Elements of Fiction

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Elements of Fiction
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Character

• The people (or animals, things, etc. presented as
  people) presented in a literary work
• Protagonist the main character, ex. Cinderella
  (The one we are for!)
• Antagonist the character who stands in
  opposition to the protagonist, ex. wicked
  stepsisters

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Characterization

• Characterization readers ability to understand
  the character
• We learn about characters by their thoughts,
  words, actions, or appearance

9/14/2015
Coach Cohen 7th English
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Plot

• Events and actions of a story
• Usually graphically shown as a triangle
• Beginning exposition, before action
• Rising Action conflicts and crisis
• Middle (sometimes) climax
• Falling action everything after climax
• End resolution, tying together

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Theme

• What the story is about
• Central idea or central message of the story
• Usually contains some insight into the human
  condition tells something about humans and life
• Can be stated directly or implied

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Setting

• The place where the story takes place
• Geographical location, ex. London, Africa
• Time period, ex. 1865, during WWII, today
• Socio-economic characteristics of the location,
  ex. weathly suburbs, depression dustbowl
• Specific building, room, etc., ex. junior high
  school, military base, log cabin, bus

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Conflict

• Conflict - dramatic struggle between two forces
  in a story - the essence of fiction, creates plot
• Man vs Man - pits one person against another.
• Man vs Nature - run-in with the forces of nature
• Man vs Society - values by which everyone else
  lives are being challenged
• Man vs Self - internal conflict - sometimes
  people are their own worst enemies

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Point of View

• POV refers to narrators relationship to the
  story
• Third person - most common - the classic
  storytelling mode in which the storyteller is
  recounting a series of events to an audience a
  fly on the wall
• First person - the narrator is a character in
  the story who takes actions, makes judgments and
  has opinions and biases I, we, my used
• Second person rarely used Choose Your Own
  Adventure children's books, in which the reader
  actually makes decisions and jumps around the
  book accordingly you is used