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 (Initial Situation)
In the Know
Before we get into this story, we're going to need some questions answered. Who are these characters? Are there any conflicting interests between them? Where is this story going to take place? Who hates whom? Who loves whom? Without this information, how are we supposed to know what's going on? Or care?
Thankfully, the exposition stage is a one-stop shop for all these answers, and it's conveniently located at start of the first page. In the first three chapters, we learn about the histories and personalities of Eleanor and the rest of her ghost-hunting compadres. We get an account of Hill House and its eerie history. We even get a tour of the place courtesy of Dr. Montague.
Rising Action (Conflict, Complication)
Things That Go Bang in the Night
Once the exposition has been established, it's time for the conflict to shift into high gear and give us some quality scares. Hill House begins its ghastly assault on the senses of its guests. Things go bang in the night, writing appears scratched onto walls, and ghostly whispers echo throughout the hallways. For Eleanor in particular, these manifestations tend to hold hints of her intimate fears such as loneliness and her mother.
But the conflict doesn't just pertain to the specters of Hill House. The relationship between the house's guests also complicates. Eleanor's relationship with the others strains under the weight of her own self-centeredness and fear of intimacy. This proves especially true with Theodora. When Eleanor asks to move in with Theodora, Theodora promptly refuses. The rejection pushes Eleanor further into Hill House's phantasmal embrace.
Climax (Crisis, Turning Point)
All in Your Head
The climax is the turning point of the story. It's the moment when the protagonist makes a decision or does something that alters the conflict in a fundamental way, and the reader remains unsure of just how things will end.
The climax in this novel is subtle, but it's totally there. It occurs when Eleanor finally decides that Hill House will be her home sweet home. She believes it's the place she belongs, or even that she's been chosen by Hill House because it thinks she's special. The transition takes place at the end of Chapter 8 when Eleanor hears the rhyming song and thinks to herself, "None of them heard it, […]; nobody heard it but me" (8.173). This moment signifies Eleanor's removal from the group to become an occupant of Hill House. That's creepy, folks.
Falling Action
Stairway to Heaven
High tension? Check. Conflict building toward resolution? Check. Loose ends being tied up? Check. We must have entered the falling action stage.
The falling action in Hill House consists of most of Chapter 9. Eleanor is completely possessed by Hill House. When she tries to climb the iron stairway to the turret, the story has reached the moment of greatest tension as the reader wonders if Eleanor will kill herself like past Hill House residents. Then Luke saves her, and everyone has a "whew" moment.
Then we start the task of tying up loose plot threads. This occurs when Eleanor says her goodbyes to everyone. We learn what happened to Eleanor's sister, and Theodora and Eleanor seem to make up. Eleanor wants to stay, but the group resolutely refuses to let her. She must leave for her own safety.
Resolution (Denouement)
That's One Way to Go
We've reached the denouement, or the plot resolution, where everything comes to an end. Eleanor's heading home, so she can be safe from Hill House, and it's all well that ends well.
Or not. In a moment of insane conflict resolution, Eleanor decides she wants to be with Hill House forever and commits suicide. That's certainly one way to bring a story to resolution.
Now Eleanor will never have to leave her beloved home—though whether her ghost remains in the halls of Hill House or she's simply dead is up for interpretation. Afterward, we also learn about the fate of our other ghost hunters and what they did after their time in Hill House. As for Hill House, it continues to stand alone in the hills.