Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Exposition
Orphaned Alienated Gnome-Making Boy Meets Kind and Fearless Misanthropic Girl
Will is depressed, still a bit shell-shocked by the death of his parents, and he believes that he is weak and doomed. He's also stuck in a school he hates, where he makes these wooden statue whirligigs that don't really make sense to him. Good times, these decidedly are not. Then Will meets Angela, a fellow outsider who's unafraid of standing up to him and calling him on his negative outlook and self-obsessions. And with that, the gloomy stage is set.
Rising Action
Gnome Overpopulation Causes Alarm, Suspicion, and Unexplained Deaths
Will is losing his sense of time and falling deeper into depression. A few local teens are found dead and some of Will's creations are planted near their bodies. Police investigate to determine if it's murder or suicide, and Will is bullied by a reporter who wants to make Will look like the killer. Will and Angela's friendship grows, but his inability to communicate his grief and pain to her (or anyone else, for that matter) only leaves him feeling more isolated. In other words, things are getting kind of unbearable for our main man.
Climax
Boy Fights to Maintain Innocence, Nearly Losing Self and Girl
Will's unresolved guilt about his parents' unusual death leads him to feel erroneously responsible for the suicides. Will's grandfather is clueless about how to reach out to help his grandson, who is kind of losing it. Finally the two of them have it out and truthful feelings are exchanged. Cryptic taunting phone calls, oddly placed gnomes, and a threat to Angela's safety create a crisis, which prompts Will to take action. The turning point involves a little beach wrestling and few punches being thrown. Will no longer feels like a victim of his own life. Boo ya.
Falling Action
Exonerated Gnome-Making Boy Campaigns For Change
After standing up to the guys who want to frame him as the teen killer, and having a difficult heart-to heart with Pops, Will is feeling more powerful and better able to take on his own emotions and mental state. Those negative thoughts he lugged around in the beginning? Yeah, they're not welcome anymore.
Resolution
Boy Forges Way Toward Inner Peace
Will finds some resolution and respite from his inner struggle by letting himself off the hook, and commits to having a better attitude on the home front with his grandparents. Yay.