Three parts of plot:
SETTING (how the plot is at the beginning)
Tensions in the world before the conflict emerges
i.e. Hunger games - Katniss, in district 12, they're starving and she's sneaking out to go hunt
Level 3. Bystander to fight (and later gets involved in the fight) - more rare (The Matrix - humans against the machines, there's a fight
(The Host - she's a bystander, then get's pulled into the fight/conflict)
Level 2. There's a fight in progress, but it is NOT the same as the conflict.
(i.e. Hunger games - the fight is can they stay alive in district 12 - not the fight/conflict of the actual Hunger Games)
Level 1. No fight (i.e. Monster's Inc, The Hobbit)
CONFLICT
The main conflict in the story
i.e. The Hunger Games, fighting to stay alive
Level 3. Loyalty & Law - Choose between loyalties/laws they are familiar with and something else - element of choice and sides.
(i.e. How to Train your Dragon, Monster's Inc)
Level 2. (Most common) Focused fight - physical or internal, but they are actively fighting. This entails both sides fighting - the people have a chance, and have some control.
Level 1. Perceptual - there isn't a physical conflict - there could be perceptual danger, or
the main character doesn't have much control - they are acted upon. This is harder to do for full length stories. Class struggles can be a type of perceptual struggle.
Oliver Twist, Ever After?
RESOLUTION
i.e. Katniss and Peeta both managed to get out alive
Level 3. (Most common) Defeat using Clever use of Law - (i.e. Harry Potter defeats Voldemort destroying the Horcruxes and using the hallows
Monster's Inc defeats him by using the simulator - using something that's been established earlier. Hunger Games - Katniss decides they should eat the berries. The law is that the games have to have a winner, so taking away a winner means the Capital fails, so she uses that to beat the Capital/games)
Level 2. Physical Defeat - (Can be satisfying but aren't as mainstream now) The team wins, the Hobbit
Level 1. Perception unified but unsolved. These don't work as well with longer stories, but work fine with shorter stories. (i.e. Godzilla - in some versions, goes back into the ocean and he's gone. 1984 - the government finally braks his mind and he knows they're going to kill him eventually, and the book ends with him knowing that but not actually dying.)
The Rule: You should NOT let your plot drop lower. If you're story is a 2-2 ____ you can't end the resolution with a 1.
1-2-3 is okay, 3-2-1 is not. The only way to have a good resolution ending at a level 1 (Perception unified) is if you have your setting and conflict stages be 1 also (1-1-1 works, 2-2-1 doesn't).
Some examples:
Monster's Inc - the conflict begins by a physical conflict of kicking them out (2) but escalates to a 3 when they have to choose loyalties.
Aladdin - setting 2 (starts with his own fight for survival on the street), conflict is 2 (focused fight), resolution 3 (Aladdin uses the rule of genies against Jafar and defeated Jafar)
Twilight - setting 1 (no fight), conflict is 1 (she doesn't have any control over things) or 2 (focused fight - his blood lust for her, her resistance/choices), and resolution 2 - physical win over the other vampire.
The Atonement / Fall Story: 1-2-3
Endings in a Series:
The plot of the first book should come to resolution. I.e. there's resolution to the main conflict for the first book. And the plot over the series is to defeat the main bad guy - THAT is not the main conflict of the book, so they can resolve/solve the fight (and have a good resolution of 2 or 3) and then the main bad guy getting away doesn't defeat the resolution of the first book.
Link to the Class website that Kim is in - thanks so much to Kim for this mini lesson!!
http://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/elang410am/fictionedit.html
