ELEMENTS OF FICTION

PLOT

• The series of events that take place in a story
• Often involves a conflict or struggle that must be

EXPOSITION

• The background material about the characters, setting and general conflict.
• The introduction to the story.

SETTING

• Time, place, mood.
• The enviroment in which the story takes place

RISING ACTION

• The part of the story, including the exposition in which the tension rises.
• This builds to the climax.

CLIMAX

• When the action comes to its highest point
• Most dramatic or suspenseful part of the story
• It can also be the end of the story!

DÉNOUNCEMENT

• Follows the climax
• Sharp decline in the dramatic tension
• The final unraveling of a plot or complicated situation
• It is also the conclusion of the story
• It is also known as the falling action or resolution

Foreshadowing
A technique that gives readers clues about what happens later in the story.

SYMBOL

• An image, object, character or action that stands for an idea beyond the literal meaning
• It represents something else

Characters
Characters are the people, animals or creatures who take place in the action of the story.

DIALOGUE

The actual words the characters speak.

NARRATION/NARRATOR

• Narrator: the speaker or character who tells the story
• Narration: the writing that tells the story (what the characters aren't saying)

Protagonist
The central character in the story. Pro means first in importance in Greek.

Antagonist
The person(s) who is/are in conflict with the protagonist. Not always the villain of the story!

Static Character/Flat
A character who doesn't change or grow through the story, the character stays the same emotionally.

Dynamic Character/Round
A character who changes throughout a story, most likely changes through a major conflict. The reader knows his personality traits, faults and values.

CHARACTERIZATION

• The method a writer uses to tell the readers about the characters
• When the author tells us directly about a character its called Direct Characterization
• When the author shows us action and lets us make our own conclusions it is Indirect Characterization
• Show don't tell

5 METHODS OF CHARACTERIZATION

• What the character says (dialogue)
• What the character does (action)
• What the character thinks or feels
• What others say/think about the character
• What the character looks like (appearance)

Conflict
The dramatic struggle between 2 forces in a story. No conflict = no plot.

Internal Conflict
A struggle that takes place within a character's mind, like a struggle of conscience.

External Conflict
Involves a character's struggle with another person, force of nature or society.

FOUR TYPES OF CONFLICT

• Person vs person
• Person vs self
• Person vs nature
• Person vs society

Tone
The clues in the story that suggest the author or narrator's own attitude towards elements of the story; the feeling you get from the author.

Mood
Feeling of the story created by the setting, such as formal or informal, playful, serious, ironic, suspenseful.

Theme
The story's main ideas- the "message" that the author intends to communicate by telling the story. Themes are often universal truths. Theme must be a statement, for example, "True friendship lasts through difficulty."

Narrator
The speaker who tells the story. The narrator may or may not be a character in the story.

Point of View
The perspective from which a story is told. POV is omniscient if the narrator knows everything and can see inside other's heads to read their thoughts. The POV is limited when the narrator can only see part of the whole story. Limited Omniscience means the narrator can see inside the heads of some characters but not all.

POV

• First person narrator: I like llamas.
• Third person narrator: Fred likes llamas.

The End!
Hope this helps!

CREDITS

• http://www.plants4products.org.uk/walls1.htm
• Haiku Deck supplied all other images
• Presentation by Micah Daigle