Introduction to Literary

Genres

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1. Understanding Conventions of
Traditional Genres

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Classified into five categories of genres:
1. Prose Fiction
2. Poetry
3. Drama
4. Nonfiction
5. Creative nonfiction

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 Prose fiction, poetry
and drama are
classified as
imaginative literature.
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What are the points
to ponder and
remember in good
writing?
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Prose fiction is an imaginary
story, usually written down,
that someone tells in
everyday, natural language.
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 Poetry is a literary art where
the evocative and aesthetic
qualities of language are
brought out in lieu, or together
with the language’s apparent
meaning.
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Drama is a literary work which
is designed to be acted out on
the stage performed by actors
before an audience.

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Nonfiction Prose refers to any
kind of prose writing that is
based on facts, well-written
prose that deals with real
people, things, events and
places.
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When fictionists based their stories on
real life events and characters
(nonfiction), and historians (writers of
nonfiction) have incorporated
imagined dialogue (fiction) to suggest
the thoughts of historical figures. That
is called creative nonfiction!
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2. IDENTIFYING THE
ELEMENTS OF THE
DIFFERENT GENRES

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1. Meaning
2. Form
3. Voice and tone
4. Character and Characterization
5. Language (uses and meanings)
1. Meaning
a) What is the work about?
b) What is the theme?
2. Form
a. Who has the writer organized
the literary work to achieve the
effect or express the meaning?
3. Voice and tone
a. Who is telling the story?
b. Is the tone playful? Serious?
Angry?
4. Character and Characterization
a. How do the dialogue and action
reveal a character’s personality
traits?
b. What is the character’s
motivation?
5. Language (uses and meanings)
a. Does the selection includes any
imagery (the use of sensory
images to represent someone or
something? )
b. What figure of speech does the
writer use?
3. UNDERSTANDING
PROSE, POETRY, AND
DRAMA

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 Prose is expression
(whether written or spoken)
that does not have a regular
rhythmic pattern.
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 Prose does have rhythm,
but its rhythm lacks any
sustained regularity and is
not meant to be scanned!
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Poetry is expression that is
written in verse, often with
some form of regular
rhythm. It is heightened by
sense of perceptions or
consciousness.
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Drama is divided into two very
broad categories: tragedy and
comedy

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 Tragedy is a drama in which a character
(usually a good and noble person of high
rank) is brought to a disastrous end in his
or her confrontation with a superior force
(gods, fortune, universal values) but also
comes to understand the meaning of his or
her deeds and to accept an appropriate
punishment.
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Comedy is a work intended to interest,
involve, and amuse the reader or
audience, in which no terrible disaster
occurs and that ends happily for the
main characters. That includes
romantic comedy.

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4. What is Creative
Writing?
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 Lee Gutkind (2017), in “The
Five R’s of Creative Nonfiction”,
identified five essential
elements of creative nonfiction.

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1. Creative nonfiction has a “real
life” aspect.
2. Creative nonfiction is based on
the writer engaging in
personal “reflection” about
what he/she is writing about.
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3. Creative nonfiction requires that
the writer complete research.
4. Creative nonfiction is reading.
5. Creative nonfiction is writing.

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 Some quotes about Creative Nonfiction
“Creative nonfiction writers do not
make things up; they make ideas
and information that already exist
more interesting and often more
accessible.”
-Lee Gutkind
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 “To be creative means to connect.
It’s to abolish the gap between the
body, the mind and the soul,
between science and art, between
fiction and nonfiction.”
-Nawal El Saadawi
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 “Principles, Elements,
Techniques, and Devices”

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1. Elements of Creative
Nonfiction

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 1.1 FACT
The writing must be based on
fact, rather than fiction. It
cannot be made up.

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 1.2 EXTENSIVE RESEARCH
The piece of writing is based on
primary research, such as interview or
personal experience, and often
secondary research, such as gathering
information from books, magazines,
and newspaper .
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1.3 Reportage/reporting
The writer must be able to
document events or personal
experiences.

