Second Quarter

Prepared by
ARLENE A. BONDAD
 Lesson 1:
Nature of Fiction

Prepared by
ARLENE A. BONDAD
 1 2 3
Identify various techniques, Identify different forms analyze the
and literary devices of fiction of fiction elements of fiction
The mind is so powerful that it can imagine many things.
It can create various experiences that may not be true in
real life but are possible in one’s imagination. for these
creative thoughts to be evident, words are used to give life
to these intangible constructs that play in one’s mind.

With the power of communication, one’s thoughts and

feelings can be best expressed and manifested.
• Fiction is literature created from the imagination, not presented
as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation.

• Fiction can be distinguished from other forms of writing by

looking at its main purpose-to entertain and to educate at the
same time.
• Allusion • Foreshadowing
• Diction • Imagery
• Alliteration • Personification
• Allegory • Juxtaposition
• Euphemism • Simile
• Flashback • Metaphor
• Onomatopoeia
• Tone
 Activity 1
Directions:
1. Define the following techniques and literary devices of fiction.
2. Give example for each technique and literary devices of
fiction
• Foreshadowing
• Allusion • Imagery
• Diction • Personification
• Alliteration • Juxtaposition
• Allegory • Simile
• Euphemism • Metaphor
• Flashback • Onomatopoeia

• Tone
• Flash Fiction

• Short Stories

• Novella

• Novels
Flash Fiction
• is also called short-short.
• it is a type of fiction which is under the umbrella of the short
story and is mainly regarded to contain a limited amount of
words that runs from 250-1000.
• Like the usual type of story, the flash fiction still has a
protagonist, antagonist, conflict, and resolution.

• Short-shorts are becoming popular to new writers nowadays not

just because of its extreme brevity but also of the fact that it can
serve as an alternative to long- haul tasks
Example of Flash Fiction
The Forgotten Locket

The old, abandoned house at the end of Elm Street had always been
shrouded in mystery. For as long as the town's residents could remember,
it had stood there, its windows boarded up and its garden overgrown with
weeds. But on a cloudy, damp morning, young Lucy, with her curious
spirit, decided to investigate.

She pushed through the rusted gate, the creaking sound sending shivers
down her spine. As she approached the house, the front door slowly
swung open, as if inviting her inside. Hesitant but intrigued, Lucy
stepped over the threshold and entered the eerie darkness.
Example of Flash Fiction: The Forgotten Locket

Cobwebs hung like drapes from the ceiling, and the floor creaked beneath
her weight. Lucy's footsteps echoed through the empty house. She ventured
further, guided only by the dim light filtering through dusty windows.

In the corner of the living room, Lucy spotted an old, ornate locket. Its
silver chain was tarnished, and the locket itself was covered in a layer of
dust. She picked it up and examined it carefully. It felt strangely warm in
her hand, as if it held a hidden secret.
Example of Flash Fiction: The Forgotten Locket

With a delicate touch, Lucy opened the locket. Inside, a faded photograph
revealed a young woman with a radiant smile. Her eyes seemed to pierce
through time, as if pleading for someone to remember her. Lucy's heart
ached for the woman in the photograph, who had been forgotten for so
long.

As she closed the locket, a distant sound echoed through the house, like a
soft, melancholic piano melody. Lucy followed the sound, ascending a
creaky staircase to an attic. In the attic, she found an old, dusty piano
covered in cobwebs. She gently wiped away the dust and placed her fingers
on the keys.
Example of Flash Fiction: The Forgotten Locket

With each note, the forgotten melody filled the house. It was a hauntingly
beautiful tune, carrying the weight of memories long past. Lucy played the
piano as if she had known the song all her life, as if the music itself had
been waiting for someone to bring it back to life.

As the final note hung in the air, Lucy felt a strange sense of closure. It was
as if the house, and the woman in the locket, had been yearning for
someone to remember them. Lucy carefully closed the locket, placed it back
where she had found it, and left the house.
Example of Flash Fiction: The Forgotten Locket

With each note, the forgotten melody filled the house. It was a hauntingly
beautiful tune, carrying the weight of memories long past. Lucy played the
piano as if she had known the song all her life, as if the music itself had
been waiting for someone to bring it back to life.

As the final note hung in the air, Lucy felt a strange sense of closure. It was
as if the house, and the woman in the locket, had been yearning for
someone to remember them. Lucy carefully closed the locket, placed it back
where she had found it, and left the house.
Example of Flash Fiction: The Forgotten Locket

The old house on Elm Street remained abandoned, but it was no longer
shrouded in mystery. For Lucy, it held the memories of a forgotten life and
an enchanting melody, a story she would carry with her forever.
Short Stories
• are written works that usually run from 2,000-6,000
words and is about eight to 24 pages. This sometimes
limit the writer to explore possibilities of developing the
character, and relationships among the characters, plot,
and setting.

