Terms

Plotmap can contain helpers when writing certain kinds of items.

Need to research how to create compelling characters, settings, and scenes and collect that information to show alongside those items in the UI when creating them.

Plot

• If characters are the who and theme is the why, then the plot is the what of the story.
• Here must be a cause-and-effect relationship between the events and the plot points.

Plot Structure

• Exposition: The de-facto introduction that brings out the story’s cast of characters and plants the seeds of conflict.
• Rising Action: In which a series of events (usually triggered by an inciting incident) escalates and sets the rest of the story in motion.
• Climax: The moment of peak tension in a story — in other words, what everything else builds up to.
• Falling Action: The bridge between the climax and the resolution in which subplots and mini-conflicts are resolved.
• Denouement: the wrapping up of the whole story.

Plot Frames

• Quest — The protagonist seeks out a treasure or goal and deals with conflicts along the way.
• Riddle — The protagonist faces a riddle or mystery that they must solve.
• Threat — The protagonist is threatened by something or someone and must defeat the threat.
• Trap — The protagonist finds themselves trapped somewhere or somehow (physically or mentally) and must find a way out.
• Revenge/Justice — The protagonist seeks justice or revenge for wrongdoing or injustice and must face conflicts to attain that.
• Rivalry — The protagonist faces a rival person or entity that rocks their world and must be dealt with.
• Temptation — The protagonist is tempted by something or someone and must suffer the consequences of that temptation.
• Discovery — The protagonist discovers something that is intriguing and must deal with any ramifications of that discovery — good or bad.
• Underdog — The protagonist is an underdog in a situation and must overcome all of the odds to survive or win.
• Love — The protagonist falls in love and must overcome inner and outer conflict to attain or retain that love.
• Pursuit — The protagonist is pursuing someone or something and must deal with the conflicts that they face amidst that pursuit.
• Rescue — The protagonist is either tasked to rescue someone or something or they are the ones that need to be rescued.

Theme

• The main point or central idea around which the story is focused.
• Can be a statement about life or human nature that is explicitly conveyed or implied.
• Can be the author’s message or central insight the he/she is trying to communicate through the story. -Like a moral to a story.
• Examples: love, hate, betrayal, friendship, etc

Setting

When and where an event takes place. Settings in plotmap are only locations (where). Connections to events can contain the time (when) and conditions (weather, atmosphere, mood, etc.)

Character

• Protagonist: The main character or “hero” of the story. The character whose actions form the basis of the plot.
• Antagonist: The character who opposes the protagonist and/or creates obstacles for him/her. Also can be the forces that work against protagonist's success (ex. Protagonist’s own character flaws/traits)
• Dynamic (or Round) Character: A character that changes throughout story; is complex and has many sides.
• Static (or flat) Character: A character that never changes throughout the story; is one-sided.

Storytelling

Point of View

• Position or positions from which a literary work is told to the reader.
• First Person Narration: Uses “I”, “me” , “my”, etc.
• Told from the perspective of the narrator speaking directly about him/herself.
• Third Person Narration: Uses “he”, “she”, etc.
• Told from the perspective of an outside narrator who Is not a character within the story.

Figurative Language & Literary Devices

• Figurative Language: The use of words to affect a meaning other than the usual or literal meaning of those words.
• Literary Devices: a technique a writer uses to produce a special effect in their writing.
• irony, imagery, metaphor, pun, oxymoron, hyperbole, analogy, personification, paradox, simile, cliché, alliteration, onomatopoeia, allusion, assonance, euphemism, idiom, consonance, flashback, foreshadowing.