Understanding Story Plots from Actions and Dialogue

Would you like to learn how to better understand the plot of a story? Learn about such plot elements as actions and dialogue through our video and exercises!

Story Plot – Introduction

When we are telling someone about a story we have read or planning a story we want to write, we often focus on the plot.

For example, if we want to give a plot summary of “Little Red Riding Hood”, we will start with the girl walking through the forest to visit her grandma. This is the first event of the story. Then, we will follow the plot development and describe other events: the girl meets the Big Bad Wolf, the Wolf goes to the grandmother’s house, and so on.

Story Plot – Actions and Dialogue

We can get clues about the plot from actions and dialogue of characters. Actions tell us what the characters are doing, while dialogue shows what they are saying.

To identity actions in the plot, we need to look for verbs. For example: she opened the secret door or they ran away* from the dog.

To identify dialogue in the plot, we should look for quotation marks around the character's words. For example: Hello!” said Tina. “Do you want to be in our band?”

We can use actions and dialogue during the plot analysis or story composition. They can also help us make predictions about story progression and give clues about what will happen later in a story.

Let’s read a part of the plot of a story about robots and identify actions and dialogue:

This text describes an action of the character: a scientist invents a robot and it can think like a human being. We know that these are actions because they include verbs.

The text also includes dialogue: “Why don’t you try to talk to other robots?” We can see that this is dialogue because it has quotation marks.

We can use these actions and dialogue to make predictions about what will happen in the story. For example, we can predict that the robot will try to communicate with the others. But it might be difficult because it is different from them and is more like a human.

Story Plot – Narrative Structure

There are different ways authors structure the plot of their stories. The most common way to design a plot is to use the plot framework that has these five elements: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Take a look at the table to learn about all five elements of narrative development:

This structure is used in many storytelling techniques. To better remember the elements of the plot, use our plot diagram:

You can use this storyline structure to analyze and critique the plot in a story or to create your own story design or story arc. A story arc is similar to a plot and usually has the same elements, but considers not events themselves, but how these events change and develop characters and ideas in a story.

Story Plot – Summary

Let’s review what we have learned about the plot.

Now you know how to identify actions and dialogue to make predictions about the plot. For extra practice, check out our video and exercises!

To learn even more about the plot outline and plot construction, watch our video on comparing and contrasting plots.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Story Plot