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1.4 Personal Experience and
personal opinion
Often, the writer includes personal
experience, feelings, thoughts, and
opinions. For instance, when
writing a personal essay or
memoir.
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1.5 Explanation/Exposition
The writer is required to
explain the personal
experience or topic to the
reader.
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 1.6 Essay Format
Creative nonfiction is often
written in essay format.
Example: Personal Essay,
Literary Journalistic essay, brief
essay.
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2. Literary Elements
Used in Creative
Nonfiction
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1. Characters 1. Narrative
2. Detail 2. Order
3. Dialogue 3. Plot and Plot
4. Diction Structure
5. Figurative Language 4. Point of View
6. Flashback 5. Setting, Scene and
7. Flash Forward Atmosphere
8. Foreshadowing 6. Style
9. Imagery 7. Symbol
 2. 1 Characters
Every story has characters,
but in nonfiction, these
characters are real people.
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2.2 Detail
It provides pieces of
information. Writers of
biography and autobiography
use details to give the actual
facts about a person’s life.
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2.3 Dialogue
It is a literary and theatrical
form consisting of a written or
spoken conversational exchange
between two or more (“dia”
means through or across)
people.
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2.4 Diction
It is the writer’s choice of words.
Two forms of definition:
a. Connotation
b. denotation
2.5 Figurative Language
Also known as the “ornaments of
language.” It forces the readers
to make an imaginative leap in
order to comprehend an
author’s point.
 2.6 Flashback
It is a simple method of inserting an
episode that occurred pervious to the
main flow (or base time) of the plot.
2.7 Flashforward or Prolepsis -
It gives the reader a sudden, clear-
eyed glimpse into the future.
2.8 Foreshadowing
-It is a literary device in which an
author hints certain plot
developments that perhaps will come
to be later in the story.
Example
A professionally dressed woman hurriedly leaves
the house, slamming the front door. She
frantically searches for her keys in the bottom of
a giant purse while balancing a briefcase under
her other arm. She finds her keys, gets in the car,
and backs out of the driveway. As the car drives
away, the camera moves back towards the front
door and into the house, where a USB stick is
sitting on a shelf next to the front door.
In this scene, the situation is the same, but the
details are different. It shows us the USB stick
forgotten by the woman, which foreshadows a
future conflict.
2.9 Imagery
It refers to the “pictures”.
2.10 Motif
It is any element, subject, idea or
concept that is constantly
present through the entire body
of literature.
2.11 Narrative
Nonfiction writing usually
follows a time line for a
narrative that is either linear or
nonlinear, depending on how
the author tells the story.
2.12 Order
a. Importance
b. Chronological
c. Problem-Solution
d. Cause and Effect
e. Comparison
f. Classification (another kind of, a
third variety of…)
2.13 Plot and Plot Structure
Plot refers to the series or
sequences of events that give a
story its meaning
Every story as a plot, or sequence of events.
There are five parts to a good plot.
1. Beginning
2. Rising action
3. Climax
4. Falling action
5. End
2.14 Point of View
Point of view refers to the
perspective from which a story is
told.
•Memoirs and autobiographies are told in
first person point of view.
•Instruction manuals, how-to guides and
self-help books are usually written in the
second person.
•Most biographies are told in the third
person by someone who is relating the
information he has gathered about the
story.
Omniscient means ”all-knowing”. If the
narrator has an omniscient point of view,
then he knows what is going on in the
minds of all of the characters at all times.
The reader gets to know what every
character is thinking and feeling.
Third-person point of view can be limited
if the narrator “shadows” one of the
characters. So, the narrator is not in the
story, but he/she only describes the action
surrounding a specific character.
First-Person Point of View:
When the bus came, I got on, carrying my pink
backpack. It was the first day of school, and I was
nervous. I smiled, though, when I saw my best
friend Kevin sitting in the back.
Third-Person Point of View:
When the bus came, Sharon got on, carrying her
pink backpack. It was the first day of school, and
Sharon was nervous. She smiled, though, when she
saw her best friend Kevin sitting in the back.
•Omniscient Point of View:
When the bus came, Sharon got on,
carrying her pink backpack. It was the
first day of school, and Sharon was
nervous. She smiled, though, when she
saw her best friend Kevin sitting in the
back. Kevin was nervous, too. So, he was
thrilled to see Sharon. Maybe this day
would not be so bad after all.
2.15. Setting, Scene and Atmosphere
The Fundamental Elements of Setting
1. Locale
2. Time of Year
3. Time of Day
4. Elapsed time
5. Mood and Atmosphere
6. Climate
7. Geography
8. Man-made geography
9. Eras of historical importance
10. social/political/cultural environment
11. Population
12. Ancestral influences
2.16. Style
Style refers to the language conventions
are used to construct the story. A writer
can manipulate diction, sentence
structure, phrasing, dialogue, and other
aspects of language to create style.
2.17. Symbol
Symbol is a literary device that contains
the several layers of meaning, often
concealed at first sight, and is
representative of several other
aspects/concepts/traits than those that are
visible in the literal translation alone.
2.18. Theme
Theme is the meaning or concept we are
left with after reading a piece of writing.
•It must adhere to the following
requirements:
1. It must account for all the major
details of the story.
2. It must not be contradicted by any
detail of the story.
3. It must not rely on supposed fact-facts
not actually stated or clearly implied by
the story.

A theme is not the “moral” of the story. A

theme is the author’s way of
communicating and sharing ideas,
perceptions, and feelings with readers, and
it may be directly stated in the text, or it
may only be implied.
2.19. Tone
Tone is the writer’s attitude towards his or
her subject matter.
Patriotic Tone:
“And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not
what your country can do for you-ask
what you can do for your country.” – John
F, Kennedy
Aggressive Tone:
“Can someone tell me what the hell is
going on here?”
Sarcastic Tone:
“All morons hate it when you call them
moron.”
“If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who
gives a damn if she’s late? Nobody.”
“Goddamn money. It always ends up making
you blue as hell”
“Catholics are always trying to find out if
you’re Catholic.” – Holden Caulfield in J,D
Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye.
Gloomy Tone:
“And the trees all died. They were oranges trees. I
don’t know why they died, they just died.
Something wrong with the soil possibly or
maybe the stuff we got from the nursery wasn’t
the best. We complained about it. So we’ve got
thirty kids there, each kid has his or her own
little tree to plant and we’ve got these thirty dead
trees. All these kids looking at these little brown
sticks, it was depressing.” – “The School” by
Donald Barthelme.
Unhappy Tone:
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the ones less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.” – The Road
Not Taken by Robert Frost