102 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 or Theme 2. Scene: a. a vivid or dramatic moment described in enough detail to create the illusion that the reader is practically there 3. Causality: a. important feature of realistic plots b. repercussions for characters actions 4. Conflict: a. many fictional plots rely on b. struggle between opposing forces that is usually resolved by the end of the story 5. Typical Structure of Fictional Plot: Crisis Complication Exposition 6. Exposition: a. background information b. describes setting c. introduces characters 7. Complication (Rising Action): a. characters encounter complications 8. Crisis (Climax) (Turning Point): a. storys moment of greatest tension 9. Epiphany: a. a characters realization 10. Falling Action: a. action falls off as the plots complications are sorted out b. not to be confused with Resolution Falling Action Resolution

11. Resolution (Conclusion):

a. storys plot is resolved b. does not necessarily mean a happy ending 12. Foreshadowing: a. an indication of events to come

13. Flashback (Retrospect): a. a scene relived in a characters memory 14. Story of Initiation: a. story of a character initiated into experience or maturity 15. Point of View: a. most important aspect of storytelling 16. Narrator: a. the speaker b. the one from whose perspective the story is told 17. 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 18. Second-Person Narrator: a. uses the pronoun you 19. 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 20. Third-Person Limited Omniscient: a. narrators knowledge is limited to one character, major or minor

21. 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 22. Unreliable Narrator: a. narrator who the reader perceives as deceptive, self-deceptive, deluded, or deranged 23. Stream of Consciousness: a. the procession of thoughts passing through the mind b. the presentation of thoughts and sense impressions in a lifelike fashionnot in a sequence arranged by logic, but mingled randomly 24. Interior Monologue: a. an extended organized presentation of a characters thoughts in an arrangement as if the character were speaking out loud to him/herself for us to overhear 25. Character: a. Imaginary people that writers create

26. Three-Dimensional Character: a. a character that seems especially real to the reader 27. 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 28. Minor Character: a. supports the major character b. function is to partly illuminate the major character, i.e. bring out his/her qualities

29. Static Character: a. a character this unchanging, remains the same from storys beginning to end 30. 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

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

32. Antagonist: a. the storys bad guy

b. opposes protagonist 33. Allusion: a. a reference to some famous person, place, or thing in history, in other fiction, or in actuality 34. Antihero: a. a protagonist conspicuously lacking in one or more of the usual attributes of a traditional hero (bravery, skill, idealism, sense of purpose) b. is an ordinary, unglorious person

35. Characterization:
a. The means by which writers present and reveal a character

36. Setting: a. place or location of a storys action along with the time in which it occurs 37. Style: a. the way a writer chooses words, arranges them in sentences, and exploits their
significance

38. Diction: a. the kind of word choices a writer makes 39. Syntax: a. the order words assume in sentences 40. Simile: a. comparison using like or as
41. Metaphor a. comparison not using like or as

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

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
44. Verbal Irony: a. contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant

45. Irony of Circumstance (Irony of Situation) (Situational Irony): a. contrast or discrepancy between what is expected to happen and what
actually happens 46. Dramatic Irony: a. contrast or discrepancy between what the characters know and what the readers know

47. Symbol: a. object, action, or event that conveys meaning beyond its literal significance
b. universal in nature, e.g. apple representing temptation 48. Allegory: a. like symbolism, but is not as universal and establishes a system of correspondences between action and meaning