The Elements of Fiction

1. The Elements of Fiction

2. PLOT Plot Diagram / Freytag’s Pyramid 4 3 5 1 2 1. INTRODUCTION:includes the setting, introduces the characters, and gives important background information. 2. INITIATING INCIDENT:the spark or conflict, which begins the action. 3. RISING ACTION:a series of cause and effect events, which begins with the initiating incident and ends at the climax 4. CLIMAX: the highest point of action 5. DENOUEMENT / FALLING ACTION:the conflict is resolved, and the story is concluded

3. PLOT exercise • Pick a movie, book, or story you are familiar with (Disney movies are great for this) and write a short point-form summary for each of the 5 parts of the plot.

4. CONFLICT The conflict is the main difficulty the main character must deal with. There are several types: • person vs. self = the struggle is internal (a battle of conscience) • person vs. person = the struggle is external (fights, arguments…) • person vs. nature =(hurricanes, floods, rabid animals…) • person vs. supernatural = (ghosts, gods, magic…) • person vs. machine = (computers, machines, robots…) • person vs. society = (slavery, racism, political upset…)

5. CONFLICT exercise • Using the movie, book, or story from the plot exercise, list and explain the main conflicts it contains.

6. CHARACTER TYPES PROTAGONIST ANTAGONIST • The main character of a story. • The story is often told from his or her perspective. • The protagonist may be human, animal, inanimate object, a concept, male, female etc. • The character that opposes the protagonist. • The story is not told from his or her perspective, though some scenes may be. • The antagonist may be human, animal, inanimate object, a concept, male, female, etc.

7. CHARACTER TYPES exercise • Who are the protagonist and antagonist in the movie, book, or story you’ve chosen? How can you tell?

8. S.T.E.A.L. CHARACTERIZATION S = Speech (What they say& how they say it) T = Thoughts (What they think & feel) E = Effects on Others (the emotions & reactions of other people with regards to them) A = Actions (how they act with others& when under stress) L = Looks (Their expressions & how they dress)

9. S.T.E.A.L. exercise • Pick a character from the movie, book, or story you’re working with, and write one thing for each of the S.T.E.A.L. categories.

10. SETTING The time, place, tone, mood and atmosphere of the story • Time = When a story takes place – the season, the hour, the year, past, future etc • Place = Where a story takes place – country, city, forest, house, spaceship, school etc.

11. SETTING • Tone = the feeling generated by the author often using plot devices. Generally applies to the entire story rather than a scene. • Suspenseful (leaving out details) • Mood = the feeling the reader gets when reading – generally seen through word choice • Sad (death of a character ) • Atmosphere = feelings created from the character – seen through dialogue & narration • Angry (I slammed the door and stomped across my room, throwing myself on the bed and screaming into the pillow.)

12. SETTING exercise • What is the setting of the movie, book, or story you’re working with? Include time, place, tone, mood, and atmosphere.

13. POINT OF VIEW (POV) • The perspective in which the story is told • first person major (the narrator of the story is the main character of the story) • Clark Kent: My first day at The Daily Planet was a disaster. I couldn’t say anything right to Lois Lane, and then I had to run out in the middle of a conversation because I saw a bank robbery that needed Superman.

14. POINT OF VIEW (POV) • first person minor (the narrator of the story is a minor character in the story) • Jimmy Olsen I remember feeling a bit sorry for Clark Kent on his first day at The Daily Planet. He got more tongue-tied around Lois than I’ve ever been (which takes effort – I was horrible), and to top things off, he ran out in the middle of the conversation. Lois is fuming – I’d hate to be him when he gets back.

15. POINT OF VIEW (POV) • third person omniscient (the author, with all inclusive vision narrates.) • Narrator Clark Kent’s first day at the Daily Planet was going to be a rough one for him – not that he’d known that when he got to work. He’d been feeling good about his new job until he met Lois Lane. She was beautiful, competent, and self confident and Clark got tongue-tied and embarrassed himself five minutes into the conversation. Lois thought that he looked useless and growled in frustration when he ran off mid-sentence, and mentally wrote him off. Jimmy Olsen sat at his desk, listening to the conversation and feeling grateful that it wasn’t him this time that Lois was mad at.

16. POINT OF VIEW (POV) Third person limited omniscient (The author narrates but limits it to a specific character) • Narrator – Clark Kent perspective Clark’s first day at The Daily Planet was an unmitigated disaster. He stumbled over his words when talking to Lois Lane, feeling embarrassed to say the least. Then had to run out mid-sentence so that Superman could stop a bank robbery. At least something good might come out of the day.

17. POINT OF VIEW (POV) exercise • Is there a clear POV in the movie, book, or story you’re working with? • If you were to write the story itself, which POV would you use and why?

18. THEME • What the author is trying to convey – the central idea to the story. • There are basic themes that can be summed up in one word such as love, greed, racism, justice etc which apply to many stories. • Basic themes can (and should) be made more specific such as greed leads to defeat, or the loss of innocence • Short stories usually have one major theme while novels often have several.

19. THEME exercise • What is the basic theme from the movie, book, or story you’re working with? • What is a more specific theme? • Why did you pick this theme in particular?