ELEMENTS OF FICTION

FICTION
●a literary work, based
on the imagination and
not necessarily on fact

●imaginary, invented
writings such as novels
and short stories

●not true
ORAL FICTION
◻ MYTH

◻ FABLES

◻ FOLKTALES

◻ FAIRYTALES

◻ PARABLES
LITERARY
FICTION
◻ SHORT STORIES
◻ NOVELS

NONFICTION
(BASED ON FACTS)

◻ BIOGRAPHY
◻ AUTOBIOGRAPHY
◻ ESSAYS
◻ TEXTS FROM
NEWSPAPERS ,
MAGAZINES,ETC.
ELEMENTS OF FICTION
SETTING

The setting is the place where the

story takes place. Setting
includes the following:
◻ the geographical location
◻ the time period
the socio-economic characteristics
of the location
( for example, wealthy suburbs,
depressed society)
CHARACTERS
These are the common
types of characters
we see in literature.

• Round characters

• Flat characters

• Dynamic characters

• Static characters

• Stereotype
•Round characters
have various
characteristics or
traits.

•A round character
can change or
grow.

•Readers see more

than one side of a
round character.
•Readers see one side
of a flat character.

•Flat characters are

usually minor
characters and reveal
one or two traits.

•Flat characters may

be used as a
contrast to a major
character.
Characters who develop and change are
not only round characters, but often
dynamic.
Scrooge changes from a
tight- fisted, greedy
unhappy man to one who
was generous and loved
life.

Gru changes from

a villain set on
destroying the
world to a loving
father.
•Static characters are one
dimensional—readers see
only one side.

•Static characters stay the

same and do not
develop.

•Readers learn little about

this character.

•Static characters are

flat characters.
•Sometimes characters with
common, generalized traits
are repeatedly found in
unrelated stories.

•These characters are known

by what they do and how
they act.

•The author doesn’t need

to tell us much about the
character because we’ve
encountered the
stereotype before and can
make some inferences.
The Protagonist is central to the action
of a story and moves against the
antagonist.
 CHARACTERS

◻ Protagonist
The main character in a
literary work (for instance,
Harry Potter in “Harry
Potter” series, Cinderella
or Snow White in the fairy
tales named for their
characters)
The antagonist
is the villain
or a force
which opposes
the
protagonist.
 CHARACTERS

◻ Antagonist
The character who
opposes the protagonist
(for instance, Draco
Malfoy in “Harry Potter”
series or the wicked
stepmothers in the fairy
tales
Can you figure out what kind of character these
are?
 Meet Megamind!
◻ His nemesis is Metro
Man (the city’s big
hero and defender)
◻ He wants to ruin Metro
City and defeat Metro
Man.
◻ He falls in love with
Roxanne.
A)Flat Character
◻ He stops Tighten from
B) Static Character
destroying Metro C) Stereotype
City. D)Dynamic
◻ He becomes the new Character
hero of Metro City.
Dynamic Character!
 Meet Mother Gothel
◻ Gothel kidnaps baby
Rapunzel so she can use
her magic hair to stay
young.
◻ Gothel keeps the truth
from Rapunzel about her
real parents.
◻ Gothel won’t let Rapunzel
out of the tower. A) Round Character
B) Protagonist
◻ Gothel stabs Flynn, the
C) Antagonist
man Rapunzel loves.
D) Dynamic
Character
Antagonist!
 Meet Katniss!
◻ She is strong, independent
and able to provide for herself,
but can also feel vulnerable.
◻ She can be snarly but she can
also be kind.
◻ She is tough but gets scared.
◻ She is smart, but can make
mistakes when she’s
A) Stereotype
impulsive. B) Flat character
◻ She loves her family but finds C) Round character
it hard to open herself to D) Static character
romantic love.
Round Character!
 Meet Mrs Weasly!
◻ She’s a mother to 7
children.
◻ She washes their clothes
and takes care of the
house.
◻ She fusses over her
children and wants them
safe.
A) Flat Character
◻ She’s a great cook. B) Round Character
◻ She’s proud of her C) Dynamic Character
D) Protagonist
children’s achievements.
Flat Character!
 Meet Percy Jackson!
◻ He’s a hero.
◻ His friends look up
to him.
◻ He goes on a lot
of quests.
◻ It’s up to him to save A)Antagonist
the world. B) Stereotype
◻ He has to fight C) Static Character
D)Protagonist
monsters.
Protagonist!
 Meet Snow White!
◻ She’s sweet and kind.
◻ She’s good and loving.
◻ Her Step-mother is cruel
to her.
◻ She helps out some
dwarves.
◻ She almost dies. A) Stereotype
B) Static Character
◻ When she awakens,
C) Round Character
she’s good, sweet, kind D) Dynamic Character
and loving.
Static Character!
 Meet Anakin/Darth Vader
◻ He was a precocious
boy who had the
“force” in him.
◻ He fought with the
Jedi’s for good.
◻ Because of
jealousy
and fear, he
over went to “the A) Static Character
B) Stereotype
Side” Dark C) Flat Character
◻ He sacrifices his own D) Dynamic Character
life to save his son’s
life.
Dynamic Character!
PLOT
Climax

Rising Action Falling Action

Exposition Resolution

Plot is the literary element that describes the structure of a story.

