4 Lenses

Question 1

Character

Answer 1

a. character profile: information about the character
- what the character does/doesn’t do
- what the character says/doesn’t say
- what other characters say about them

b. character relationships:
- pairing/couple
- triplets/threesomes
- character web (for small texts)

c. level of importance
PRIMARY: absolutely essential to the story
SECONDARY: important, but not essential (would not effect the story drastically)
TERTIARY: incidental to the story

Question 2

Plot

Answer 2

The events of the story, the order of events and the relationship shared by the events

• represents with a plot graph*
  1. Introduction
  2. Main Conflict/Inciting Incident
  3. Rising Actions
  4. Crisis
  5. Climax
  6. Conclusion

Question 3

INTRODUCTION

Answer 3

a. preliminary setting
- time (when is the story taking place)
- place (where is the story taking place)
- atmosphere (what is the emotion of the story)

b. preliminary characters
* you don’t always get primary characters in intro*

Question 4

MAIN CONFLICT *may be hard to identify/involves protagonist

Answer 4

a. internal conflict
- person vs. self (character battling his/herself)

b. external conflict
- person vs. person
i) person vs. one person
ii) person vs. several people (society)
- person vs. Nature (the elements)
i) person vs. supernatural

Question 5

RISING ACTIONS *rising or increasing tension of the story

Answer 5

• a.k.a complications

- made of multiple conflicts that cause tension

Question 6

CRISIS *the turning point

Answer 6

a. the fortunes of the protagonist go from relatively good to relatively bad
b. a character, often the protagonist, makes a decision that leads unfailingly to the end
c. occurs near the middle of the story

Question 7

CLIMAX *point of greatest tension

Answer 7

a. occurs near the end of the story

b. where the main conflict is resolved

Question 8

CONCLUSION *falling action, resolution

Answer 8

a. occurs at the end of the story

b. ties up any loose ends

Question 9

Devices and Techniques

Answer 9

• the tools the author uses and how they use it

Question 10

Theme

Answer 10

what is the story about?
a. thematic topic
general, 1 or 2 words (starting point)

b. thematic statement
specific, answered in full sentences, message, moral or lesson of the story (finishing point)