The Study of Fiction

and Non-fiction
 What is a Fiction?
It is the literary production of man’s
imagination finding shape in stories of people
or events.
Fiction works include made-up characters,
and a made-up series of events, called the plot.
Fictional writing is told (narrated) by a
speaker called the narrator.
Works of fiction often include a theme, or
message, about life.
 Fiction is told from a certain perspective, or
point of view.
 First-person point of view is the perspective
of a character in the story.
Third-person point of view is the perspective
of a narrator outside the story.
 Types of Fiction

a. Novels –are long works of fiction.

Elements included- characters, plot,
conflict, and setting. In addition to the
main plot a novel may contain one or more
subplots, or independent related stories.
A novel can be divided into
three types:
1. Fantasy
2. Love
3. Adventure
Novels are further broken down into
such varieties as:
1. religious 6. horror
2. romantic 7. detective
3. surrealistic 8. sci-fi
4. Utopian 9. naturalistic
5. Western 10. psychological
b. Novellas or novelettes –are shorter
than novels but longer than short
stories. A prose that are intermediate
between the short story and the novels.
It is about 50 to 150 ordinary pages
long, but no exact limits can be given as
to length.
c. Short stories –are same elements
as novels and novellas but tend to
focus on one main plot with a single
conflict. It has: characterization,
unity, cumulative interest, climax
and a resolution.
d. Fable –is a short allegorical
conveying a moral or principle of
behavior. The characters are
usually animals talking like human
beings but keeping their animal
traits.
e. Myths –are traditional tales
common to the members of a tribe,
race, or nation usually involving the
supernatural and serving to explain
natural phenomena or suggest a
religious or moral truth.
Myths –is a body of myths
describing the gods of the people,
demigods and legendary human
beings in stories which involve
supernatural elements.
Ex. Atalanta
f. Legends –are stories of
some wonderful events
popularly believed to have
some historical basis and
passed down through the
ages.
Ex. The Legend of the
Tagalogs
The Legend of the First
Rainbow
g. Fairy tales –make use of
folklore motifs, commonplace
expressions, typical themes
are those which develop from
stock characters such as:
Cruel king
Cruel stepmother
Naughty sister
Substitute bride
Magic
Supernatural changes
Restorations

“Virtue is rewarded and fairy

tales always end happy.”
h. Folk tales –are part of
folklore. Folk tales easily pass
from language to language
and spread all over the
world; hence, they are called
“migratory tales.”
Ex. The Moon and the Sun

How the Moon and the Stars

came to be
Prose drama

1. Comedy –a medieval
narrative that ends happily
(The Divine Comedy)
The word comedy comes from the
Greek term, “Komos” meaning
festivity or revelry. This form
usually is light and written with the
purpose of amusing, and usually
has a happy ending.
Ex. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
by William Shakespeare

America’s Funniest Home Videos

2. Tragedy –a narrative
tale typically describing
the downfall of a great
man.
This involves the hero struggling
mightily against dynamic forces;
he meets death or ruin without
success and satisfaction
obtained by the protagonist in a
comedy.
Ex. The Hobbit

Macbeth
3. Melodrama –drama in
which many exciting events
happen and the characters
have very strong or
exaggerated emotions.
This is usually used in musical
plays with the opera. Today, this is
related to tragedy. It arouses
immediate and intense emotion and
is usually sad but there is a happy
ending for the principal character.
Ex. A Series of Unfortunate Events

Princess Sarah
4. Farce –a funny play or
movie about ridiculous
situations and events. It is an
exaggerated comedy. It seeks
to arouse mirth by laughable
lines; situations are too
ridiculous to be true; the
characters seem to be
caricatures and the motives
undignified and absurd.
Ex. Vice Ganda movies
Home Alone
5. Social poems –it is purely
comic and tragic that pictures
the life of today. It may aim
to bring about changes in the
social conditions.
What is a Non-fiction?
It is a writing that deals with
real events and people.
Characters, settings, and
events must conform to what
is true.
a. Biography –tells the
story of someone’s life
from perspective of
another writer.
b. Autobiography –tells
the story of author’s life
and reflect the writer’s
thoughts and feelings
about events.
c. Letters –are written
forms of communication
from one person to
another.
d. Journals and diaries –
records of daily events and
writer’s thoughts and feelings
about them. Can be private
or public.
e. Essays and articles –brief
written works about a
specific topic. Purpose might
be to explain, persuade, or
inform.
f. Informational texts –
written documents such as
textbooks, applications,
instructions, and articles.
Thank you for
listening..