Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Elements of Novels and Short Stories
Elements of Novels and Short Stories
Elements of Fictions
We lead
Aristotelian Plot
Plot Structure
We lead
● Struggle between the forces in the story. Without conflict, there is no plot. ●
Consists of : a. External conflicts – protagonist against external factors b.
Internal conflicts – protagonist against inside forces ● Common conflicts a. human
vs human (physical) b. human vs self (psychological) c. human vs nature d. human vs
society (social) e. human vs technology f. human vs fate (classical)
Source :http://www.slideshare.net/KSmith15/introduction-to-the-short-story
Characters
We lead
● Protagonist - the main character of the story - sometimes seen as the Hero -
often faces conflict - may undergo character changes
Characters
We lead
● Antagonist : - opposes the protagonist - sometimes also seen as the Villain - can
be non human
● Secondary characters - important to the storyline - ‘flat’ characters - have
limited character traits - do not undergo any changes
Characters
We lead
● Background characters - appear infrequently - most of the time are not named
Types of Characters
We lead
● Dynamic characters : - develop and change and not just round - many sided
personalities - changes can be better or worse
● Static characters: - one dimensional - stay the same with no development -
readers know very little about them - flat characters
Points of view
We lead
● The narrator of the story ● Tone and mood of the story can change depending on
who is telling the story ● First person narrator - the story is told through the
eyes of someone who is part of the whole story - events confined to what the
narrator experiences directlyor knows from someone else - limited to one person -
key words : “I” , “we”, “me”, “us”
Points of view
We lead
● The author’s message or the work meaning that the author wants to convey to the
readers
● Moral of the story. A novel may have more that one themes. ● Conveying the themes
through devices such as : a. simile b. metaphor c. irony d. allusion - casual
reference to a person, place, or event without actually being specific to the
reference or incident. e. symbolism – similar to the use in poetry f. foreshadowing
– a hint is given earlier in the story that refers to something that will happen
later in the story
Setting
We lead