SIX ELEMENTS OF FICTION

THE SIX ELEMENTS OF FICTION

..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):
a.       place
geographical location.  Where is the action of the story taking place?
b.      time
When is the story taking place? (historical period, time of day, year, etc)
c.       weather conditions
Is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc?
d.      social conditions
What is the daily life of the characters like? Does the story contain local colour (writing that
focuses on the speech, dress, mannerisms, customs, etc. of a particular place)?
e.       mood or atmosphere
What feeling is created at the beginning of the story?  Is it bright and cheerful or dark and
frightening?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrPjBYEp8Sw

..PLOT
The plot is how the author arranges events to develop his 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:
1.      Introduction
The beginning of the story where the characters and the setting is revealed.
2. Exposition
the background information that is needed to understand the story properly is provided. Such
information includes the protagonist, the antagonist, the basic conflict, the setting, and so
forth.The exposition ends with the inciting moment, which is the single incident in the story's
action without which there would be no story. The inciting moment sets the remainder of the
story in motion beginning with the second act, the rising action.
3. Inciting Incident
Something happens to begin the action.  A single event usually signals the beginning of the
main conflict.  The inciting incident is sometimes called ‘the complication’.
4.      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). the story builds and gets more
exciting
5.      ..Climax
 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?
6.      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).
7.      Resolution/Conclussion/Denouement
This part follows quickly after the climax and provides the last pieces of information for the
reader. “Denouement” is French for “unknotting”; you may therefore think of denouement as
the “unknotting” or “untangling” of the plot. Other words for denouement are conclusion or
resolution (think about it as the resolution of the climax). However, not all conclusions
provide resolution.

Conflict

Conflict is essential to plot.  Without conflict there is no plot.  It is the opposition of forces
which ties one incident to another and makes the plot move.  Conflict is not merely limited to
open arguments, rather it is any form of opposition that faces the main character. Within a
short story there may be only one central struggle, or there may be one dominant struggle
with many minor ones.

There are two types of conflict:

1)      ..External
A struggle with a force outside one's self.
2)      Internal
A struggle within one's self; a person must make some decision, overcome pain, quiet their
temper, resist an urge, etc.
There are four kinds of conflict:
1)      Man vs. Man (physical)
The leading character struggles with his physical strength against other men, forces of nature,
or animals.
2)      Man vs. Circumstances (classical)
The leading character struggles against fate, or the circumstances of life facing him/her.
3)      Man vs. Society (social)
The leading character struggles against ideas, practices, or customs of other people.
4)      Man vs. Himself/Herself (psychological)
The leading character struggles with himself/herself; with his/her own soul, ideas of right or
wrong, physical limitations, choices, etc.

..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

CHARACTER

the fictional people, animals, or things in a short story or novel.  Characters may be real or
fictional (created by the author’s imagination).  Characters reveal themselves through
their dialogue (what they say and how they say it), their action (what they do), their thoughts,
their physical appearance, and what others say about them.  Every character in a story will
have their own individual and unique personalities.  In real life, character is observed; in
fiction, it is created.  Novels develop a greater number of characters in more detail due to
their length.

Types of Characters:

1.       Protagonist - the central or main character struggling for or against something.

2.       Antagonist - the person, thing, or force struggling against the protagonist.
3.       Flat or Static Character.. - a minor, oversimplified character who is not well developed
and who does not change, grow, or develop as the story progresses; their personalities are
easily summed up because they are usually one dimensional  possessing one or two main
character traits; as a result, their actions are often easy to predict; these characters’
personality and values remain unchanged by the events of the story.
4.       Round or Dynamic Character - a complex character with several developed personality
traits (sometimes contradictory ones); they are usually the character in conflict in a short
story; they grow, change, and develop as the story unravels; round characters often have
mixed thoughts and feelings so their actions are difficult to predict.
5.       Stock or Stereotyped Character - a character who at one time might have been fresh and
original, but has become, through overuse, trite, conventional, and boring;  often these
characters are just caricatures or exaggerated, flat, and familiar characters having one main
character trait, feature gesture, mannerism, or speech pattern (examples: bully, jock, nag,
miser, villain, cop, detective, Newfoundlander, gossip, absent-minded professor, etc.); their
actions are easy to predict because we all recognize their character traits.

..POINT OF VIEW
 Point of view, or p.o.v., is defined as the angle from which the story is told.
1)       First Person – Story told by the protagonist or a character who interacts closely with the
protagonist or other characters; speaker uses the pronouns “I”, “me”, “we”.  Readers
experiences the story through this person's eyes  and only knows what he/she knows and
feels.
2)       Second Person – Story told by a narrator who addresses the reader or some other assumed
“you”; speaker uses pronouns “you”, “your”, and “yours”. Ex: You wake up to discover that
you have been robbed of all of your worldly possessions. 
3)       Third Person – Story told by a narrator who sees all of the action; speaker uses the
pronouns “he”, “she”, “it”, “they”, “his”, “hers”, “its”, and “theirs”.  This person may be a
character in the story.  There are several types of third person POV:
         Limited – Probably the easiest POV for a beginning writer to use, “limited” POV
funnels all action through the eyes of a single character; readers only see what the narrator
sees.
         Omniscient- God-like, the narrator knows and sees everything, and can move from one
character’s mind to another.  Authors can be omniscient narrators by moving from character
to character, event to event, and introducing information at their discretion.  There
are two main types of omniscient POV:
4)       Innocent Eye/Naïve Narrator – Story told through child’s eyes; narrator’s judgment is
different from that of an adult.
5)       Stream of Consciousness – Story told so readers solely experience a character’s thoughts
and reactions.

STYLE

writers use many, many different techniques to attract reader interest and attention or to
accomplish literary purpose in short stories, novels, poems and plays. Several such
techniques follow here:

         ..Irony: When there is a surprising gap between what might be expected and what
actually occurs.

         Satire: Style of writing that has the goal of mocking or scorning either an individual, an
institution, or society as a whole. Angry and bitter satire is called Juvenalian satire while
gentle mockery is called Horatian satire.

         Symbol: A symbol has two levels of meaning: a literal level and a figurative level.
Objects, characters, events and settings can all be symbolic in that they represent something
else beyond themselves. E.g. the dove is literally a bird, but has become a universal symbol
of peace.