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Reading and Writing 6-8 / Week 03 / Friday
5/6
Week 03 · Plot and Character

Friday

Nova's Signal Review
// One story, five days, up the mountain and down
⏱ about 20 min

Friday: Nova's Signal Review

Nova projects the whole story mountain onto the porch wall, all four episodes in a line.

"One story, four days," she says. "Tell me what you can do now that you could not do on Monday."

Rocket answers first. "Find the problem, the climb, the peak and the way down. In any story."

Raven adds, "Notice how the setting pushes people. Rain, a clock, a tall screen door."

"And find the one line that turns everything," Rocket says. "I found it in my own story. That was strange."

Nova's light brightens. "Then you are ready. I will ask about the serial. You will cite."

Raven opens a clean page and writes: Plot and Character, final check.

Learn it: the week on one mountain

A plot unfolds in episodes that climb to a turning point and come down to a resolution. The setting shapes what characters can do.

A single line or incident can propel the action, reveal character and provoke a decision. By the resolution, characters have often changed.

  • Foot of the mountain: the problem appears.
  • The climb: attempts, pushed and blocked by the setting.
  • The peak: the line or incident that decides things.
  • The way down: the resolution, and the changed characters.

Read it

Read it
Lines from The Missing Master
Episode One: "Rocket opened the blue folder. It was empty."
Episode One: "Rocket sat down hard on the bench."
Episode Two: "The sheet is paper. If it went into the yard an hour ago, it is already soaked."
Episode Two: "The rain made you look up. Dry weather would have sent you to the yard."
Episode Three: "Which half do we still have in our heads?"
Episode Three: "We rewrite the top half tonight. From memory and from your notes."
Episode Four: "A spare. In the folder. Under a book. Where the wind cannot find it."
Episode Four: "So I remember to make a spare. Every single week."
NOVA'S REVIEW: WHERE ON THE MOUNTAIN?
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
"Rocket opened the blue folder. It was empty." Where does this belong?
"The rain made you look up." Where does this belong?
"Which half do we still have in our heads?" Where does this belong?
"So I remember to make a spare. Every single week." Where does this belong?
NOVA'S REVIEW: WHAT DOES THE LINE DO?
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
"The sheet is paper. If it went into the yard, it is already soaked." What does this line mostly do?
"We rewrite the top half tonight." What does this line mostly do?
Compare "Rocket sat down hard on the bench" with "A spare. In the folder." What do the two lines show together?
StatementTrue or false?
The setting of a story can block some actions and push others.?
A turning point must always be an action, never a line of dialogue.?
Characters often change between the problem and the resolution.?
The resolution of The Missing Master came only from Biscuit finding the sheet.?
WHY THIS EXERCISERaven's question was a line of dialogue that turned the story. The crew rewrote the issue themselves.
Which word names the part of a plot where the problem is settled? Type the word.
What did Rocket make at dawn so the wind could not win again? Type the word.
PUT THE STORY MOUNTAIN IN ORDER
  • ?Rising action: the rain and the search of the porch.
  • ?Turning point: Raven's question about what they remember.
  • ?Problem: the master is missing.
  • ?Falling action: the night of rewriting.
  • ?Resolution: two masters, a spare and a changed Rocket.
WHY THIS EXERCISEEvery plot you read this year can be mapped on this mountain.
Try it
Reread one episode aloud, the one you liked best.
Find a line nobody asked about this week and say which job it does: propel, reveal or provoke.

Review complete. Tomorrow is Press Day: the crew carries two masters to the library, and you finish your own piece.

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