Unit 1 Concepts

It's always a good idea to clear up any confusion you have about what is taking place in a story before you continue to read more. If a word, phrase, sentence, or paragraph does not make sense to you, take a moment to stop and ask why or how it is confusing. This will help you identify the appropriate reading strategy to use to help you answer the questions you have about the text.

Make Connections

There are several ways to make connections while reading. You can make a connection between the story you're reading and a story you've read before. Or you can make a connection to your own experience or to an event taking place in the world. By connecting what you read to something you already know, you can deepen your understanding of a story's meaning.

Summarize

Summarizing helps you to stay focused on the main ideas or points an author wants you to understand. When you summarize, you analyze what you read in order to determine which details are most important, and you restate those details in your own words. This helps you develop a deeper understanding of the story because you are sorting and organizing information in a logical way.

Reread

When you come across paragraphs in a story that cause you some confusion, you can reread them to clear up any misunderstandings. Think about the questions you have after reading the text the first time. Then, when you read the text again, focus on figuring out the answers to your questions. Rereading helps you to become more familiar with what is happening in a story, which leads to new insights and discoveries about events and characters.

Visualize

To visualize something means to picture it in your mind. If you are unable to visualize something taking place or being described in a story, it may be because you do not yet understand the author's meaning. If this is the case, think about what is confusing and reread to answer questions you have. The more you visualize, the more aware you become of the layers of meaning being communicated by the author.

How to Create Tension (Basics) ⇣

Pacing

Pacing is a technique that controls the speed at which a reader moves through events of a story. It reflects how fast or slow these events are unfolded. An author might slow the pacing by including lengthy descriptions of the setting or detailed explanations of a character's thoughts. A slower pace can build tension and make the reader curious about where the story is going. An author might create a faster pace by using dialogue and action to unfold the events in a story. A faster pace can make readers want to keep reading to see how the tension will be relieved.

Order of Events

Order of events is how the author sequences the events in a story. Some stories are best told in chronological order, where the events follow one after another in the order they occurred. Other stories may include flashbacks that interrupt the flow of events and provide information about what happened in the past. An author makes deliberate choices about how to organize and unfold the events in a story. Tension and suspense are created by withholding or revealing key details when the reader least expects it. Moments like these create an element of surprise that excites readers and keeps them reading to see what happens next.

Language

Word choice and nuance are two language techniques an author might use to plant ideas in the reader's mind. Word choice is the precise language an author uses to convey ideas, and nuance is a subtle difference, shade of meaning, or expression. Word choice and nuance play an important role in creating tension. An author selects words carefully to be sure that they create feelings of fear, mystery, and suspense. The author can consider the connotative and denotative meanings of words and phrases and use them to make an impression on the reader.

Summary Basics ⇣

Keep in mind that a summary:

briefly retells the story's most important parts in a few sentences.
includes only the key information.
leaves out minor details.
is in your own words and is opinion free.

What is Pacing? ⇣

In literature, pacing is the speed at which the author unfolds the events in a story.

Pacing refers to how fast or slow a story unfolds for the reader.
Pacing changes in different sections of a story; it does not move at one speed.
Pacing is dependent upon how the author presents key moments of the story and distributes information.

In stories written to scare or thrill, authors manipulate pacing to create feelings of tension and suspense in the reader.

An author might rely on these techniques to control the pacing in a story:

sentence structure
description and details
dialogue
action

Linear Plot Structure (Basics)

This structure is the basic framework of how a story is laid out for the reader.

Writing An Analysis About Tension ⇣

To produce an effective analytical response, use these steps to help you organize your writing:

Begin with a precise claim about how the order of events and pacing in the rising action creates tension and suspense.
Next, provide textual evidence and examples that support the claim.
Then, provide commentary that explains how each example creates tension and suspense.
Finally, revise your writing to ensure that your claim and supporting evidence are clear and that you have no spelling errors.

Defining Theme ⇣

Theme is the underlying message that the author wants to share about life, human nature, or society. As you read, remember that themes:

are broad concepts or messages that apply to all readers.
are not directly stated in the text.
are developed throughout the entire story.
are developed through the characters, events, and other details.

There may be more than one theme in a text.

Flashbacks ⇣

Flashbacks are events that happened prior to the current moment in a story. They break the chronological flow to provide necessary information to the reader about something that happened in the past.

Authors signal flashbacks to readers by using
past-tense verbs; phrases, such as "I remember..."; or
print features such as italics.

Transitions (Moving from Point to Point) ⇣

Transitions are words and phrases that connect ideas within and between the paragraphs in a text. They link key elements in a written response.

Introducing Textual Evidence:

For example,
For instance,
In paragraph #,

Providing additional support or evidence:

Additionally,
Again,
Also,
Furthermore,

Showing relationships between ideas:

Accordingly,
Consequently,
As a result,
Hence,
Therefore

Introducing Commentary:

This demonstrates that...
The author's use of _____ shows...
This reveals...
This is important because...

How to Structure an Analysis (Writing) ⇣

Use the following structure for your writing:

Make a claim.
Identify textual evidence from both texts that is relevant and supports your claim.
Include commentary that explains how the evidence supports your claim.

You should provide multiple pieces of textual evidence and commentary to support your claim.

Tension in Each Part of a Story ⇣

Building Tension

Conflict and tension are closely connected in stories. As soon as an author introduces the conflict, tension emerges. The author builds tension by making the conflict more difficult to solve. Tension reaches its most intense point at the climax of the story.

Tension in the Exposition

In the exposition, the author may use descriptive details to build tension while introducing the setting, characters, and conflict. How the author describes these elements can create an atmosphere of danger, mystery, or suspense. The author may only present the beginnings of conflict that will be further developed in the rising action.

Tension in the Rising Action
The rising action introduces events that make the conflict more difficult for the characters. Authors build tension by making the conflict more complicated and, as a result, keeping readers uncertain about how the conflict will end or be resolved. The events in the rising action may include new dangers, mysteries, or challenges characters must overcome.
Tension in the Climax

The climax is the moment when the tension is highest, and then begins to subside.

The author brings the tension to a peak by having the main character succeed—or fail—in reaching his or her goal. The climax does not have to be explosive to create tension.

Tension in the Falling Action

Tension continues to ease in a story's falling action. The author may maintain some tension by including a few small side conflicts between characters. If there were subplots or minor conflicts, the author may resolve them in the falling action.

Tension in the Resolution

Sometimes authors maintain tension to the very end of a story by using a surprise ending or by leaving readers guessing about characters and events. Resolutions should leave readers satisfied or wanting more. Note that the resolution means the resolution of the story, not the conflict.

Denotation & Connotation (Word Meanings) ⇣

Words can have denotative and connotative meanings. The denotative meaning of a word is the literal and precise definition you find in the dictionary.

The connotative meaning of a word is the indirect or implied meaning or feeling evoked by a word.

Example: Look at the word cheap as an example. Think of how cheap implies a different meaning than inexpensive or affordable. Cheap implies that something isn't just inexpensive or affordable, it may also be of lesser or poor quality and less appealing.

Nuance Basics (What Is It?) ⇣

Nuance is the subtle difference in a word's meaning. Thinking about these subtle differences can help you to analyze how the author's word choices convey a specific meaning.

How Word Choice Changes Things ⇣

Using words that people associate with certain feelings helps the author create a very specific tone or atmosphere in the story.

For example, using the word haunted instead of worried creates an uneasy, distressing, macabre tone and presents the reader with an image that evokes an unsettling feeling.

Don't forget that you can go back and look at notes from the other Units!

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