Printable Story Maps
Click the buttons to print each organizer.
Building Story Map
A good template for beginning writers to get the details of their story figured out.
Double Story Map
Two sets of story maps are good for comparing books in similar genres, by the same author, or contrasting different books.
Hexagon Story Map
Lists basic story beats, but also includes space for listing the moral of the story, as well as similar stories.
Main Idea Organizer
This chart allows for listing up to six ideas for a story, as well as space for scenes or other aspects.
Plot Diagram
A simple chart that allows readers to diagram action scenes and problem resolution. This can help you evaluate just about any story that you may be reading.
Worm Story Map
Beginning readers will enjoy using this cute map to list details of their favorite stories. this will become one of those that you will gravitate towards when evaluating stories of any size.
Worm Story Map 2
Similar to the above page, but more general in the details about the story. The focus is on being more general.
3-Part Story Clock
Young readers can list significant events at the beginning, middle, and end of their stories.
4-Part Story Clock
Similar to the sheet above, but adds space to list specific problems and their resolutions within the story.
5-Part Story Clock
In addition to listing the problems and resolutions, readers can document the climax of the story.
6-Part Story Clock
This template allows for more detailed listing of the action scenes within a story.
Standard Story Map
A good template for preparing book reports, with spaces to list characters and conflicts.
Beginning, Middle, and End Extended
Has spaces for the beginning, middle, and end of the story, and extensions for more detailed notes.
What Are Story Maps?
A great way to organize the features of a novel is a story map. It helps students characterize every component that was involved in creating a book. A story map is a creative classroom activity that enables students to develop the ability to deduce elements and learn about how a story is made.
How to Make a Story Map
The students are given blank story maps to fill each part while reading the book. The constituents of a story map are as below.
Characters
List down the characters that appear in the book. The extensive story maps further divide characters into lists of major and minor characters.
Setting
Where and in what era is the story taking place. Such as a historical novel in a king’s court or a story about a parallel universe. The first two chapters usually identify the setting.
Plot
This is a sequence of events that occurs in the story. Students are expected to write down the plots in short pointers.
Themes
Identify what themes the author uses, such as family, identity, fight for power, love, friendship, self-actualization, etc.
Conflict
Write down the conflict that the protagonists face. It can be anything like character against society, nature, supernatural beings, technology, another character, or a battle against self. A good conflict gives high anticipation and immense satisfaction with the resolution.
Resolution
The solution to the conflict. A story map must have a box for a resolution. Students are expected to write down how the conflict was defused. Some story maps used in writing classes also have a box where students write about how they would resolve the matter or write a different ending than the author.
Example of a Story Map in a Novel
Let us take Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and analyze it. The book has two main characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. The story is set in England and depicts the society of the 18th Century. The story’s themes are differences in status, women’s empowerment, and the perceptions we can have about the other person.
The conflict between the protagonists is that both are prideful and prejudiced toward each other and form wrong opinions. The resolution in this novel was that misunderstandings clear out as the truths are revealed. Elizabeth and Darcy end up together, who were the two most unlikely people to be together. Read your favorite novel and give a story map a try.
Significance of a Story Map
The framework of a story map involves identifying characters, plot, themes, conflict, resolution, and setting. This graphic organizer is a strategy to help students decipher the story as a piece of literary writing and turn it into something easier to memorize.
A story map helps a student in learning efficiently in the following ways:
- It Improves comprehensive skills
- It helps in organizing thoughts while reading by providing them structure
- Enhances writing ability as the student thinks like an author
- A complete story map with answers can help students while preparing for exams