Literary

Elements
LIT 2 - World Literature
In this discussion...
Basic Elements of a Story
Setting
Character
Plot
Conflict
Theme
Point of View
Tone
Style
Setting
Setting
Setting represents both the physical location but also the time
(i.e. past, present, future) and the social and cultural conditions
in which the characters exist.
Setting
Locale.
This relates to broad categories such as a country, state,
region, city, and town, as well as to more specific locales,
such as a neighborhood, street, house or school.
Other locales can include shorelines, islands, farms, rural
areas, etc.
Setting
Time of year.
The time of year is richly evocative and influential in fiction.
Time of year includes the seasons, but also encompasses
holidays, such as Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and
Halloween.
Significant dates can also be used, such as the anniversary
of a death of a character or real person, or the anniversary of
a battle, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Setting
Time of day.
Scenes need to play out during various times or periods
during a day or night, such as dawn or dusk.
Readers have clear associations with different periods of the
day, making an easy way to create a visual orientation in a
scene.
Setting
Elapsed time.
The minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months a story
encompasses must be somehow accounted for or the reader
will feel confused and the story will suffer from a lack of
authenticity.
While scenes unfold moment by moment, there is also time
to account for between scenes, when a flashback is inserted,
and when a character travels a long distance.
Setting
Mood and atmosphere.
Characters and events are influenced by weather,
temperature, lighting, and other tangible factors, which in
turn influence the emotional timbre, mood, and atmosphere
of a scene.
Setting
Climate.
Climate is linked to the geography and topography of a
place, and, as in our real world, can influence events and
people.
It’s especially important when you write about a real setting
to understand climatic influences.
Harsh climates can make for grim lives, while tropical
climates can create more carefree lifestyles.
Setting
Geography.
This refers to specific aspects of water, landforms,
ecosystems, and topography in your setting.
No matter where a story is set, whether it’s a mountain
village in the Swiss Alps or an opulent resort on the Florida
coast, the natural world with all its geographic variations
and influences must permeate the story.
Setting
Man-made geography.
These landmarks include dams, bridges, ports, towns and
cities, monuments, burial grounds, cemeteries, and famous
buildings.
Setting
Eras of historical importance.
Important events, wars, or historical periods linked to the
plot and theme might include the Civil war, World War II,
medieval times, the Bubonic Plague, the gold rush in the
1800s, or the era of slavery in the South.
Setting
Social/political/cultural environment.
Cultural, political, and social influences can range widely and
affect characters in many ways.
The social era of a story often influences characters’ values,
social and family roles, and sensibilities.
Setting
Population.
Some places are densely populated, such as Hong Kong,
while others are lonely places with only a few hardy souls.
Your stories need a specific, yet varied population that
accurately reflects the place.
Setting
Population.
Some places are densely populated, such as Hong Kong,
while others are lonely places with only a few hardy souls.
Your stories need a specific, yet varied population that
accurately reflects the place.
Characters
Characters
A person or animal or really anything personified.
There can be one main character or many, and often there are
secondary characters, but not always.
Characters
Protagonist or Main Character
Main characters are the root of the story.
They will develop over time and will ultimately be part of the
driving force of the plot.
This is the character your readers will care most about.
Characters
Antagonist
An antagonist is the opposite of your protagonist.
They will oppose your main character.
They will, along with the main character, be the driving force
behind the plot.
Characters
Villain
A villain is similar to the antagonist, but they are evil.
They have evil actions and motives that drive the plot.
Confidante Character
A confidante is someone or something the main character
confides in.
The confidante can be another character or it can be the
inside pages of the main character’s diary.
Characters
Dynamic or Developing Character
A dynamic character is someone who changes throughout
the story.
This may be a good change or a bad one, but their
motivations, desires, or even their personality changes due
to something in the story.
Characters
Flat or Static Character
A flat character is the opposite of a dynamic character.
A flat character doesn’t change much or at all throughout
the story.
Their personality and/or background isn’t revealed well and
we only know a handful of traits about them.
Characters
Foil Character
A foil character is someone who is the opposite of another
character.
They reflect the opposite traits, hence a foil character.
Your main character can be sweet and caring and the foil
character will bring out that side by being nasty.
It contrasts two characters.
Characters
Foil Character
A foil character is someone who is the opposite of another
character.
They reflect the opposite traits, hence a foil character.
Your main character can be sweet and caring and the foil
character will bring out that side by being nasty.
It contrasts two characters.
Plot
Plot
The events that happen in a story are called the plot.
In a plot you typically find:
an introduction,
rising action,
a climax,
the falling action,
and a resolution.
Plot is often represented as an arc.
Plot
A Dramatic or Progressive Plot
This is a chronological structure which first establishes the
setting and conflict, then follows the rising action through to
a climax (the peak of the action and turning point), and
concludes with a denouement (a wrapping up of loose
ends).
Plot
A Dramatic or Progressive Plot
Plot
An Episodic Plot
This is also a chronological structure, but it consists of a
series of loosely related incidents, usually of chapter length,
tied together by a common theme and/or character.
Episodic plots work best when the writer wishes to explore
the personalities of the characters, the nature of their
existence, and the flavor of an era.
Plot
An Episodic Plot
Plot
A Parallel Plot
The writer weaves two or more dramatic plots that are
usually linked by a common character and a similar theme.
Plot
A Flashback
This structure conveys information about events that
occurred earlier.
It permits authors to begin the story in the midst of the
action but later fill in the background for full understanding
of the present events.
Flashbacks can occur more than once and in different parts
of a story.
Plot
A Flashback
Conflict
Conflict
Every story must have a conflict, i.e. a challenge or problem
around which the story is based.
Without conflict, the story will have no purpose or trajectory.
A single story may contain more than one type of conflict,
although one often predominates.
The conflict provides the excitement and makes possible the
growth and development of the protagonist’s character.
Conflict
Types of conflicts:
The Protagonist against Another
The Protagonist against Society
The Protagonist against Nature
The Protagonist against Self
Theme
Theme
Idea, belief, moral, lesson or insight.
It’s the central argument that the author is trying to make the
reader understand.
The theme is the “why” of the story.
Point of
View
Point of View

