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Literature

Aspects of a Novel & Elements of a Short Story

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What is literature?

Literature is the art of written works, of which the 2 most basic written literary categories are fiction
and non-fiction. Literature is in its broadest definition anything written down: from newspapers to
magazines to essays and what not. Specifically, it is everything from novels to short stories, including
drama, poetry, and non-fiction.

The major forms of literature that we will be dealing with are: the novel, poetry, the short story and
drama.

Prose:
Prose is any literature that is not written in poetic form or like a play. It is obviously a section of
literature.
-A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose.
-A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format
tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas (in the 20 th and 21st century
sense) and novels.
-A novella (also called a short novel) is a written, fictional, prose narrative longer than a novelette but
shorter than a novel.

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance.

Main Aspects of the novel:

Every novel has these main elements:

1. Setting - When and where the story takes place.

2. Characters - The people (or sometimes animals) the story is about.

TYPES OF CHARACTER:

A. MAJOR CHARACTERS
These are the most important characters in the story. There are two types, of which there may be a
couple for each.

Protagonist – This is the main character, around which the whole story revolves. The decisions made by
this character will be affected by a conflict from within, or externally through another character, nature,
society, or the fates/God.

Antagonist – This character, or group of characters, causes the conflict for the protagonist. However,
the antagonist could be the protagonist, who is torn by a problem within. Most times, something external
is causing the problem.

B. MINOR CHARACTERS

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These are the other characters in a story. They are not as important as the major characters, but still play
a large part in the story. Their actions help drive the story forward. They may impact the decisions the
protagonist or antagonist make, either helping or interfering with the conflict.
There is also a distinction between:

FLAT CHARACTER: Flat characters are those in which the author has minimally developed. A flat
character is a simplified character who does not change or alter his or her personality over the course of
a narrative, or one without extensive personality and characterization. The term is used in contrast with a
round character.

ROUND CHARACTER: A round character is depicted with such psychological depth and detail that
he or she seems like a "real" person. There’s more to them than what appears on the surface because
they have layered personalities and multifaceted backgrounds, desires, and motivations. The round
character contrasts with the flat character. If the round character changes or evolves over the course of a
narrative or appears to have the capacity for such change, the character is also dynamic. Typically, a
short story has one round character and several flat ones. However, in longer novels and plays, there
may be many round characters.

STOCK CHARACTER: A character type that appears repeatedly in a particular literary genre, one
which has certain conventional attributes or attitudes. In modern detective fiction, the prostitute-with-a-
heart-of-gold, the hard-drinking P.I., and the corrupt police-officer are stereotypical stock characters.
Stock characters in western films might include the noble sheriff, the whorehouse madam, the town
drunkard, etc.

Another classification of characters is:

DYNAMIC CHARACTER: A dynamic character is one whose personality changes or evolves over the
course of a narrative or appears to have the capacity for such change. They may learn a lesson, become
bad, or change in complex ways.

STATIC CHARACTER: A static character is a simplified character who does not change or alter his
or her personality over the course of a narrative. These characters remain unchanged regardless of plot,
conflict, or environment. They experience little to no internal development, maintaining the same
characterization they were introduced with.

SO:
Round refers to complexity, while dynamic refers to transformation. Where static characters are
inflexible, flat characters lack depth.

What is direct characterization and what is indirect characterization?

Direct characterization takes a direct approach towards building the character. It uses another
character, narrator, or the protagonist himself to tell the readers or audience about the subject.
Indirect characterization is a more subtle way of introducing the character to the audience. The
audience has to deduce for themselves the characteristics of the character by observing his/her thought

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process, behavior, speech, way of talking, appearance, and manner of communication with other
characters, as well as by discerning the response of other characters.

3. Theme – It is the central idea which may be stated directly or indirectly. It is the lesson the writer of
the story is trying to teach the reader. The "message". A story can have more than one theme.

4. Motives/ Motivation - In literature, “motivation” is defined as a reason behind a character’s specific

action or behavior.
This type of behavior is characterized by the character’s own consent and willingness to do something.

5. Point of view /Perspective –

In order to fully understand point of view in literature, we need to explore the different perspectives
from which a story may be told. Bear in mind that the Perspective is the scene as viewed through the
eyes/mind of the chosen character. The story, however, can be told from any one of several points-of-
view regardless of the perspective chosen.

What is Point of View?

When studying the perspective of the narrator, the reader is concerned with the relationship between the
person telling the story (the narrator) and the agents referred to by the story teller (the characters).

Modes of Narration
There are six key terms used in the study of narrative view point: first-person, second-person, third-
person, third-person objective, third-person limited, and third-person omniscient.

Each term refers to a specific mode of narration defined by two things: the distance of the narrator from
the story (the pronoun case) and how much the narrator reveals about the thoughts and feelings of the
characters (narrative access).

First-Person Narration
In this mode, the narrator is usually the protagonist or central character in the story. But even if this
character is not the protagonist, he or she is directly involved in the events of the story and is telling the
tale “first hand.” First-person narration is easy to identify, because the narrator will be telling the story
from “I’s” perspective. Readers should watch for the narrator’s use of first-person pronouns- “I, me,
my, our, us, we, myself, and ourselves,” as these will usually indicate that the passage is narrated from
first-person perspective.

