Fiction 3

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Saad ALBadri

FICTION
PLOT
The plot is how the author arranges
events to develop his or her basic idea.
It is the sequence of events in a story or
play. The plot is a planned, logical
series of events having a beginning,
middle, and end. The short story
usually has one plot so it can be
read in one sitting. There are five
essential parts of plot:
 Introduction - The beginning of the story where the characters and the setting is
 revealed.
 Rising Action - This is where the events in the story become complicated and the
 conflict in the story is revealed (events between the introduction and climax).
 Climax / Turning Point - This is the highest point of interest and the turning point of
 the story. The reader wonders what will happen next; will the conflict be resolved or
 not?
 Falling action - The events and complications begin to resolve themselves. The reader
knows what has happened next and if the conflict was resolved or not (events between
climax and denouement).
 Resolution / Denouement - This is the final outcome or untangling of events in the
 story.
 SETTING
 The time and location in which a story takes
place is called the setting. For some stories the
setting is very important, while for others it is
not. There are several aspects of a story's setting
to consider when examining how setting
contributes to a story (some, or all, may be
present in a story):
 · place - geographical location. Where is the action
of the story taking place?
 · time - When is the story taking place? (historical
period, time of day, year, etc)
 · weather conditions - Is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc?
 · social conditions - What is the daily life of the
character's like? Does the story contain local colour
(writing that focuses on the speech, dress,
mannerisms, customs, etc. of a particular place)?
 CHARACTER
 There are two meanings for the word character:
 · The person in a work of fiction.
 · The characteristics of a person.
 Persons in a work of fiction - Antagonist and Protagonist
 Short stories use few characters. One character is clearly
central to the story with all major events having some
importance to this character - he/she is the
 PROTAGONIST. The person (or force) that opposes the
main character is called the ANTAGONIST.
 The Characteristics of a Person
 In order for a story to seem real to the reader its characters must seem real.
 Characterization is the information the author gives the reader about the
characters themselves. The author may reveal a character in several ways:
 · Through direct statements by the author/narrator (Direct
Characterization)
 · His/her physical appearance
 · What he/she says, thinks, feels and dreams
 · What he/she does or does not do
 · What others say about him/her and how others react to him/her
 Characters are convincing if they are: consistent, motivated, and life-like
(resemble real
 people)
 Types of Characters
 1. Rounded Characters – many-sided and complex personalities
that you would expect of actual human beings.
 2. Flat Characters – personalities that are presented only briefly
and not in depth.
 3. Dynamic – many-sided personalities that change, for better or
worse, by the end of the story.
 4. Static – These characters are often stereotypes, have one or two
characteristics that never change that are emphasized e.g. brilliant
detective, drunk, scrooge,
 cruel stepmother, etc.
 POINT OF VIEW
 Point of view, or P.O.V., is defined as the angle or perspective from which
the story is
 told.
 First Person: The story is told by the protagonist or another character that
interacts
 closely with the protagonist or other characters (using first person pronouns
“I”, “me”, “we”, etc). The reader sees the story through this person's eyes as
he/she experiences it and only knows what he/she knows or feels.
 Innocent Eye: The story is told through the eyes of a child (his/her judgment
being different from that of an adult).
 Stream of Consciousness: The story is told so that the reader feels as if they
are inside the head of one character and knows all their thoughts and reactions.
 Second Person: (not used very often) The main
character in the story is referred to using the
second person pronoun “you”. Second Person is
most often used in training manuals, role-playing
games and Choose Your Own Adventure novels.
 Third Person: The story is told using a narrator
who is located outside of the action of the story
and uses third person pronouns such as “he”,
“she”, “his”, “her”, “they” etc .The third person
point of view can be broken up into three
different types:
 Omniscient – Omniscient literally means, “all
knowing”. Using the third person omniscient
point of view the narrator can move from
character to character, event to event, having free
access to the thoughts, feelings and motivations
of any character and can introduce information
where and when he or she chooses.
 Limited Omniscient – The story is told by a
third person narrator but from the viewpoint of a
character in the story, usually the main character
or protagonist. The reader has access to the
thoughts and feelings of only one character.
 Objective – The author tells the story in the third
person. It appears as though a camera is
following the characters, going anywhere, and
recording only what is seen and heard. There is
no comment on the characters or their thoughts.
No interpretations are offered. The reader is
placed in the position of spectator without the
author there to explain. The reader has to
interpret events on his or her own.
 THEME
 The theme in a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or
its central insight. It is the author's underlying meaning
or main idea that he is trying to convey. The theme may
be the author's thoughts about a topic or view of human
nature. The title of the short story usually points to
what the writer is saying and he may use various
figures of speech to emphasize his theme, such as:
symbol, allusion, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or irony.
 Some simple examples of common themes
from literature, TV, and film are:
 · Things are not always as they appear to be
 · Love is blind
 · Believe in yourself
 · People are afraid of change
 · Don't judge a book by its cover
 Irony is not so much an element of fiction as a pervasive
quality in it. It may appear in fiction in three ways: in a
work’s language, in its incidents, or in its point of view. But
in whatever form it emerges, irony always involves a
contrast or discrepancy between one thing and another.
The contrast may be between what is said and what is
meant (verbal irony), what is expected to happen and what
actually happens (situational irony) or between what a
character believes or says and what the reader
understands to be true (dramatic irony).
 A symbol is a person, object, image, word, or event that
evokes a range of additional meanings beyond and usually
more abstract than its literal significance. Symbols are
devices for evoking complex ideas without having to resort
to painstaking explanations. Conventional symbols have
meanings that are widely recognized by a society or
culture, i.e., the Christian cross, the Star of David, a
swastika, a nation’s flag. A literary or contextual symbol
can be a setting, a character, action, object, name, or
anything else in a specific work that maintains its literal
significance while suggesting other meanings.
 FORESHADOWING
 Foreshadowing. The use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen
later in the story.
  
 An author’s use of hints or clues to suggest events that will occur later in
the story. Not all foreshadowing is obvious. Frequently, future events are
merely hinted at through dialogue, description, or the attitudes and
reactions of the characters.
 Foreshadowing frequently serves two purposes. It builds suspense by
raising questions that encourage the reader to go on and find out more
about the event that is being foreshadowed. Foreshadowing is also a
means of making a narrative more believable by partially preparing the
reader for events which are to follow.
 Mood
 The climate of feeling in a literary work. The
choice of setting, objects, details, images, and
words all contribute towards creating a specific
mood. For example, an author may create a mood
of mystery around a character or setting but may
treat that character or setting in an ironic, serious,
or humorous tone
 Simile
 A figure of speech involving a direct, explicit
comparison of one thing to another, usually using
the words like or as to draw the connection, as in
“My love is like a red, red rose.”

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