Plot

The plot refers to the sequence of events in a story, also known as storyline. Traditional plots are comprised of the following elements: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. However, many modern fiction works are devoid of plot or do not follow this particular plot structure.

If you look at “Shouting at Cars” by Adam Marek, you will notice that the author does not really respect the traditional structure of the plot and includes a plot twist. At first, readers assume that the troll makes everyone fear him, including the narrator. However, towards the end of the story, we discover that, in fact, the narrator and the troll were friends.

Another interesting aspect about the way the story is structured is that the rising action - usually the longest part in a short story - is shorter than the falling action. The story reaches a climax very fast, when the family visits the troll and everything is tense. But the falling action is the sequence that truly reveals ‘t...