• Writing a short story can take time than reading it, which can
be done in one sitting.
 Sample Short Story
• Dead Stars by Paz Marquez Benitez
Dead stars is a short story by Paz Marquez Benitez, written in 1925. The story is
basically a compilation of the complicated circumstances that every man has to go through in
life. Alfredo was torn between doing what is right and what is in his heart. Alfredo Salazar is a
lawyer and the main character in the story. He is the love of the life of Esperanza. They have
been together for four years and meant to get married in May. Their relationship in the
beginning was full of enthusiasm, full of love and happiness. But like other long-term
relationships, their feelings for each other changes as time goes by. Esperanza was beautiful,
elegant, reserved, and distinctly not average type of a woman. She loves her Alfredo so much and
trusted him with her whole heart. After their four years of engagement, Alfredo thought of
finding his real wants.
When Alfredo tried to do some neighboring with his dad Don Julian, he met Julia Salas, their
neighbor's sister-in-law. She was just a visitor in town and been there for only six weeks. They
found good company between themselves and as they knew it, it became a weekly habit for
Alfredo to visit her after every Sunday’s mass. Julia is the average type, not so beautiful but still
it interests Alfredo so much. As they grew their new friendship, Alfredo found new happiness
and starts to fall for her.
Novella
• can be considered as the story that plays somewhere between a
short story and a novel. It commonly comprises around 5 to 100
pages with 20,000 to 40,000 words and offers a greater avenue
for character and theme development.

• Novellas are somehow similar to short stories regarding

structure but in this form, the writer can move backward in
time to provide a glimpse of the character’s past.

• It is also common in novellas to have a plot twist, a type of

reversal in fortune or event and the like.
Sample Novella
I AM LEGEND
by Richard Matheson

An awesome story that takes place in a vampire apocalypse scenario and

the only survivor is a surly human with a drinking problem. He drives
around in the daylight and kills blood-suckers, and spends his nights inside
his house, listening to them outside, calling to him.

This is a book that grabs you and does not let go, putting most recent
vampire fiction in its place. The ending is awesome, in the truest sense of
that word. There were rumors of a movie starring Will Smith, but nothing
ever came of it.
Novel
• don’t need limits regarding length. Some novels have trilogies
and tetralogies thus making novels the ideal form when
dealing with stories that involve more characters, varied
plots, and set-up, and has a more open-handed coverage of
time.

• More writers start with their “trial novels” before

attempting to write a full-blown novel. It’s like testing
the waters before jumping in and taking a splash.
Sample Novel
To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

The novel recounts the childhood experiences of six-year-old

“Scout” Finch during the Great Depression in the fictional town
of Maycomb, Alabama. When her widowed father a principled
and respected attorney, defends a Black man falsely accused of
raping a white woman, Scout and her brother witness the
horrors of racism. They also learn valuable lessons about
courage, compassion, tolerance, and prejudice.
 Elements of Fiction
Two of the most common forms of fiction are the short story and novel. As
described in the previous unit, the short story is a condensed narrative
usually set in one particular time and place. It focuses on a character, and
his or her interests or feelings under a certain situation.

The novel is longer due to its complex plot which is presented through
multiple chapters. A novel includes a main plot and subplots. A novel also
has more characters than a short story. Both forms of fiction have the
following elements:
 Elements of Fiction
Characters
The characters are the people in the story. Characters can often be
classified as flat or round.

A round character changes over the course of the story.

Example: a selfish character might become kind and generous, or a
timid character might become brave.

A flat character, on the other hand, has the same traits at the end of
the story as at the start.
 Elements of Fiction
Characters
The main character in the story is the protagonist. This is the
character around whom the plot revolves, and may also be the main
point of view character in the story.

The antagonist is the character who causes problems or conflict for

the protagonist. In some stories, this character could be called the
villain. Other characters may be supporting characters or minor
characters.
 Elements of Fiction
Settings
This is an element of fiction that tells when and where the events
occurred. In some stories, the setting presents “local color” which is
indicative of the scenery, language, practices, and beliefs of the
people in a certain place. It is a device used to help the readers in
creating a mental picture of the setting.

Sometimes the setting also affects the behavior of the characters as

well as the turn of events.

Examples of fiction set in local color:

The Wedding dance by Amador Daguio
How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife by Manuel Arguilla
 Elements of Fiction
Conflict
Conflict refers to the problem or compilation that the characters must
face. It may be a clash between characters in the story, or against
other forces.

A story without a conflict is nothing because it is what adds color.

