Who wants what, and who tells it

Word	What it means
Plot	The events of a story, in order.
Conflict	The problem the main character faces: external (another person, nature, a group) or internal (a struggle in the character's own mind).
Exposition / rising action	The opening situation, then the events that build the problem.
Climax	The turning point, where the conflict is decided. Not always the loudest moment.
Falling action / resolution	What happens because of the climax, and how things settle.
Character trait	A quality that lasts, like honest or stubborn, rather than a feeling in one scene.
Motive	The reason a character does something.
Dynamic character	One who changes by the end. One who stays the same is static.
Narrator	The voice telling the story, invented by the author — not the author.
Point of view	Who tells the story, and how much they can know.
First person	Told by a character who says I, and knows only their own thoughts.
Third-person limited	Told with she, he or they, following one character's thoughts.
Third-person omniscient	Told with she, he or they, able to report any character's thoughts.

Nia was picked to run the last leg of the relay at the district track meet. At the handoff she dropped the baton, and her team was out. For a week she skipped practice and ate lunch alone in the library. Then her coach asked her to help time the Grade 5 runners. On the last day, Nia showed a nervous Grade 5 girl how to hold her hand so the baton could not slip.

A model reading. The race is external, and over in one sentence. The story is about an internal conflict: will Nia hide from her mistake, or face it?

Part	In Nia's story
Exposition	Nia is chosen for the last leg.
Rising action	She drops the baton, then hides for a week.
Climax	She says yes to her coach and goes back to the track.
Falling action / resolution	She teaches a younger runner the grip she got wrong.

The dropped baton is the most dramatic moment, but it only starts the problem. The climax is the quiet moment Nia chooses to go back.

The writer shows	Example	What it suggests
What they do	When Ben forgot his lunch, the crossing guard gave him a granola bar from his own pocket.	Generous and watchful.
What they say	“It's fine,” Kira said. “I didn't even want to make the team.”	She is hiding her disappointment.
How others react	When Dev walked into the kitchen, his little brothers stopped arguing.	He is respected, or feared. One detail cannot tell you which.

Back to Nia. Why does she eat lunch in the library? The motive has to fit every detail: she is embarrassed and does not want to face her team. “She likes reading” fits one action and ignores the skipped practices.

Feeling or trait? Embarrassed is how Nia feels that week. By the end she shows something lasting — she can turn a mistake into help for someone else — which makes her a dynamic character.

• First person, Hana telling it: “I sat at the end of the table, pretending to read my phone. Everyone could tell I was alone.”
• Third-person limited: “Hana sat at the end of the table, pretending to read her phone. She was sure everyone could tell she was alone.”
• Third-person omniscient: “Hana sat at the end of the table, pretending to read her phone. Across from her, Leo was trying to think of something to say.”

A model reading. The first two show only Hana's mind, so we believe what she believes: nobody wants to talk to her. Only the omniscient narrator can show us Leo, and that changes the scene — two nervous people instead of one lonely one.

A first-person narrator can be wrong. “Everyone could tell” is Hana's belief, not a fact: she cannot see inside other heads.

• Calling the most exciting event the climax when the conflict is decided somewhere else.
• Naming only the external conflict when the story is really about an internal one.
• Treating a one-scene feeling as a character trait.
• A motive that explains one action and ignores the rest.
• Letting a first-person narrator know what other characters think. They can only guess.