ELEMENTS OF PROSE FICTION

There are five elements of fiction:

  *Plot

  *Characterization

  *Theme

  *Setting

  *Point of View

 

 

Plot

The sequence of incidents or events through which an author constructs a story.  *The plot is not merely the action itself, but the way the author arranges the action toward a specific end (structure).

Important elements of Plot: *Conflict- A clash of actions, ideas, desires, or wills

Types of Conflict:  Person vs. Person, Person vs. Environment, Person vs. Self.

*Protagonist- The central character in a conflict

*Antagonist- Any force arranged against the protagonist- whether persons, things, conventions of society, or the protagonists own personality traits.

*Suspense- The quality in a story that makes readers ask “what’s going to happen next?”.  In more literary forms of fiction the suspense involves more “why” than “what”. Usually produced through two devices; either mystery (an unusual set of circumstances for which the reader craves an explanation) or dilemma (a position in which a character must choose between two courses of action, both undesirable.)

Characterization

Characters are presented in two different ways- directly and indirectly

.•Direct Presentation- The reader is told straight out what the character is like

.•Indirect Presentation- The author shows the character through their actions; the reader determines what the character is like by what they say or do

Types of Characters

  * Flat Characters- Usually have one or two predominant traits.  The character can be summed up in just a few lines.

  *Round Characters- Complex and many faceted; have the qualities of real people. 

  * Stock Characters- A type of flat character.  The type of character that appears so often in fiction the reader recognizes them right away.

  *Static Character-  A character that remains essentially the same throughout.

Theme

The theme of a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight. It is the unifying generalization about life stated or implied by the story.

*Theme does not equal “moral”, “lesson”, or “message”.

Theme is the central and unifying concept of a story.  Therefore it accounts for all the major details of the story, is not contradicted by any detail of the story, and cannot rely upon supposed facts.

Setting.

The setting of a story is its overall context- where, when and in what circumstances the action occurs.

Setting as Place- The physical environment where the story takes place. The description of the environment often points towards its importance.

Setting as Time-  Includes time in all of its dimensions.  To determine the importance, ask, “what was going on at that time?”

Setting as Cultural Context-  Setting also involves the social circumstances of the time and place.  Consider historical events and social and political issues of the time.

Point of View.

Point of View is simply who is telling the story. *To determine POV ask, “who is telling the story”, and “how much do they know?”

Omniscient POV- The story is told in third person by a narrator who has unlimited knowledge of events and characters.

Third Person Limited POV- The story is told in third person but from the view point of a character in the story.  POV is limited to the character’s perceptions and shows no direct knowledge of what other characters are thinking, feeling, or doing.

 First Person POV- The author disappears into one of the characters.  Shares the limitations of third person limited.  Uses the pronouns “I” and “we”.

Second Person POV-  Uses the pronoun “you”.  Infrequentl