elements of fiction. plot plot is the sequence of events in a story. there are 5 steps to plot. 1....

ELEMENTS OF FICTION

PLOT

Plot is the sequence of events in a story. There are 5 steps to plot.

1. Exposition2. Rising Action3. Conflict4. Falling Action5. Resolution

EXPOSITION

• The beginning of the story where the characters and the setting is revealed.

RISING ACTION

• This part of the story begins to develop the conflict(s). A building of interest or suspense occurs.

CLIMAX

• This is the highest point of interest and the turning point of the story. The reader wonders what will happen next; will the conflict be resolved or not?

FALLING ACTION

• All loose ends of the plot are tied up. The conflict(s) and climax are taken care of.

RESOLUTION

• The story comes to a reasonable ending.

CONFLICT

• A conflict is a struggle or problem in a story.

• Every story includes at least one conflict, and most stories describe many conflicts. The main problem at the center of a story is the main conflict.

• Conflict can be internal or external.

INTERNAL VS. EXTERNAL CONFLICT

• An internal conflict is a struggle within the mind of a character. It can be mental or emotional.

• An external conflict is a struggle that occurs between a character and an outside force.

Type Visual Definition Example

Personvs.Self

An INTERNAL conflictthat involves the strugglebetween the characterand his/her conscience.

•A woman is tempted to stealmoney from her employer inorder to feed her family.•A man tries to decide whetherto stay with his family or moveto another state to take a betterpaying job.•A teenager is torn betweenditching school with her friendsand staying to take a test


Person Vs. Person

An EXTERNAL conflictthat involves a struggle,mental or physical,between two characters inthe story.

•A husband and wife disagreeabout how their money shouldbe spent.•Two little boys get into afistfight.•A boss fires an employee


Person Vs. Society

An EXTERNAL conflictthat involves the strugglebetween a character andthe rules or laws thatgovern the society inwhich he/she lives.

•A woman is in a hurry and runsa red light.•A teenager breaks the curfewset by his parents.•A man stands up for what hebelieves is right, even thoughalmost everyone elsedisagrees with him.


Person Vs. Nature

An EXTERNAL conflictthat involves a strugglebetween the characterand the elements ofnature that are beyondhis/her control.

•A family is stranded in asnowstorm.•A woman is unable to functionbecause of illness or condition.•A man is stalked by a wildanimal in the forest.


Person Vs. Fate

A conflictthat involves a strugglebetween the characterand his/her destiny. The character has no control over what happens; nothing he/she does makes a difference.

•A little boy is stricken with a deadly disease.•A airplane that you are on is struck by lightening and crashes.

Identify Type of Conflict1. Your mom is driving you and your

friends to a big game in another town. You left in plenty of time, but she seems to have lost her way. It’s getting late and there’s no sign of the gym. You think you saw a sign for the Sports Center a few blocks back. When you tell your mom, she ways, “Who’s driving: You or me?”

2. You have basketball practice, which you love, every Friday night. Last week, though, you missed it because of a family commitment. This week a friend has invited you to go to a great play.

3. Your class is working on social studies projects. Your group has been working hard on a three-dimensional representation of life along the Nile in Ancient Egypt. When the day comes for groups to share projects, you see that another group did the exact same thing!

4. You’re skiing with a friend, not really paying attention to where you’re going. Suddenly you find yourself atop a double black diamond icy slope – straight down! You’ve never skied anything like this before!

5. Last week a group of seventh-graders left a mess in the lunch room. They had to come back and clean it up. This week a group of sixth-graders did the same thing and the lunch room aids gave them all detention.

6. At a party you spent a lot of time talking to a friend from your math class – just chatting. His girlfriend, however, has spread rumors around school that you’re trying to take him away from her.

7. Your school has a state level ice-hockey team – for boys. When you and a group of girlfriends want to start a girls’ hockey program, you’re told that, although it’s a nice idea, there just isn’t enough money in the budget.

8. You have a book report due on Friday. Even though you’ve had several weeks to read, by Tuesday you’re read only half the book. To make things worse, your teacher has stated, “I have high expectations for this assignment!”

9. You’re taking a shortcut through the woods to your cousin’s house – with your five-year-old sister in tow. She scratches her leg on a bush and whines, then it begins to rain very hard. You want to make a run for it, but your sister refuses to budge. You’ve never see it rain like this before, and you’ve never been in this part of the woods.

SETTING

SETTINGSetting is the time and place

in which a story takes place. There are several aspects of a story’s setting to consider when examining how setting contributes to a story:

TIME• When does the story take place?• Does it happen in modern times, in

the future, in the near past, or in ancient times? How do you know?

• What language does the author use to help readers know when and where the story takes place?

• In what ways is this story similar to today’s times? How is it different?

