable. If you’ve left any knots still tied, you’d better have a good reason why-and better make sure your reader has a clue that the answers are coming soon.īefore we move on, I want to circle back and remind you that you need conflict in your story. It does require a satisfying one, even if you mean to continue in a sequel. Again, this doesn’t require a happy ending. It feels final, or at least, final enough that the reader can put the book down without flipping back through the pages to see if they missed something. It means everything has been solved, and your conclusion arrives at the place where all the events of the plot have strongly led. Don’t let the word fool you: this ending isn’t necessarily happy or sad. Your reader has a deep need for that resolution in this section, so make sure that when you “fix” the problems, you address the issues you’ve been carefully setting up. All that tension is actively being resolved. After that comes falling action, when things start to wind down.This is make-or-break, the moment when things matter the most. This should be the greatest moment of tension in your story everything is critical, with emotion and interest peaked. Now comes the climax, also known as the turning point. ![]() Now that your characters are established (along with some sense of what their “normal” looks like), you throw in the wrench and raise the stakes. Rising action, which reveals the conflict.Exposition or introduction, which establishes characters and setting.Generally, “plot” as a concept is split into five parts: It’s the organized structure, the thing that will end up in an outline on Wikipedia (with spoiler alerts, of course). It includes the order in which your characters face things. Your plot, its connections, and its structure determine the way you shape your story. If you do it differently, there’s nothing to fear: you’re still right! (I could say “write,” but you might click the back button.) I just put plot second in this list because when I write, my plot follows my characters, rather than the other way around. Your characters live inside your plot, but your plot revolves around your characters. One small aside: plenty of folks would start this list with plot, not character. Understanding what your characters do and say (and how other characters respond to them) helps to paint the fullest possible picture of your fictional creation. ![]() But if your characters feel real and relatable, then your readers will eat your story up. If your characters are flat, your readers will have trouble empathizing. Your character should not be the same at the end of the story as in the beginning. They change, and their growth is a key aspect of your story’s momentum.
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