elements+of+fiction

bit.ly/mrgostoryelements Elements of the Story >> . - here is the junior version (gr. 9/10)  >> When analyzing for any of the following elements, be sure to organize your notes into headings and include DIRECT QUOTATIONS. >> Use this template to help you: (contains leading questions to direct analysis of elements) 1. __ Narrative Structure __ : The storyline or organization of incidents in a story is called the plot. A plot usually follows a set pattern: **exposition, rising action, inciting incident, climax, dénouement and resolution**. An acronym to remember the set pattern for plot is **ERICDR**. · **E: exposition -** intro to the main characters, setting, situation · **R: rising action -** all points that build to the climax · **I: inciting incident -** one point in the rising action that introduces the conflict and pushes the story forward · **C: climax -** turning point of the story · **D: dénouement -** unravelling of the conflict   · **R: resolution -** conflicts “solved” or realizations made >>when writing notes on Narrative structure, leave yourself room to

- See also: **//antecedent action//**, **//analepsis//** and **//prolepsis//** (flash back/forward), frame story (story within a story), **//in medias res//** (latin: in the middle of action), **//juxtaposition//** (of scenes), **//unity//** (unified, fragmented), 2. __ Setting __ : T he setting of a story consists of three levels: geographical/physical location, chronological/era and social status (wealthy, impoverished - . Setting works in close relation to theme and atmosphere by developing multiple dimensions to the story. See also: **pathetic fallacy**

3. __ Character Development __ : Each character is revealed through actions, speech and hearsay. The **protagonist** of a story is the main character and the **antagonist** of a story is a force or character that opposes the protagonist. A character that is fully developed in the story is known as a **round/dynamic** character. Those who play a more passive/minor role in the story are known as **flat/static** characters. It is also important to look at how a character can foil another character. A **foil** is a character whose behaviour, attitudes, and opinions are very different from those of a protagonist. Often the foil is used as a contrast to the main character to help audiences understand the protagonist more carefully. Characters may come to an **epiphany** or a moment of revelation or insight. See also: antihero, tragic hero, persona. See the chart for adjectives on how to describe a character's personality. 4. __ Conflict __ : A conflict is a struggle between opposing characters or forces. All conflicts are either external (physical) or internal (emotional, moral, psychological). The three major types of conflict are: · **Individual vs. Environment** (nature, supernatural, society or circumstances) · **Individual vs. Other** · **Individual vs. Self** 5. __ Narrative Voice __ : The point of view is the perspective from which the story is seen or told. It is important to look at why the author has chosen a particular point of view and how that influences the reader’s access to the characters situations? The three most common point of views are:

· **First-person narrative:** the protagonist tells his/her story directly to the reader using “I”. This point of view tells us only what one character thinks and feels from a vantage point “inside” the characters mind. (e.g., //Catcher in the Rye// - Salinger)

· **Third-person limited:** refers to the main character as “he” or “she”, which shows us only what one character thinks and feels from the perspective of someone “outside” the story. (e.g., Fitzgerald's //The Great Gatsby,// many Conan Doyle's //Sherlock Holmes//).

· **Omniscient narrative:** reveals the minds of several or all characters, knowing and telling from and all-seeing, “God-like” perspective, “outside” the story. (e.g., Jane Austen's //Pride and Prejudice//).

- See also: tone (parody, satire, connotative/denotative language), dark humour, magic realism, juxtaposition, relationship to author, second-person (direct address of reader), stream of consciousness, epistolary, picaresque,

6. __ Thematic message __ : It is a **statement about life** that the writer intends to communicate through the literary piece. (e.g. “Love is not a theme, but the fact that “love prevails over obstacles” is a theme). It is a general concept or doctrine whether implicit or asserted, which an imaginative work is designed to incorporate and make persuasive to the reader. The theme usually reveals some truth about society or an individual in a society. **Motifs** are recurring images in a story that point to the theme. A story may follow certain literary or narrative patterns that place it into a broader genre (science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, existentialist, political, gothic, hard-boiled, post-modern, flash fiction, etc.) of work. See also: coming of age, bildungsroman. 7. __ Literary Devices and stylistic language __ : The manner in which an author expresses his or her story. It is often determined by the purpose of a story, the diction, the sentences and by the images presented to the reader it may range from perfunctory (distant) to highly emotive and poetic. Examples of Literary devices/features are:

· Metaphors use concrete (sensory) images to represent an abstract idea. When “like” or “as” is used in the representation, the device is called a simile. · Personification: giving human qualities to non-human objects · Symbol: an object that holds several representations – characters, objects, events and settings can all be symbolic · Alliteration: a sound device – giving a few consecutive words with the same first consonant

Every narration will have some form of sensory detail (five levels of imagery: auditory, visual, olfactory, palatable/gustatory, tactile).

Others (make a glossary of your own!): irony, allegory, pathetic fallacy, picaresque, deux ex machine,, melodrama, pathos, realism (snapshot of true life, purely objective), archetypes, metafiction, intertextuality (echoes of another literary style/work; more complex form of allusion).