Basic Principle: Tracking is following the action of the story from point to point. Each point is a disturbance or irregularity that reveals that something happened because someone caused it. You look at the action and begin to ask questions that will help you better understand the whole picture and why it happened the way it did. The goal is not to see how much detail you can discover in one action. It is to see how each action fits with all the other actions in a given event. Thus, you see the event as one of many events that are like chapters in a story moving towards it final conclusion.

Activity:

A. Attempt to identify the steps of a given event from its beginning to its end

1. Trace the major developments of a story

2. Notice the movements of the characters from scene to scene

a. How are the characters described?

1) their physical appearance

2) their speech

3) their actions

b. From what point of view is the story told?

1) watch for key words

2) observe the difference between dialogue vs. narrative

c. What contrasts are used in the story?