Literary Essay Pre-Writing

1. Literary Essay Pre-Writing

2. Literary Essay Pre-Writing Elements of a Story Plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution) Character (indirect and direct) Conflict Theme (universal idea, big message from author, not specific to any story) Setting (time, place, mood)

3. Literary Essay Pre-Writing • Who is your main character? • What his/her/its name? • List five descriptive adjectives that define your character. • What is your conflict? • What kind of conflict is it? ex. Man vs. what? • Specific conflict for your character. • How will your conflict be resolved?

4. Literary Essay Pre-Writing Setting: Imagine that your story is a movie. What does the opening scene look like? What is the mood/atmosphere? Is it cheery, gloomy, average? How will your reader know this? How can you “show” – not tell – the reader that this is the atmosphere? In what time and place is your story happening? This can be specific, like “Eastern Paris city streets in 1944,” or it could be more imprecise, like “in outer space, 300 years in the future.”

5. Literary Essay Pre-Writing Exposition: Setting – already decided Characters – who are your characters? What will the reader know about them right away? What other background information will you need to give in the opening paragraphs to prepare your reader for the plot?

6. Literary Essay Pre-Writing Rising Action: What is your initial incident (sometimes called the inciting incident)? This event must introduce the character to his/her/its conflict. The rest of the rising action will be filled in later. Resolution: What is the end of the story? How will your conflict be resolved in the end of the story?

7. Literary Essay Pre-Writing Climax: As the conflict comes to a peak, how will you create the turning point that leads to the resolution you just chose? How can you show that the problem (conflict) is not getting worse but is rather taking a turn toward concluding? What is your climax? What happens to the main character?

8. Literary Essay Pre-Writing Rising Action (continued) Now plot out all of the events that will happen to your characters as the conflict rises to its peak. Remember, each event needs to lead closer and closer to the turning point. Falling Action Now plot out what events will happen to your character as the conflict heads from its turning point toward the resolution. You only need one or two events for falling action. These must logically lead to the resolution you’ve decided on.

9. Literary Essay Pre-Writing Theme: What is the subject of your story? This should be a one-word answer, like “love” or “greed.” What do you want your readers to know about that subject? (You will use your story to get this message across to the reader so that you don’t have to tell them directly.) THIS MUST BE IN THE FORM OF A COMPLETE SENTENCE.

10. Literary Essay Pre-Writing Now it is time to begin drafting your story. Be sure you keep your plot in the correct order. Exposition should include setting, characters, and background information. Initial incident should be the first event that happens to your character. Rising Action should follow a logical order that leads to the climax. Climax – must be a point where the conflict takes a turn toward being resolved. Falling Action – one or two events that logically lead to the conclusion of the story. Resolution – must resolve the issue (conflict). This does not have to be a happy ending. Theme must be obvious by the end of your story. The story is a vessel that will deliver your message to the reader. Remember the examples we talked about in class.