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Elements of Fiction Literary Terms

Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

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Page 1: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Elements of FictionLiterary Terms

Page 2: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Fiction

• Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events.

• Some fiction is entirely made-up, while other fiction is based on real events and/or people

Page 3: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Setting

• The setting of the literary work is the time and place of the action.

• Time can include not only the historical period—past, present, or future—but also a specific year, season, or time of day.

• Place—though usually physical—may also involve the social, economic, or cultural environment of the story

Page 4: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Protagonist

• The protagonist is the main character in a literary work.

• He/she is NOT necessarily the “good guy”, just the main character

Page 5: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Antagonist• An antagonist is a character or force in conflict with the main character

• This is NOT necessarily the “bad guy”, just the person or thing that is working against the main character

Page 6: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Conflict

INTERNAL -Conflict that occurs inside the character

-man Vs. self

EXTERNAL –Conflict that occurs

outside of the character

-man Vs. man-man Vs. nature-man Vs. society-man Vs. fate

A conflict is a struggle between A conflict is a struggle between opposing opposing forces. forces. There are two types of conflict: There are two types of conflict:

Page 7: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Symbol

• Something that has a literal meaning, but also stands for or represents an abstract idea.

Example: The American Flag– on a literal level, it is just a flag, a piece of cloth. However, it also stands for this particular county, for freedom, etc.

Page 8: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Denotation Vs. Connotation

• Denotation:

The dictionary meaning of a word, independent of other associations that the word may have

• Connotation:

The set of ideas associated with a word in addition to the word’s actual, explicit meaning

Page 9: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Irony

• The difference between appearance and reality, expectation and result.

• There are THREE kinds of Irony:

-Verbal Irony: a word or phrase used to suggest the opposite of its actual meaning

-Dramatic Irony: When there is a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the readers know is true

Page 10: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Irony (continued)-Situational Irony: When an event

directly contradicts expectations of the reader or of the characters

Page 11: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Dialogue

• A dialogue is a conversation between characters.

• It is often used to reveal things about a character’s thoughts, motivations, and personality to the reader, and to advance the action of the plot.

Example:

After walking into the kitchen, Susie cried, “Mom, how could you eat the last cupcake?!”

Mom replied, “I was hungry, and you weren’t here. It was delicious, my dear!”

Page 12: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Diction

• Word choice, including vocabulary used, word appropriateness, and vividness of language

Page 13: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Mood• The feeling created in the

reader by a literary work

Tone• The attitude toward the

subject that an author conveys in a piece of writing

Page 14: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Purpose

• The author’s reason for writing a specific piece

(Examples: To entertain, to inform, or to persuade the reader)

Page 15: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Foreshadowing

• Clues in a literary work that suggest events that have yet to occur

This literary This literary device helps to device helps to create suspense, create suspense, keeping readers keeping readers wondering about wondering about what will happen what will happen next.next.

Page 16: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Generalization

• A broad principle that is supported by evidence or particulars

Evidence• Particulars, or details, that lead to

generalizationsEvidence

Evidence

Evidence

Evidence

GENERALIZATION

(BIG PICTURE!!!)

Page 17: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Theme

• The central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work

–This is the deeper meaning, the

main lesson/message/moral that the author hopes the reader will understand at the end of the story

Page 18: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Simile

• A comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as”.

• Similes are used to make descriptions of objects or people more powerful.

Example: Without a simile: “It was dark outside.”With a simile: “The night was as dark

as thick, black velvet.”

Page 19: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Allusion

• When one literary work references a well-known person, place, event, work of art, or another literary work to make a point.

Example: In Taylor Swift’s song “Love Story”, she alludes to the play “Romeo and Juliet” and the novel The Scarlet Letter to enhance her message.

Page 20: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Metaphor• A comparison between two unlike

things, without using the words “like” or “as”.

• Instead, one thing is spoken of as though it is something else completely.

Example (from the Langston Hughes poem “Dreams”):

“…if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly”

Page 21: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Personification

• A type of figurative language, where a non-human object is given human characteristics

Examples: -The desk coughed and grunted as I shoved it across the old wooden floor.

-The tea kettle whistled once the water was boiling.

Page 22: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Imagery• The descriptive or figurative

language used in literature to create word pictures for the reader.

• These word pictures/images, are created by details of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, or movement.

Page 23: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Point of View• The perspective or angle from which a

story is being told

• There are several types:– First-Person-Point-of-View: When the

narrator telling the story is one of the characters, and tells the story as a personal account

– Third-Person-Point-of-View: When the narrator is not one of the characters (has no name, and does not participate in any of the action of the plot)

Page 24: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Point of View (continued)

• There are also two types of Third-Person-Point-of-View:

– Third-Limited-Point-of-View: When the narrator sees the world through one character’s eyes and reveals only that character’s thoughts

– Third-Omniscient-Point-of-View: When the narrator sees into the minds of all the characters

Page 25: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Dynamic Character

• A character that develops and changes through the course of a story

Example: Ebenezer Scrooge at the beginning of “A Christmas Carol”, he is a mean, lonely man that is only interested in money. By the end of the story, he is generous, and interested in the “true spirit of Christmas.”

Page 26: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Static Character

• A character that does not change or develop through the course of the story

Example:

Wile E. Coyote

Page 27: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Characterization

• The way a writer reveals a character’s personality and traits

• There are two methods:– Direct Characterization: The author

directly states a character’s personality and/or physical traits

– Indirect Characterization: Uses a character’s thoughts, actions, and feelings, to suggest the character’s traits.

Page 28: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Narrator

• The person from whose perspective a story is told

Page 29: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Round Character

• A character that exhibits many traits, faults as well as virtues

Flat Character

• A character who seems to have only a single personality trait

Page 30: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Fantasy

• A work of fiction with character’s, places, and events that could not really exist

Page 31: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Plot

•The sequence of events that make up a story, usually centering around a main conflict

Page 32: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

The Five Stages of Plot

Page 33: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Exposition

• The first stage of plot!

• In the Exposition, the scene is set: –this part of the story introduces the characters, tells the reader the setting, and provides all of the necessary background information

Page 34: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Rising Action

• The second stage of plot!

• This is where the action usually begins. In the Rising Action, the conflict is introduced (either between characters, or with an outside force). This conflict will build up pressure until the Climax

Page 35: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Climax• The climax is

the highest point of conflict in the story!!

• Generally, this is the point after which everything is different. All of the pressure or events of the Rising Action have stacked up to this moment, when something must change

Page 36: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Falling Action

• This stage begins the downward slope the conflict lessens, and the plot moves towards closure

Page 37: Elements of Fiction Literary Terms. Fiction Fiction is prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Some fiction is entirely made-up,

Resolution/Denouement

• In the final stage of plot, the conflict concludes, and loose ends are tied up.