Plot 103
The standard format for a story goes like this:
1. Introduction
2. Rising action
3. Climax
4. Falling action
5. Conclusion
Assume for the moment that we're not dealing with flashbacks or non-linear
plots or anything too complicated, and that the above linear model is a decent
place to start off before trying other things.
Perhaps the easiest way to think of these five parts is that they have
different levels of suspense associated with them. 1 and 5 are relatively calm
compared to 2 and 4, and 3 is the high point of it all. The five do not
usually, however, take up equal space in the story. Actual results differ from
one plot to the next, but under normal circumstances, the rising action usually
ends up taking up most of the story. And because rising action is the backbone
of most plot development, character development, and will get the most
attention from your reader, we're going to address it right away and get you to
write a rising action in one paragraph per situation listed.
In a way, this is sort of what you have been doing in the previous cause/effect
exercises, but instead of getting from introduction to conclusion, this time
you are specifically leading to a climax. The difference is subtle, but it's
there.
Comedy/Romance:
1. Jim wanted to buy a car.
2. [Write a paragraph here.]
3. And so he slit the demon's throat.
4. Then he drove home in his new car.
5. And he lived happily ever after.
--
Irony/Tragedy:
1. Leisonnah the nymph went strolling through the woods one day. Then she ran
into a hunter holding an AK-47...
2. [Write a paragraph here.]
3. "Goodbye, cruel world." Thus, Leisonnah jumped and ended it all.
4. The hunter went home and thought, "Another job well done."
5. The moral of this story is, "Watch the company you keep."
Hint: try not to use any dialogue other than what's already there; you'll just
get hung up in it.