Today’s Focus

1. Six elements of fiction

2. How to critically read

6 ELEMENTS of FICTION
1. Character
2. Plot
3. Setting
4. Point of View
5. Style
6. Theme
1. CHARACTERS
 1. CHARACTERS
Are the people, animals or objects
that make things happen in the story.

Protagonist – Main character

Antagonist – One who opposes the protagonist
Antagonist
Protagonist
–
2. PLOT
 2. PLOT
The sequence of events that take
place in a story. It is what happens
and in what order it happens.

Conflict – Very important part of plot.

WHY??
 2. PLOT
Conflict is the struggle or problem that
the character goes through in the
story. Without conflict, there is no
story.
2. PLOT
3. SETTING
 3. SETTING
Refers to the time and place of the
events in a story. This also includes
different kinds of conditions,
circumstances and atmosphere. All of
which help to create a certain mood
for the story.
HOW??
Which
sound
goes with
which
picture?
4. POINT of VIEW
 4. POINT of VIEW
The writer’s perspective or angle from
which a story is told.
1st person: The story is told by one of the characters.
The writer could also be a character in the story.
3rd person omniscient: Reveals the feelings and
thoughts of all the characters.
3rd person limited omniscient: Reveals the feelings
and thoughts of just one character.
1st person POV 3rd person limited POV
5. STYLE
 5. STYLE
Every writer has his/her own style in
writing since we are all different by
nature and we do not think alike.

The author's word choice, sentence

structure & figurative language all work
together to establish mood, images and
meaning in the text.
 5. STYLE
Kuwait was the country Kuwait was the fertile
I referred to as home. I soil, and I was but a
couldn’t imagine myself humble seed growing
living anywhere else. out of its generosity.

The land, where all my Kuwait was my eternal

memories danced and abode; a quintessential
played together; Kuwait, physical place for my
I will never forget you. ravenous spiritual soul.
6. THEME
 6. THEME
The main idea or moral of a story
which is usually found at the end of
the reading process.

Every story must have some sort of

meaning.
 6. THEME
An old man on the brink of death summoned his
sons around him to give them some parting
advice. Since they always quarrelled amongst
themselves, he gave them a bundle of sticks tied
together and ordered them to break it. Each put
forth all his strength, but the bundle resisted all
their efforts. Then, cutting the cord which bound
the sticks together, he told his sons to break the
sticks separately. The sons were able to do so
with the greatest ease.
 6 ELEMENTS of FICTION
1. Character
2. Plot
3. Setting All these
elements work
4. Point of View
together
5. Style
6. Theme
 Close Reading:
How to Critically Read,
Think & Write
 What is close reading?
Is a thoughtful and critical analysis of a
text that helps you develop a deeper
and more precise understanding of it.
This will
be on the
MIDTERM
How do we get a deeper
understanding?
 Day 2 Homework
• Start reading your chosen book
• Research “Author/reader/text
oriented approaches”
• Read the short story “The Lottery
Ticket” by Anton Chekov
(Link: www.classicshorts.com/stories/lottery.html)