The Elements of Fiction

• Plot ~ Put simply, plot is what happens in a narrative. But this definition is too simple. A mere listing of events, even in the order in which they occur, is not plot.Rather, writers of fiction arrange fictional events into patterns, they select thiese events carefully, they establish casual relationships among events, and they enliven these events with conflict. A more complete and accurate definition, then, is that plot is a pattern of carefully selected, casually related events that contains conflict.
  
  To map it out, the writer starts with an unstable situation, which is a conflict that sets the plot in motion. The writere then weaves in information and events that add a rise in action. the whole story then comes to a climax. The climax is the most intense event in the narrative. The rest of the story - the falling action - is usually brief. It contains events that are much less intense than the climax and that lead toward the resolution of the conflict and a stable situation at the end.
  
  
• Characterization ~ Characterization is the author's presentation and developement of characters. There are two broad catagories of character developement: simple (orflat) and complex (or round). Flat characters have only one or two personality traits and are easily recognizable as stereotypes (i.e~the bum, the miser, the prim aristocrat, etc...). Round characters have multiple personality traits and therefore resemble real people. They are much harder to understand and describe than flat characters. No single description or interpretation can fully contain them.
  
  
• Setting ~ Setting includes information such as place, time, and social environment.
  • Place answers questions such as: Where does the action take place? In what country, city, locale? What does it look like, sound like feel like? What relationship does place have to charasterization and theme?
  • Three kinds of time occur in fiction. First, what period in history does the action take place? Second, how long does it take for the action to occur? And third, how is the passage of time perceived?
  • Often the social environment represented in a work is of little importance. But sometimes it is important. It describes manners, customs, rituals, and codes of conduct of a society.
  
  
  
• Point of View ~ Point of View is the athor's relationship to his or her fictional worl, especially to the minds of the characters. Another way of putting this is to define point of view as the position from which the story is told. There are four common points of view.
  • Omniscient point of view ~ In the omniscient postion, the author, not one of the characters, tels the story, and the author assumes complete kjnowledge of the character' actions and thoughts.
  • Limited omniscient point of view ~ Wehn the limited omniscient position is used, the author still narates the story but restricts his or her revelation - and therefore our knowledge - of the thoughts of all but one character.
  • First-person point of view ~ In the first-person position, the author is even more restricted: one of the characters tells the story, eliminating the author as narrator.
  • Objective (dramatic) point of view ~ In the objective position, the author is more restricted than in any other. Though the author is the narrator, he or she refuses to enter the minds of any of the characters. The writer sees them (and lets us see them) as we would in real life.
  
  
  
• Symbolism ~ In the broadest sense, a symbol is something that represents something else. In literature, a symbol is an object that has meaning beyond itself. The object is concrete and the meanings are abstract.
  
  
• Description ~ There is no better way to add to your story than to describe it well. Adding descriptive words and phrases helps the reader to picture your work in thier imagination. For example:
  
  A cat walked across the street.
  
  That gives a small description of the animal and what it was doing. But you can better picture it when described as the following:
  
  A mostly black cat with bright yellow eyes, walked cautiously across the deserted street.