The genre of fiction is a group of imagined, or “made up”, stories (Kennedy and Gioia 5).
Structural Elements of Fiction
Plot – The sequence of events in a story (Kennedy and Gioia 14). In other words, it is everything that happens in the story from beginning to end, arranged in such a way to effectively engage the reader. A plot is made up of several elements, as listed below:
- Exposition – the first part of a story that gives us background information, introduces main characters, and does anything else to reader understand the basic premise of the story (Kennedy and Gioia 15). It can be as short as a few sentences, or as long as a few chapters.
- Conflict – a clashing of opposing groups in the story (Kennedy and Gioia 24).
- Complication - a turn of events that adds a new depth to the main conflict (Kennedy and Gioia 24).
- Crisis - when something big happens and it almost seems like the climax because of the tension, but it’s not really. Still a key moment in the story, since an important decision is made or someone realizes something.
- Climax - the make-or-break point of the story (Kennedy and Gioia 24). Everything leads up to this moment, and it sets the trajectory for everything that comes after it. Lots of tension present. Usually it ends up with the protagonist facing off against the antagonist. Decisive is a good way to describe it.
- Conclusion - Often times coming right after the climax, this portion of the story ties up loose ends and ends the story in a logical manner (Kennedy and Gioia 25). Most of the time.
For example, the exposition in “Godfather Death” is the short first paragraph describing the poor man and his many children. A conflict arises when he refuses to pick God then the Devil to be his son’s godfather. A complication is introduced when Death gives his godson the herb and the warning, thus switching the focus from the father to the son. When the godson disobeys Death and gives the herb to the king, a crisis occurs. The story reaches its climax when the godson pleads with Death, asking to be spared. The conclusion follows when Death puts out his godson’s candle.
Point of View - The angle of which a narrator tells a story (Kennedy and Gioia 26). In order to pinpoint and understand a story’s point of view, you need to identify what kind of narrator it has and how much the narrator knows.
- Types of narrators:
- Participant Narrator - a character in the story who tells the narrative in the first person (Kennedy and Gioia 27).
- Example: The narrator in “Sonny’s Blues” is Sonny’s brother, and he plays an important role in the story.
- Nonparticipant Narrator - a narrator who isn’t an active character in the story. This narrator acts almost as a spectator or recorder (Kennedy and Gioia 27).
- Example: The narrator in “The Tortoise and the Geese” is not named and does not play a part in the story at all.
- How much they know:
- All-knowing (Omniscient) - when the narrator knows all the thoughts and feelings of the characters in the story (Kennedy and Gioia 27).
- Example: The narrator in “Godfather Death” shows us the thoughts and feelings of Death, his godson and his godson’s father.
- Limited Omniscience - when a nonparticipant narrator’s knowledge/vision is confined to only one character (Kennedy and Gioia 27).
- Example: The narrator in “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” tells the story solely through Granny Weatherall’s perspective.
- Objective point of view - when a nonparticipant narrator describes the events of the story with no insight into the characters’ minds (Kennedy and Gioia 28).
- Do they voice their opinion:
- Impartial Omniscience - a narrator who describes the characters’ thoughts and actions without making remarks (Kennedy and Gioia 27).
- Example:
- Editorial Omniscience - a narrator who occasionally comments on the characters’ ideas and actions, voicing his opinion (Kennedy and Gioia 27).
- Example: The narrator in “Godfather Death” makes a comment about how the poor man did not know how wise God was.
- Types of characters:
- Flat - a simple character who only has one or a few distinguishing features (Kennedy and Gioia 75).
- Round - a more complex character who is explored in depth (Kennedy and Gioia 75). Might undergo some kind of development or change over the course of the story.
- Example: Anne Shirley from the Anne of Green Gables book series goes through many changes and revelations in her search for love and happiness.
- Stock - a specific type of character frequently found in works of fiction (Kennedy and Gioia ).
- Example: An absent-minded professor, a damsel-in-distress, and a mad scientist.
- Protagonist - the main character of a story (Kennedy and Gioia 24).
- Example: The Pevensie children from "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" are characters on whom the plot primarily focuses.
- Antagonist - a character or force that goes against the protagonist (Kennedy and Gioia 24).
- Example: The White Witch from "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is the Pevensie childrens' primary opposition.
- Types of protagonists:
- Hero - a main character who is morally upright and a genuinely good, amazing person (Kennedy and Gioia 75)
- Example: Harry from the Harry Potter book series.
- Antihero - a main character who is not-so-amazing or morally sound (Kennedy and Gioia 75).
- Example: Eckels from “A Sound of Thunder” lacks the bravery and sense a time-traveling hunter should have.
- Character Development - the change a character undergoes throughout the course of the story (Kennedy and Gioia 75).
- Motivation - what drives a character’s actions and behaviors (Kennedy and Gioia 76).
- Example: In "Brownies," the black girls in Laurel's Brownie troop feel the need to threaten and make mean comments about the white girls in Troop 909 because of the unfair racial stereotyping they themselves face back home.
Setting - where and when the story takes place (Kennedy and Gioia 117).
- Locale - where the story physically takes place (Kennedy and Gioia 117).
- Example: “A&P” by John Updike takes place at a New England grocery store.
- Atmosphere - the general feeling of a story the writer creates through their descriptions, language, and setting (Kennedy and Gioia 118).
- Diction - the vocabulary a writer chooses to use when writing a particular piece (Kennedy and Gioia 167).
- Irony - when the face value of the words contradict what the writer is really trying to say (Kennedy and Gioia 203).
- Verbal irony - when someone says something but really means something else (Kennedy and Gioia 203).
- Dramatic irony - when the real meaning of the words is apparent to the audience, but not to the character saying them (Kennedy and Gioia 203).
- Cosmic irony (irony of fate) - when what should’ve happened isn’t what did happen (Kennedy and Gioia 185).
- Example: In “The Gift of the Magi” when Della sells her hair to buy Jim a watch chain, but Jim had sold his watch to buy Della combs.
- Sarcasm - verbal irony meant to deliberately mock; has a tinge of bitterness (Kennedy and Gioia 203).
- Summary - a short overview of a story’s plot (Kennedy and Gioia 233).
- Symbolic act - an action that has implications beyond what is seen at face value (Kennedy and Gioia 236).
- Allegory - a story where the literal lines up directly with the symbolic (Kennedy and Gioia 234).
- Example: In Jesus's Parable of the Mustard Seed, the mustard seed was a straightforward symbol for the Kingdom of God.
Historical Fiction
Regionalism
Naturalism
Science Fiction
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