Inside Language, Literacy, and Content [Level E]

Focus on Genre: Elements of Fiction

• Plot
• Character
• Setting

Every story has at least three parts, or elements—plot, characters, and setting. These elements of fiction work together to build a story.

Plot: How It Works

The plot is what happens in the story. It is what the characters experience.

• Plots are based on a conflict, or problem, that the main character faces.
• The plot develops during the rising action as complications occur and the characters try to solve the problem.
• The turning point in the plot is called the climax.
• Falling action leads from the climax to the resolution, the stage where the problem is solved at the end of the story.

Read “A Walk in the City” aloud to see the stages of the plot.

A Walk in the City

One afternoon a girl named Red walked into the city to take soup to her sick grandmother. She suddenly heard a barking sound behind her. Red turned around and saw a dog staring at her. She was scared of dogs so she started to walk faster. The dog followed her. “How am I going to get rid of this dog? What should I do?” Red wondered.

The dog kept following Red. Then he started to whine. Suddenly, she remembered the soup in her hands. She set down the soup, and the dog ate it up. After he finished, he came up to her. She stood still, not moving. Then he licked her foot and wagged his tail.

She realized he had been hungry and might be lost. She read his tag. The address was right next to her grandmother’s apartment! So Red continued to her grandmother’s, with the dog following her.