Elements of Fiction which includes the following: Settings Characters: types and methods of characterization Plot and its components Points of View

1. ELEMENTS OF FICTION

2. FICTION
 a literary work, based
on the imagination and
not necessarily on fact
 imaginary, invented
writings such as novels
and short stories
 not true

3. ORAL FICTION
 MYTH
 FABLES
 FOLKTALES
 FAIRYTALES
 PARABLES

4. LITERARY
FICTION
 SHORT STORIES
 NOVELS
NONFICTION
(BASED ON FACTS)
 BIOGRAPHY
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY
 ESSAYS
 TEXTS FROM
NEWSPAPERS ,
MAGAZINES,ETC.

5. ELEMENTS OF FICTION

6. 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)

7. CHARACTERS

8. These are the common
types of characters we
see in literature.
•Round characters
•Flat characters
•Dynamic characters
•Static characters
•Stereotype

9. •Round characters
have various
characteristics or
traits.
•A round character
can change or grow.
•Readers see more
than one side of a
round character.

10. •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.

11. 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.

12. •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.

13. •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.

14. The Protagonist is central to the action
of a story and moves against the
antagonist.

15. 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)

16. The antagonist is
the villain or a
force which
opposes the
protagonist.

17. CHARACTERS
 Antagonist
The character who
opposes the protagonist
(for instance, Draco
Malfoy in “Harry Potter”
series or the wicked
stepmothers in the fairy
tales

19. Can you figure out what kind of character these
are?

20. 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.
 He stops Tighten from
destroying Metro City.
 He becomes the new
hero of Metro City.
A)Flat Character
B)Static Character
C)Stereotype
D)Dynamic
Character

21. Dynamic Character!

22. 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.
 Gothel stabs Flynn, the
man Rapunzel loves.
A)Round Character
B)Protagonist
C)Antagonist
D)Dynamic
Character

23. Antagonist!

24. 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
impulsive.
 She loves her family but finds
it hard to open herself to
romantic love.
A) Stereotype
B) Flat character
C) Round character
D) Static character

25. Round Character!

26. 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.
 She’s a great cook.
 She’s proud of her
children’s achievements.
A) Flat Character
B) Round Character
C) Dynamic Character
D) Protagonist

27. Flat Character!

28. 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
the world.
 He has to fight
monsters.
A)Antagonist
B)Stereotype
C)Static Character
D)Protagonist

29. Protagonist!

30. 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.
 When she awakens,
she’s good, sweet, kind
and loving.
A) Stereotype
B) Static Character
C) Round Character
D) Dynamic Character

31. Static Character!

32. 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 went
over to “the Dark
Side”
 He sacrifices his own
life to save his son’s
A) Static Character
B) Stereotype
C) Flat Character
D) Dynamic Character

33. Dynamic Character!

34. METHODS OF CHARACTERIZATION
A. Direct Characterization
The author develops the personality of a character by direct statements.
“Landon and Jamie live in two completely different worlds.
Landon is something of a rebel, he soaps up car windows with
his friends and eats boiled peanuts in the graveyard behind the
church, whereas Jamie takes care of her widowed father,
volunteers at the local orphanage and always carries a bible
with her schoolbooks. They live just a few streets away from
each other and go to the same school but hardly know each
other.

35. METHODS OF CHARACTERIZATION
B. Indirect Characterization
Revealing a character’s personality through
- the character’s thoughts, words and actions
- the comments of other characters
- the character’s physical appearance

36. INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
THROUGH THOUGHTS
“ Moonbeam closed his eyes and pretended to
sleep the rest of the way to Bamfield. He couldn’t
believe what he had gotten himself into.How had
this happened? He’d never held a gun in his life,
much less gone hunting for animals.”
“ Moonbeam Dawson and The Killer Bear”
By Jean Okimoto

37. INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
THROUGH WORDS
“It was Kenny Griffen smiling
complacently.’Miss Bird sent me after you
‘cause you’ve been gone for six years.
You’re in trouble…your constipated!
Kenny chortled gleefully.’Wait’ll I tell
Caaathy!”
“Here There Be Tygers”
by Stephen King

38. INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
THROUGH ACTIONS
“The boy held his breath; he wondered whether
his father would hear his heart beating…Through a
crack in the counter he could see his father where
he stood, one hand held to his high stiff collar.”
“ I Spy” by Graham Greene”

39. INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
THROUGH APPEARANCE
Miss Kinney was young
and blonde and bouncy
and had a boyfriend who
picked her up after
school in a blue
Camaro.”
“Here There Be Tygers”
by Stephen King

40. 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.

41. 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.

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

43. PLOT: TYPES OF CONFLICT
Interpersonal Conflict
Human vs. Human
Human vs. Nature
Human vs. Society
Internal Conflict
Human vs. Self

44. POINT OF VIEW
The perspective from
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?)

45. 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

46. 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

47. 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”
by Ray Bradbury

48. 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
not sleeping. That was not
sleeping.”
“All the Pretty Horses”
by Cormac McCarthy

49. 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.”
The Cask of Amontillado”
by Edgar Allan Poe

50. 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.

51. 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

52. 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.

53. 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.

54. •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.