1. NOTES (write these down in your notes) Plot = The order of events in a story Conflict = The problems in a story. Conflict drives plot. Readers want problems so that they can see solutions (or horrible wrecks). Climax = The moment in the story that the reader has been waiting for! During The Jerry Springer Show (a trashy talk show), people want to see what will happen when the boyfriend tells the two tattooed, mullet-sporting, mini-skirt wearing divas that he has been dating them both for two months. More specifically, the audience wants to see physical violence; either a chick-fight or a vicious attack on the boyfriend. Plot Order = If you map this out, it looks a little like a mountain range. The conflict builds and then finally hits a high point and then goes down. Here’s the order plot follows… (conflict) The reader finds a problem and waits for something to happen. (rising action) The problem becomes increasingly complicated until the problem meets a point (climax) where the story must go one direction or another. (falling action) The reader wants to know how the problem will be solved now that it has reached a climax. The problem is solved (resolution). A new problem is presented and the process is repeated. Example 1 (conflict/problem) The woman is worried about her husband, he is not home yet and it is 1:30 AM, (rising action/complication) she has called all of his friends and no one is answering, she calls the cops and they tell her that it is too early to launch an investigation, (climax/high point) her husband comes home at 2:30, he is limping, (falling action/easing the tension of the high point) the man explains that his bike was hit by a car that sped off into the night and that the accident broke his cell phone, (resolution/problem solved) the wife drives him to the hospital to have him checked out (new conflict/problem) the man passes out in the car and does not seem to be breathing. Plot Chart Example 2 The Most Dangerous Game (conflict) Rainsford and Whitney (discuss whether or not it is right to hunt animals). Rainsford goes to the edge of the boat to smoke a pipe, where he encounters his first conflict in the story, he falls overboard! (rising action): Rainsford looks into the darkness for the gunshot, pipe hits rope and falls out of mouth, he reaches for it and falls in water, he struggles against the waves, swims toward direction of gunshot High point of drama (Climax = the moment we’ve all been waiting for): Rainsford reaches the dangerous shore. Moments after climax (falling action): Flung self down at the jungle edge Resolution (problem is solved): Tumbled into deep sleep… (he will wake up to new conflicts, map them out) Now you try. Make up your own example… Conflict (what is the problem in the scene): Rising Action (how does the problem become complicated): Climax (what is the BIG MOMENT): Falling Action (what happens right after the climax): Resolution (is the problem solved forever or is it a temporary fix): Complete this process as you listen to Most Dangerous Game Chart as many scenes as you can The class who completes the best scene-by-scene chart will win a prize!