Rising action

Quentin follows Margo’s clues and finally discovers where she has gone.

Climax

On their graduation day, instead of walking in the ceremony, Quentin, Lacey, Ben, and Radar decide to take a frantic road trip to find Margo.

Falling action

Quentin and his friends find the town of Agloe and discover Margo, but she is scared and bitter towards them, rather than appreciative that they have come.

Foreshadowing 

The book’s Prologue starts with Quentin and Margo, age nine, finding a corpse in a nearby park, and this eerie occurrence sets them on a pattern of mystery-solving that persists throughout the rest of the novel. The discussion of paper towns and feeling like a paper girl that Margo has with Quentin at the top of the SunTrust Building foreshadows their conversation in the grass in the real-life paper town of Agloe. The journey in Quentin’s mom’s minivan around Orlando foreshadows the journey in Quentin’s own minivan from Florida to New York.

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