Second-Person Narration
In this mode narration “you” are the agent, such as in this example: you walked down the stairs. As it is
generally awkward for a story to be narrated from “your” perspective, this mode of narration is not used
very often in narratives and stories. There are some exceptions, however, and second-person
perspective is the primary mode of narration for choose your own adventure books and similarly styled
writings. More frequently, directions and instructions and usually narrated from second-person
perspective. In most cases, directions will be written in short imperative sentences, where the implied
subject is “you.” But even when “you” is not explicitly stated, it is understood that “you” are the subject
of directions and instructions.

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Third-Person Narration
With this mode of narration, the narrator tells the story of another person or group of people. The
narrator may be far removed from or not involved in the story, or he or she may be a supporting
character supplying narration for a hero. Frequent use of “he, she, them, they, him, her, his, her, and
their” by the narrator may indicate that a passage is narrated from third-person perspective.

There are three distinct modes of third-person narration: objective, limited, and
omniscient. Which mode the narrator is using is determined by a single variable- how much the narrator
accesses the thoughts, feelings, and internal workings of the characters and shares them with the reader
through narration. Characters’ feelings and motivations can be inferred and understood through their
behavior and dialogue in each of the three modes of third-person narration; however, in determining
which mode the narrator is operating, readers should be concerned with finding instances where the
narrator explicitly reveals a character’s thoughts or feelings.

Third-Person Objective Narration

In this mode of narration, the narrator tells a third-person’s story (he, she, him, her), but the narrator
only describes characters’ behavior and dialogue. The narrator does not reveal any character’s
thoughts or feelings. Again, readers will be able to understand characters’ thoughts and motivations
based on characters’ actions and dialogue, which are narrated; however, the narrator will not explicitly
reveal character’s thoughts and/or motivations in narration.

Third-Person Limited
When a narrator uses third-person limited perspective, the narrator’s perspective is limited to the internal
workings of one character. In other words, the narrator reveals the thoughts and feelings of one
character through explicit narration. As with objective narration, readers may be able to infer
characters’ thoughts and feelings based on the behaviors and dialogue of those characters, which are
narrated, but the narrator also directly reveals the central character’s internal perspective.

Third-Person Omniscient
In this mode of narration, the narrator grants readers the most access to characters’ thoughts and
feelings. With third-person omniscient narration, the narration will reveal more than one characters’
internal workings. The base word omni means “all,” and scient means “knowing,” so omniscient
roughly translates to “all knowing.” In this case the etymology is accurate, because in omniscient
narration, the narrator is all knowing.

Multiple Viewpoints
This is another popular perspective in stories today. The story is told by only one character at a
time, but the viewpoint character switches between two or more characters throughout the course
of the novel. This can be a very effective tool when used for the right reasons.

6. CONFLICT IN LITERATURE –

In literature, conflict is the central issue and makes the story move. It is introduced in ‘Rising Action’
and begins to work itself out in ‘Falling Action’. It is resolved during ‘Resolution’. Short stories have
one conflict, while novels have many. Literary conflict includes internal conflict, also called man

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versus self-conflict, and external conflict which includes man versus man, man versus nature, man
versus society and man versus fate.

The way conflict is used and how the conflicts are resolved are all determined by the type of story being
told.

Internal Conflict
Man vs. Self: Internal conflict is that which exists inside the character. Struggles with morality, fate,
desire and belief, to name a few. This form of conflict is central to the character, or characters and must
be resolved by the character alone.
Every good character suffers from the weight of internal conflict, it lends them an air of complex
believability. Internal conflict is also known as man versus self. Internal conflict is necessary for good
characters, but it’s the least complicated form of conflict.

External Conflict
Unlike internal conflict, external conflict deals with the problems of the world. The story's characters
will struggle against the circumstances of external conflict; they may even suffer internal conflict
resulting from the issues of external conflict, but this is not as simple as internal conflict. External
conflict occurs when characters are involved in the world's woes, such issues as community, nature,
government and other characters are all examples of external conflict. External conflict manifests itself
as man versus man, man versus nature, man versus society and man versus fate.

Man vs. Man: Man versus man is the most fundamental type of external conflict. This form of external
conflict occurs when a character struggles against another character. These struggles may be born from
moral, religious or social differences and may be emotional, verbal or physical conflicts. Man versus
man is almost always the conflict present when a hero fights a villain. This form of conflict may present
alone, or in conjunction with other external conflicts.

Man vs. Nature: Man versus nature conflicts occur when a character, or characters, find themselves at
odds with forces of nature. A character struck by lightning, characters whose boat sinks in a storm and a
character who struggles against hypothermia in a snow storm are all characters experiencing man versus
nature conflicts.

Man vs. Society: This external conflict exists when characters struggle against the rules or traditions of
their society (culture, government, etc.)

Man vs. Fate: Man versus fate occurs when a character is compelled to follow an unknown destiny.
Man versus fate conflict breeds internal conflict, while forcing a character to consciously, or
subconsciously, act on his or her fate.