It shows the arrangement of events and actions within the
story.
 PLOT COMPONENTS
Climax: The turning point- the most
intense moment.

Rising Action: The series Falling Action: All of the

conflicts and crisis in the action which follows the
story that leads to the climax.
climax.

Exposition: The start Resolution: The

conclusion,
of the story, the situation the tying together of all
before the action starts. the threads.
PLOT: CONFLICT

Conflict is the
dramatic struggle
between two forces
in a story. Without
conflict, there is no
plot.
PLOT: TYPES OF CONFLICT

Interpersonal Conflict
Human vs. Human

Human vs. Nature

Human vs. Society

Internal Conflict
Human vs. Self
POINT OF VIEW

The perspectivefrom
which the story is told.
 Who is telling the story?
(for instance, is it a
player on the home
team, someone watching
the game?)

 How do we know what is

happening?
(for instance, does a
character tell us?)
 Omniscient Point of View
The author is telling the story
directly.

“Myop carried a short, knobby

stick. She struck out at random
at chickens she liked, and
worked out the beat of a song
on the fence around the pigpen.
She felt light and good in the
warm sun. She was ten, and
nothing existed for her but her
song, the stick clutched in her
dark brown hand, and the tat-
de-ta-ta-ta of accompaniment.”
“The Flowers” by Alice
 OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW

“The boy with fair hair lowered

himself down the last few
feet of rock and began to
pick his way toward the
lagoon. Though he had
taken off his school sweater
and trailed it now from one
hand, his grey shirt stuck to
him and his hair was
plastered to his forehead.
All around him the long scar
smashed into the jungle
was a bath of heat.”

“The Lord of Flies”

By William Golding
LIMITED OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW

Third person, told from the viewpoint of

a character in the story.

“They all laughed, and while they were

laughing, the quiet boy moved his bare
foot on the sidewalk and merely
touched, brushed against a number of
red ants that were scurrying about on
the sidewalk. Secretly, his eyes were
shining, while his parents chatted with
the old man, he saw the ants hesitate,
quiver, and lie still on the cement. He
sensed they were cold.”
“Fever Dream”
 LIMITED OMNISCIENT POINT OF
VIEW
“In his black suit he stood in the
dark glass where the
lilies
leaned so palely from
their
wasted cut glass vase.
He
looked down at the guttered
candle stub. He pressed
his
thumbprint in the warm
was
pooled on the oak veneer.
Lastly, he looked at the face
so caved and drawn
among
the folds of funeral cloth, the
yellowed mustache, the
eyelids paper thin. That
was
FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW

Told from the viewpoint of one

of the characters, using the first
person pronoun “I”.

“The thousands of injuries of

Fortunato I had borne as I best
could, but when he ventured upon
insult I vowed revenge. You, who
so will know the nature of my soul,
will not suppose, however, that I
give utterance to a threat.”

TheCask of Amontillado”

by Edgar Allan Poe

THEME
◻ The theme is the central
idea or central message
of the story. It usually
contains some insight into
the human condition-
telling something about
human and life.

◻ The theme can be stated

directly or implied by the
events and actions in the
story.
 SYMBOLISM
A symbol represents an idea, quality, or concept
larger than itself.

A journey can symbolize

life.

Water may represent

cleanliness and
renewal.

A lion can be a symbol of

courage.

A red rose can represent

 Other Fiction Elements
•Allusion: a reference to a person, place or literary,
historical, artistic, mythological source or event.
“It was in St. Louis, Missouri, where they
have that giant McDonald’s thing towering over
the city…”(Bean Trees 15)
•Atmosphere: the prevailing emotional and mental
climate of a piece of fiction.
•Dialogue: the reproduction of a conversation
between two of the characters.
 Other Elements Continued
•Foreshadowing: early clues about what will
happen later in a piece of fiction.
•Irony: a difference between what is expected
and reality.
•Style: a writer’s individual and distinct way of
writing. The total of the qualities that
distinguish one author’s writing from another’s.
• Structure: the way time moves through a novel.
• Chronological: starts at the beginning and moves
through time.
• Flashback: starts in the present and then goes
back to the past.
• Circular or Anticipatory: starts in the present,
flashes back to the past, and returns to the present
at the conclusion.
• Panel: same story told from different viewpoints.
(Lou Ann and Taylor chapters in The Bean Trees.