Plot

From The Writerium - the wiki for writers

Every fictional story must have a plot, but that raises the question what a plot is. Defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a plot is "the plan or main story (as of a movie or literary work)." That's a very broad definition. TO narrow it down, there are five main stages of a plot:

The Exposition

The Rising Action

The Climax

The Falling Action

The Denouement or Resolution

The Exposition usually occurs in the first few chapters of a book. It includes the introduction of characters, background info, and conflicts.

The Rising Action, appropriately enough, is the point at which the writer raises the tension level and starts to bring the characters to the climax.

The Climax is the point at which a main character makes a choice or a natural/supernatural event occurs in which the conflicts in the story are almost all solved.

The Falling Action is the point at which all secondary plots are cleared up and the ending becomes obvious.

The Denouement or Resolution occurs when the story is concluded and everyone is either all happy except for the bad guy or vice vice versa, or everyone is dead or zombies or some such thing.

For an example, take the Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien. The main Exposition occurs in the first book, in the first few chapters, meeting the Fellowship, Gandalf, the Nazgul, the Ring, and indirectly, Sauron. What is wonderful about Tolkien's writing is that he continues to introduce characters (like Gollum/Shmeagol) without interrupting the story's flow. The Rising Action is practically all of the trilogy, and the Climax occurs when Frodo can't decide whether to do the right thing or not. The falling action occurs on the journey back. The Denouement occurs at the ending (by definition).