Set the Stage
This occurs first in the Plot Diagram.
Exposition
What is a conflict?
A struggle between two opposing forces(characters)
The highest point of interest or suspense of a story is called the what? (the top of the diagram/mountain)
The climax
What is Rising Action?
All the events that occur before the climax.
What is the resolution?
The ending
Why do stories have an exposition?
To introduce the setting and characters.
What is the main conflict in The Sandlot?
When Smalls accidentally hits his stepfather's Babe Ruth baseball over the fence into the yard of 'The Beast.'
The climax occurs after what events?
Rising action
In the story Cinderella, what is one event included in the rising action? (multiple right answers)
- Cinderella's hardship under her stepmother and stepsisters
- her encounter with the Fairy Godmother
- her transformation into a beautiful princess
- her attendance at the ball
- her time spent with the prince
- loss of the slipper.
Does the resolution occur in the beginning, middle, or the end of a plot diagram?
The end
What occurs after the exposition?
the rising action
Why is conflict important to the plot of a story?
It creates tension, drives the action, and gives the characters a problem to confront or solve.
The climax in a story is sometimes referred to as the what?
The turning point.
What is a series of events that occurs after the climax?
Falling Action
Everyone lived happily ever after is an example of a what?
A resolution
How can the exposition foreshadow a conflict without actually beginning the conflict?
The exposition can introduce characters, relationships, setting details, or circumstances that hint at problems that may develop later.
How does Smalls change from the beginning of The Sandlot to the end?
He begins as an insecure outsider who knows little about baseball but becomes a confident, accepted member of the group who develops friendships and a sense of belonging.
What was the climax of the story Cinderella?
When the prince finds Cinderella, and the glass slipper fits her foot, revealing her true identity.
In the story Cinderella, what is one event included in the falling action? (multiple right answers)
- begins after Cinderella flees the ball at midnight
- leaving behind a glass slipper
- the prince then searches for the owner of the slipper
the events that unfold after this point, leading to the resolution, constitute the falling action.
What occurs before the resolution?
The falling action
Why is exposition important to the reader before the main conflict develops?
It gives the reader the context needed to understand the characters, setting, and situation before the central problem grows.
The Sandlot contains both internal and external conflict for Smalls. Identify how Smalls experiences both types of conflict.
(multiple responses accepted)
Small's internal insecurity about belonging is intensified by the external challenge of learning to play baseball.
Why is the climax considered a turning point rather than simply the most exciting scene?
Because it is the moment when the main conflict reaches its highest tension and the direction of the story changes toward its outcome.
What is the major difference between rising action and falling action?
Rising action builds tension and leads toward the climax, while falling action shows what happens after the climax as the conflict begins moving toward resolution.
What is resolved in the resolution?
The main conflict of a story