While conflict in literature can be complex, knowing the basics is key to understanding how to conflict
is built and how it affects the story. These elements of conflict can appear both individually and together
with one another, but one of them must exist for the story to exist. (So, no plot without conflict!)

Some modern theory adds the following additional types of conflict in literature:

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Character vs. God, or the Supernatural: This could be any supernatural force that is outside the
understanding of the protagonist, including monsters, aliens, or deities.

7. Plot - What happens in the story.

Stage 1 - Exposition
 Exposition is at the base of the mountain or the beginning of the story. This is where the author
sets up the story including characters, setting, and main conflicts.
Stage 2 - Rising Action
 The Rising Action occurs as you begin to move throughout the story. This is where conflicts start
to build just like when you climb a mountain you are moving further along.
Stage 3 - Climax
 The Climax is the turning point of the story. You have reached the top of the mountain and you
cannot go any further, you have to turn and go down. This point in the story is when things
finally start to move in a different direction and it may not always be a positive direction.
Stage 4 - Falling Action
 Falling Action occurs after the climax as things start to work themselves out in the story. You are
coming down the mountain just as you are coming down from the excitement of the climax.
Stage 5 - Resolution
 The Resolution is the solution to the problem as you have reached the bottom of the mountain.
The solution might not be what you want, but the conflict has been resolved.

Short story:
_____________________________________________________________________
A short story is a short work of fiction. Fiction, as you know, is prose writing about imagined events
and characters. Prose writing differs from poetry in that it does not depend on verses, meters or rhymes
for its organization and presentation.

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Novels are another example of fictional prose and are much longer than short stories. Some short stories,
however, can be quite long. If a short story is a long one, say fifty to one hundred pages, we call it a
novella.

5 Important Elements of a Short Story

What makes some authors (e.g. O. Henry and Edgar A. Poe) such remarkable short story writers? They
are true masters at combining the five key elements that go into every great short story: character,
setting, conflict, plot and theme.

Usually a short story focuses on one incident; has a single plot, a single setting, and a small
number of characters; and covers a short period of time.

A character is a person, or sometimes even an animal, who takes part in the action of a short story or
other literary work.

The setting of a short story is the time and place in which it happens. Authors often use descriptions of
landscape, scenery, buildings, seasons or weather to provide a strong sense of setting.

A plot is a series of events and character actions that relate to the central conflict.

Every story has a conflict - a struggle between two opposing forces. The conflict may be between two
people or it may be between a person and some other force, regardless, every story revolves around
conflict and it's important for you to understand the various kinds of conflict. The main character is
usually on one side of the central conflict.
 Internal Conflict is a struggle that occurs within the main character. This struggle happens
within the character's own mind (feelings, emotions, illness).
 External Conflict is a struggle that the main character has with another character, with society,
or with a natural force. (see Aspects of a novel)

The theme is the central idea or belief in a short story.

Mood vs Tone

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Tone and Mood are literary elements integrated in literary works. Identifying the tone and mood in
literatures is an important clue to discover the literary’s theme. Considering how the author creates a
tone and mood helps the reader understand and appreciate the author’s style.

Tone is a manner, a feeling or atmosphere the author has meant to set in the story, or towards a
subject. It can also be considered as the attitude or feeling of the writer towards a subject. The tone can
be revealed by the author’s choice of words and details. The author may use a negative or positive tone
for his work. Some possible adjectives to describe a tone, are seriousness, bitterness, joyful, humorous,
amusing, angry, ironic, suspicious, and many more.

Mood is the feeling or atmosphere perceived by the reader. It is the emotions you feel while reading.
The mood indicates a prevailing feeling, or frame of mind, especially at the start of the story. It creates a
sense of expectation to readers of what is to follow. All the choices for setting, images, objects and
details contribute in creating a mood.

In short:
Tone simply refers to how the author feels towards the subject, or towards something. You will know
what the author’s tone is implying by the words he uses.
While ‘mood’, refers to the feeling of the atmosphere the author is describing. It is what the author
makes you feel when you read his writings. You can read a sentence, and feel sad, happy or angry.

Other literary devices and techniques:

Flashback is a literary device wherein the author depicts the occurrence of specific events to the reader,
which have taken place before the present time the narration is following, or events that have happened
before the events that are currently unfolding in the story. Flashbacks interrupt the chronological
order of the main narrative to take a reader back in time to the past events in a character's life.

Flash forward is a literary device in which the plot skips ahead in its chronological sequence in order to
reveal important information. Flash forward reveals expected events of the future as an interjection to
the main plot.

Foreshadowing is a literary device used to give an indication or hint of what is to come later in the
story. Foreshadowing is useful for creating suspense, a feeling of unease, a sense of curiosity, or a mark
that things may not be as they seem.

Complication: a situation or detail of a character that complicates the main thread of a plot. A
complication builds up and develops the primary or central conflict in a literary work.

Twist: A plot twist is a literary technique that introduces a radical change in the direction or expected
outcome of the plot in a work of fiction. When it happens near the end of a story, it is known as a twist
or surprise ending.

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