“Who” is telling the story?

Point of View
Internal Narrator (First-person Narrator; the narrator uses "I" to
refer to himself/herself)
The narrator is a character in the story, often, but not
necessarily, the protagonist.
This narrative point of view allows for a very personal touch
in the story telling.
Point of View
Omniscient Narrator (multiple points of view; the narrator is "all-
knowing")
The narrator is not a character in the story but knows
everything about the story.
The omniscient narrator can show the thoughts and
experiences of any character in the story.
It permits the writer the broadest scope.
Point of View
Limited Narrator (External Subjective Narrator; the 3rd person
point of view)
The narrator is not a character in the story but looks at
things only through the eyes of a single character.
This type of narrative permits the narrator to quickly build a
close bond between the protagonist and the reader, without
being confined by the protagonist’s educational or language
restrictions.
Tone
Tone
The overall emotional “tone” or meaning of the story.
Is it happy, funny, sad, depressed?
Tone can be portrayed in multiple ways, through word and
grammar choices, choice of theme, imagery and description,
symbolism, and the sounds of the words in combination (i.e.
rhyme, rhythm, musicality).
Tone
Humor
Incongruity is the foundation of humor.
We laugh at the tension resulting from something out of the
ordinary.
Humor is elusive.
Humor tends to be age specific.
Humor can be either sympathetic or negative.
Tone
Parody
A parody is a literary imitation of another piece of literature,
usually using exaggeration for comic purpose.
A parody implies a degree of sophistication that
deconstructs the original story and depicts the characters
from a different perspective.
Parodies can demonstrate the vitality of literature and can
suggest new ways of interpreting old tales.
Tone
Parody
A parody is a literary imitation of another piece of literature,
usually using exaggeration for comic purpose.
A parody implies a degree of sophistication that
deconstructs the original story and depicts the characters
from a different perspective.
Parodies can demonstrate the vitality of literature and can
suggest new ways of interpreting old tales.
Style
Style
This is how things are said.
Word choices, sentence structure, dialogue, metaphor, simile,
hyperbole.
Style contributes significantly to tone.
Style
Word Choice
Sentence Length and Construction
Exposition
The narrator’s passages that provide background
information and/or introduce characters to help readers
understand the events of a story.
Dialogue
The words spoken by the characters, usually to each other,
not to the reader.
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