101 Elements of Fiction

1. Plot: a. the action element in fiction b. the arrangement of events that make up a story c. not to be confused with Subject 2. Conflict: a. many fictional plots rely on b. struggle between opposing forces that is usually resolved by the end of the story 3. Typical Structure of Fictional Plot: Crisis Complication Exposition 4. Exposition: a. background information b. describes setting c. introduces characters 5. Complication (Rising Action): a. characters encounter complications 6. Crisis (Climax) (Turning Point): a. storys moment of greatest tension 7. Epiphany: a. a characters realization 8. Falling Action: a. action falls off as the plots complications are sorted out b. not to be confused with Resolution Falling Action Resolution

9. Resolution (Conclusion):
a. storys plot is resolved b. does not necessarily mean a happy ending 10. Foreshadowing: a. an indication of events to come 11. Story of Initiation: a. story of a character initiated into experience or maturity 12. Point of View: a. most important aspect of storytelling 13. Narrator: a. the speaker b. the one from whose perspective the story is told

14. First-Person Narrator: a. is a participant in the story b. uses the pronoun I or we c. tells the story in his/her own voice with his/her particular limitations of knowledge and vision 15. Second-Person Narrator: a. uses the pronoun you 16. Third-Person Omniscient: a. narrator knows everything about the characters b. narrator can enter the minds of each character and reveal what they think and feel 17. Third-Person Limited Omniscient: a. narrators knowledge is limited to one character, major or minor

18. Objective Point of View a. writer shows what happens without directly stating any inferences from the storys
action and dialogue b. narrator does not tell the reader about what the characters think or feel c. narrator is merely an observer 19. Unreliable Narrator: a. narrator who the reader perceives as deceptive, self-deceptive, deluded, or deranged 20. Character: a. Imaginary people that writers create

21. Three-Dimensional Character: a. a character that seems especially real to the reader 22. Major Character: a. important figure at the center of the storys action b. occasionally, two characters may dominate a story, their relationship being most
important rather than the characters themselves 23. Minor Character: a. supports the major character b. function is to partly illuminate the major character, i.e. bring out his/her qualities

24. Static Character: a. a character this unchanging, remains the same from storys beginning to end 25. Dynamic Characters a. exhibits some kind of change, i.e. attitude, purpose, behavior, as the story
progresses b. NOTE: NOT ALL MAJOR CHARACTERS ARE DYNAMIC, NOR ARE ALL MINOR CHARACTERS STATIC

26. Protagonist:
a. good guy b. another name for major character who is in conflict with the Antagonist

27. Antagonist: a. the storys bad guy

b. opposes protagonist

28. Setting: a. place or location of a storys action along with the time in which it occurs 29. Style: a. the way a writer chooses words, arranges them in sentences, and exploits their
significance

30. Simile: a. comparison using like or as 31. Metaphor: a. comparison not using like or as 32. Theme: a. a storys idea or point formulated as a generalization b. theme of a fable is its moral c. theme of a parable is its teaching d. theme of short story is its implied view of life and conduct e. in fiction, theme is rarely presented; it must be abstracted from the details of
character and action

f. not to be confused with Plot: storys sequence of action, or Subject: what the story
is about. 33. Irony:

a. appears in: 1. a works language 2. a works incidents 3. a works point of view b. always involves contrast or discrepancy between one thing and another
34. Verbal Irony: a. contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant

35. Irony of Circumstance (Irony of Situation) (Situational Irony): a. contrast or discrepancy between what is expected to happen and what
actually happens 36. Dramatic Irony: a. contrast or discrepancy between what the characters know and what the readers know

37. Symbol: a. object, action, or event that conveys meaning beyond its literal significance
b. universal in nature, e.g. apple representing temptation 38. Allegory: a. like symbolism, but is not as universal and establishes a system of correspondences between action and meaning