English 9 / Unit 1: Reading Fiction: Plot, Setting and Conflict
1.1 Elements of Plot
Notes
Plot is the sequence of events in a story. Most plots follow a pattern often drawn as a mountain (Freytag's pyramid).
- Exposition: introduces characters, setting and the situation.
- Inciting incident: the event that starts the main conflict.
- Rising action: complications build tension.
- Climax: the turning point, the moment of highest tension where the conflict must be faced.
- Falling action: events that follow the climax and wind down.
- Resolution (denouement): the conflict is settled and loose ends are tied up.
- Example: A girl learns her town's dam is cracking (inciting incident), warns adults who ignore her (rising action), and opens the spillway herself as the storm hits (climax).
Practice
Which part of a plot introduces the main characters and setting?
The exposition gives background before the conflict builds.
"Mara finally faces the coach and admits she faked her injury. The locker room goes silent." In a story about Mara hiding a lie all season, this moment is most likely the:
It is the turning point where the central conflict comes to a head.
Which event best fits the falling action?
Falling action comes after the climax and shows its effects.
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