Mapping the Mountain: How Stories Are Structured

Khan Academy

This engaging video introduces students to the core structural elements of narrative fiction using the classic "Story Mountain" diagram. The narrator breaks down the standard plot arc into six key components: Exposition, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution. By visualizing a story as a mountain journey, students can easily grasp how tension builds and releases throughout a narrative. To solidify these abstract concepts, the video applies them to a creative, humorous example: a sci-fi reboot of "The Three Little Pigs" titled "TLP: Starbound." This retelling transforms the classic fairy tale into a space opera, demonstrating exactly how each plot point functions within a familiar yet fresh context. From straw spaceships to a cyborg wolf pirate, the example makes literary analysis memorable and fun. This resource is highly valuable for English Language Arts classrooms, specifically for reading comprehension and creative writing units. It provides a shared vocabulary for discussing literature and offers a clear template that students can use to analyze books they read or structure stories they write. The video effectively bridges the gap between simple storytelling and formal literary analysis.