story elements
Plot and character
Story elements are the fundamental components that make up a narrative: plot, character, setting, conflict, theme, point of view, and similar building blocks.
The term appears most often in educational contexts, where students learn to identify and analyze these parts: We're studying story elements this week.
Writers and critics use more specific terminology, but story elements serves as a useful umbrella for the basics of narrative structure.
- once upon a timeTraditional narrative opening
- localeSpecific place or area
- protagonistStory's central figure
- expositionSystematic explanatory presentation
- denouementStory's final unraveling
catharsis · foil · moral · rising action · closure · happy ending · subplot · red herring · plot twist · climax · motif · flashback · falling action · redemption · hero · character arc · tragic flaw · narrative arc
- storytelling educationfables, folktales, parables, myths, legends
- Children's Readingpicture books, chapter books, storytime, read-alouds, read aloud
- reading skillsvocabulary, literacy skills, decoding, grammar, fluency
story, stories, storied, element, elements, elemental, elementary, history, historical