1. Look
familiar?
FICTION: PLOT
Creative Writing

2. “A plot is a series of events deliberately arranged so
as to reveal their dramatic, thematic, and emotional
significance.”
-Janet Burroway
To summarize:
 Series of events
 Deliberately arranged
 Significant!

3. MACRO LEVEL
The Big Ideas: Plot Structure

4. Show Off What you know:
 What did you notice about what’s required before
you begin any story?

5. Must Haves For a Start
 Character(s)
 Basic plot idea (beginning, middle, and end),
including a conflict

6. Common Story Structures
http://teachingliteracy.tumblr.com/

7. Brainstorm Plot Ideas
 See Classic Plot Structures worksheet.

8. Three Sentence Plot
 Break your story idea down into three sentences of
three words each.
 That will give you a beginning, middle, and end to
help you understand the foundation of your story.
 By having to choose three verbs, you’ll be forcing
yourself to consider three important parts of the
action.

9. What You end up with:
Three By Three
 We all know classic story descriptions in this form.
 Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl.
 Stories have a beginning, middle, and end.
 Cinderella can’t go. She goes anyway. Cinderella
gets Prince.

10. Get Inspired
 See unique plot ideas worksheet.

11. STILL STUCK?

12. Story Machine Cards
 You have ten index cards in front of you.
 On the first five, list labels associated with what they
do (jobs, activities, etc.)
 On the second five cards, list a mildly strange or
unusual behavior. These do not have to be associated
with the labels on the other cards. In fact, it would be
better if they were not.

13. Shuffle the Story Machine
 Shuffle each pack of cards SEPERATELY.
 Now, ask “Why did Card A do Card B?”
 “Why did the fashion model pick up the paper on the
driveway?”
 Continue to flip cards until you find a question that’s
worth answering. There are many possible pairings.
Reshuffle if necessary.
 The event suggested by the machine may work best at
the beginning of the story, but think of what would
happen if you placed it at the end or in the middle.

14. Homework: Beginnings
 See handout.