Module 9

STYLE, THEME, AND TONE

MR. PHIILIP G. NONALES

Assistant Professor IV
Coordinator for Student Services and Alumni Affairs
Coordinator for Center for Foreign Languages
Pangasinan State University
Asingan, Pangasinan
Objectives At the end of this lesson,
the students will be able
to:
- define style, theme and
tone as used by various
authors in writing fiction;
- Explain the elements
involved in creating style;
and
- explore literary styles,
themes, and tone.
DEFINITION
STYLE is how you say and what you say.
STYLE is the way words take on an
identity on the page.
DEFINITION
STYLE is the kind of ownership agreement in which
any given writer lays claim, with his/ her identity to an
arrangement of words turned into self- revealing lines,
turned into a work of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
(Karen Salyer McElmurray,1999).
DEFINITION
THEME is what the story is really about, or the
general subject– for example, the theme of apiece
could be about revenge, or about unrequited love, or
it could be the inhumanity of man, etc.
DEFINITION
THEME is the summarized statement containing
the main thought or meaning of the literary piece.
DEFINITION
TONE refers to the attitude and mood of the work.
It is the overall atmosphere which influences the
emotional response of the reader.
DEFINITION
Each piece will have its own tone, depending on
the demands of the piece, for example, a piece about
a person dying may have a somber tone, as opposed
to a love story that may have a light, joyful tone.
 Some literary writers believe it is better to let the story
lead you rather than to impose yourself on the story. In a
sense, it is more magical, more organic to do so. It is when
you immerse yourself into the characters, and explore their
character development, their conflicts, when this “magic”
occurs. It does not involve outlining your work, but rather
following instinctively where the character leads you- this
is referred to as a character-driven story.
 There are other writers, some of them quite
successful, who write genre stories which are more
formulaic- in the first 10 pages, boy meets girl, the next
many pages, boy loses girl, and then there are obstacles
to the boy’s finding the girl, etc. The best ones are
written by writers who combine this “commercial”
style with strong character and character development.
 It benefits the “literary” writer to have an overall
sense of story structure, to realize that there is a high
point in traditional stories, for instance, as they can
edit their stories in a better way. A story that does
not have a high point, that meanders endlessly, that
does not end soon after the climax, that does not
conflict – will be impossible to wade through.
Student Activity:
o Select one paragraph from any story and rewrite it
changing the style, tone and voice of the piece.

o Submission of the activity will be on or before June

26,2021 (5PM) via MS Teams Chat.
Thank you very much!

References:
- Fundamentals of Creative Writing by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
- Creative Writing Worktext by Arnold Jarn Ford G. Buhisan and Ayesha Sayseng