ELEMENTS OF GENRE

READING AND WRITING FICTION

CHARACTER
Characters are the players within a
story. As long as they make
decisions within the story, they’re
characters.
They could be:
• Main character/s (protagonist)
• Antagonists
• Side characters
• Romantic interests
TYPES OF CHARACTERS
Major Characters
• Protagonist - This is the main character, around
which the whole story revolves.

• Antagonist - This character, or group of

characters, causes the conflict for the protagonist.
If the conflict comes from something out of the
character’s control, the antagonist is fate or God.
Minor Characters

• Foil - brings out another character’s

positive or negative side. Many times,
the antagonist is the foil for the
protagonist.
• Static – they do not change
throughout the story. Their use
may simply be to create or relieve
tension, or they were not meant to
change.
• Dynamic – they change throughout
the story. They may learn a lesson,
become bad, or change in complex
ways.

• Flat – A flat character has one or two

main traits, usually only all positive
or negative.
• Round – these characters have many
different traits, good and bad, making
them more interesting.

• Stock – the stereotypical characters,

such as the boy genius, ambitious
career person, faithful sidekick, mad
scientist, etc.
POINT OF VIEW
It is the writer’s way of deciding
who is telling the story to whom.
There are three kinds of point of
view: first person, second person,
and third person.
First-person point of view

The reader accesses the story

through one person. It uses
pronouns like I, me/my, we, us, or
our in first-person writing.
Two ways to write in first-person:
First-person central: The narrator
is also the protagonist of the story.

First-person peripheral: The

narrator is telling the story of the
protagonist from close by.
Second-person point of view
The second-person point of view
uses the pronoun you. This point of
view establishes the reader as the
protagonist or main character. The
second person is usually used in
nonfiction, advertising, immersive
stories, and blog posts.
Third-person point of view
The narrator has the ability to
know everything. Pronouns that
are typically used: he/his, she/her,
they/them/their, and it/its in the
third-person point of view.
THREE WAYS TO WRITE
THIRD-PERSON P.O.V.
Third-person omniscient

The narrator speaks freely about

everyone and everything. There are
no limits to the time, space, or
character the narrator can access.
Third-person limited omniscient
(third-person close)

The author writes in third person

but keeps the thoughts and feelings
limited to one central character.
Third-person objective
The narrator is a neutral entity,
relying on observations of
characters rather than getting in
their heads.
PLOT
In a narrative or creative writing, a
plot is the sequence of events that
make up a story, whether it’s told,
written, filmed, or sung. The plot is
the story, and more specifically, how
the story develops, unfolds, and
moves in time.
TYPES OF PLOT
Linear plot
Refers to a type of narrative
structure in which events unfold in
chronological and sequential order.
The storyline usually follows a
cause-and-effect relationship, where
each event directly leads to the
next.
Example:

'boy-meets-girl, boy competes with

another boy for girl's attention, boy
wins girl's affections and they go off
together'.
Non-linear plot
Plots in which a series of events are
presented to the audience in an
order that does not match the order
in which the events took place.
Example:
Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights,
1847

The story begins in 1801, goes back to

the 1770s, and then moves forward to
1802, which makes it non-linear.
Modular or 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 characters.
Example:
The novel Violent Ends, written by a
group of current young adult
authors. The novel centers on a
school shooting, but each chapter is
a different character's experience
that is related to the shooting.
Traditional Parts of a Plot
Exposition

At the beginning of the story,

characters, setting, and the main
conflict are typically introduced.
Rising Action

The main character is in crisis and

events leading up to facing the
conflict begin to unfold. The story
becomes complicated.
Climax
At the peak of the story, a major
event occurs in which the main
character faces a major enemy, fear,
challenge, or other source of
conflict. The most action, drama,
change, and excitement occurs
here.
Falling Action
The story begins to slow down
and work towards its end, tying
up loose ends.
Resolution or Denouement
Also known as the denouement, the
resolution is like a concluding
paragraph that resolves any
remaining issues and ends the
story.