Some stories have only one main conflict, while other stories have
more and different types of conflict.
 Elements of Fiction
Two Main Types of Conflict
1. Internal Conflict

Internal conflict is shown through a character’s inner struggle. He or

she may be torn between varying emotions or differing plans of
action.

Example: The character Gollum from the Lord of the Rings is an

example of a character with internal conflict.
Example: The character Gollum from the Lord of the Rings is an example of a
character with internal conflict.
 Elements of Fiction
Plot
This refers to the events-often in sequence- which portray
characters facing conflicts. Some plots do not follow the regular
structure of a story.

Some plots do not follow the regular structure of a story. Authors

may use flashbacks to highlight previous events or foreshadowing to
create suspense.

Based on Freytag’s pyramid, a good plot must have the following

parts/elements.
 Elements of a Plot
Devised by 19th century German
playwright Gustav Freytag, Freytag's
Pyramid is a paradigm of dramatic
structure outlining the seven key steps
in successful storytelling: exposition,
inciting action, rising action, climax,
falling action, resolution, and
denouement.
 Elements of a Plot
1. Exposition: The storyteller sets the scene and
the character’s background.
2. Inciting Incident: The character reacts to
something that has happened, and it starts a chain
reaction of events.

3. Rising Action: The story builds. There is often a complication,

which means the problem the character tries to solve gets more
complex.

4. Climax: The story reaches the point of greatest tension between

the protagonist and antagonist (or if there is only one main character,
the darkness or lightness of that character appears to take control).
 Elements of a Plot
5. Falling Action: The story shifts to action that
happens as a result of the climax, which can also
contain a reversal (when the character shows how
they are changed by the events of the climax).

6. Resolution: The character solves the problem or conflict.

7. Denouement: French for “the ending,” the denouement is often

happy if it’s a comedy, and dark and sad if it’s a tragedy.
 Elements of Fiction
Two Main Types of Conflict
1. Internal Conflict

Internal conflict is shown through a character’s inner struggle. He or

she may be torn between varying emotions or differing plans of
action.

Example: The character Gollum from the Lord of the Rings is an

example of a character with internal conflict.
 Elements of Fiction
Point of View
Point of view tells through whose eyes we are seeing the story. It also
reveals the attitude of the writer towards the character. It has the
following classifications:

A. First-Person Point of View

The narrator tells a story using the pronouns: I, me, mine, us, we, our, ours

Example: I could not unlove him now, merely because I found that he had
ceased to notice me.” –Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bruntë
 Elements of Fiction
Point of View

B. Second-Person Point of View

is a point of view that refers to a person or people being addressed by a writer or

speaker.

It uses the pronoun “you” to address the reader.

This narrative voice implies that the reader is either the protagonist or a character in
the story and the events are happening to them

Example: You walked across a bridge (uses the second person to say what “you” (the
reader or listener) did.
 Elements of Fiction
Point of View
C. Third-Person Point of View
The narrator tells the story using the pronouns: he, his, she, hers, they, them, their,
theirs
It may be a limited third person, where the narrator is not involved in the story or is
an outsider. He or she relates the events but is not one of the characters.

Example: When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in
her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister how very much she admired
him.

“He is just what a young man ought to be”, said she, “sensible, good humored, lively;
and I never saw such happy manners!-so much ease, with such perfect good
breeding!”
from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
 Elements of Fiction
Point of View
D. Omniscient Point of View
Also referred to as the “know-it-all” narrator.

The narrator knows the innermost thoughts and feelings of each character.

He or she explores the mind of every character.

Example: “All the same, he’s a good man, truthful, kind, and remarkable in his sphere,” Anna said to
herself, going back to her room as if defending him before someone who was accusing him and saying
that it was impossible to love him. “But why do his ears stick out so oddly? Did he have to have his
hair cut?”

Exactly at midnight, when Anna was still sitting at her desk finishing a letter to Dolly, she heard the
measured steps of slippered feet, and Alexei Alexandrovich, washed and combed, a book under his
arm, came up to her. “It’s time,” he said with a special smile, and went into the bedroom.
“And what right did he have to look at him like that?” thought Anna, recalling how Vronsky and looked
at Alexei Alexandrovich.
-Anna Karenina
 Activity 2
Directions:
1. Read the short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.
Search and discuss a brief biography of Shirley Jackson

2. Create a story map of the story to identify the elements of fiction. Use the template provided.

3. Answer the process questions:

1. What is the theme of the short story The Lottery?
2. Is there a round character in the story? Discuss that.
3. What can you say about the tradition observed in the story? Are you in favor of it? Why yes?
Why not?
4. Is there any local tradition that you do not favor, but still following? Discuss your answer.
5. If you are the author of the story, how are you going to end the story?