Four key elements of a story are the plot, setting, mood, and characters of a story.

The plot is the cause-and-effect sequence, structure, and relationship of actions and events in a work of fiction, the “why” for the things that happen in the story. The plot begins with some sort of catalyst. While the chronological or temporal order of events in the work constitutes the “story,” we are speaking of ……

The setting is the time and place in which a story unfolds. The setting in which the events of a story take place could be a forest, airport, factory, hospital, school, battlefield, mountain, seashore, field, town, and village. The setting of Act 1, scene 1 of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” for example, is a ……

The mood is a literary element that refers to the atmosphere or emotional condition created within the setting. Mood is the general sense or feeling which the reader is supposed to get from the text. In describing or identifying the mood of a piece, a reader should refer to the author’s or characters’ state of mind.

Characters are the people who are involved in the events taking part in a story. There are two types of characters: major and minor.

Major characters are almost always round or three-dimensional characters. Major characters have both good and bad qualities, change their ambitions, goals, ambitions, and ……

Minor characters are almost always flat or two-dimensional characters. They have only one or two striking qualities. Their predominant quality is not balanced by ……