• Is it important to the story whether it takes place now or at another time? Why?

PLACE • Where does the story take

place? Does it take place near here? Does it take place in another country? How do you know?

• In what ways is the place similar to where you live? In what ways is it different?

SOCIAL CONDITIONS • What is the daily life of the

characters like? Does the story contain local color (writing that focuses on the speech, dress, mannerism, customs, etc. of a particular place?

MOOD or ATMOSPHERE• What feeling is created in

the story? Is it bright and cheerful or dark and frightening?

CHARACTERS

CHARACTERS

A character is a person (or a nonhuman that acts like a person) in a story.

PROTAGONIST• A protagonist is the main character in

a story. • He/she is the person whom the action

(conflict) centers around.• He/she is usually seen as a good person

or hero/heroine.• He/she is usually round and dynamic.

ANTAGONIST• An antagonist is a character or force that

holds the action back.• The antagonist wants something in

opposition to the protagonist.• Usually seen as a bad person/force or

villain.

CHARACTERS

• Characters can be static, dynamic, round, or flat, depending on whether they go through an important change, and whether they are simple or complex.

Character Type

Definition Example Explanation

Static A static character does not really change in the course of the story.

The Big Bad Wolf in “Little Red Riding Hood”

He is a “bad guy” at the beginning of the story, and remains bad throughout.

Character Type


Dynamic A dynamic character goes through a significant change by the end of the story.

Pinocchio By the end of the story, he learns to behave and not to lie, and then changes into a real boy.

Character Type


Flat A flat character is very basic, with only one or two main characteristics

The Hare from “The Tortoise and the Hare”

He is only shown as egotistical, concerned about himself and nothing else

Character Type


Round A round character has multiple characteristics and concerns. Round characters are more like real people.

Robinson Crusoe

He has many concerns and characteristics. In some ways he is admirable, and in other ways he is not

CHARACTERIZATION

• Characterization is the method used by the author to reveal the characters in a story. (This can be direct or indirect.)

DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

• The author tells you what the character is like.

• For example: “Miss Alice was the nicest person you would ever want to meet.”

INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION• The author presents the

character’s personality through what he/she says, his/her actions, or how other characters relate to him/her. You must then draw your own conclusions about the character.

• For example, “Look out for Stan,” she whispered to Bart. “He’s in another one of his moods. I’d stay far away if I were you.”

CHARACTER QUESTIONSAsk yourself:• Who is the main character? Why is

this character important to the story?

• Are there words a character spoke and/or actions a character took that helped you learn what kind of person he/she was?

• Did any of the characters change? • What did the main character learn

about him/herself?• What conflict did the main character

face?

POINT OF VIEW

POINT OF VIEW• The author is the person who wrote

the story. • The narrator is the person who is

telling the story.• The narrator tells the story from a

certain point of view, or perspective.

• The narrator can be telling the story from the point of view of a character in the story, or the narrator can be telling the story from the point of view of a person outside the story.

Point of View Definition Clues Examples

First Person

A first-person narrator is always a character in the story. He or she only knows what that character knows, sees, thinks, and feels. This type of character cannot tell you what is happening anywhere else.

The narrator uses words such as I, we, us, and our.

The narrator only knows what him or herself is thinking.

When I walked into the kitchen, I saw Mandy sitting at the table. I had no idea what she was doing there. She looked up and smiled at me when I said, “hello.”


Third Person Objective

The narrator is not a character in the story.

The narrator uses words such as he, his, she, hers, it, its, they and them.

The narrator is an observer who can only tell what is said and done. The narrator cannot see into the minds of any of the characters. We find out only what they characters say and do.

Michael walked into the kitchen and saw Mandy sitting at the table. She looked up and smiled at him when he said, “hello.”


OmniscientThird Person

An omniscient third-person narrator knows everything about all characters and events at all times and is not part of the story.

The narrator uses words such as he, she, they, and them.

Mandy sat at the table, anxiously waiting for Ted to arrive. When he came in, she smiled at him. He was too nervous to say anything.

LimitedThird Person

A limited-third-person narrator is not a part of the story and knows what only one character is thinking (usually the main character.)

The narrator tells the story using the words he, she, him, her, they, them.

Mandy sat at the table, anxiously waiting for Ted to arrive. Ted came in and stared at her. She was wondering what he was thinking.

PRACTICE

From Maniac Magee by Jerry SpinelliSo he turned and started walking

north on Hector, right down the middle of the street, right down the invisible chalk line that divided East End from West End. Cars beeped at him, drivers hollered, but he never flinched. The Cobras kept right along with him on their side of the street. So did a bunch of East Enders on their side. One of them was Mars Bar. Both sides were calling for him to come over.

Point of View:

Claudia was furious…She refused to look at Jamie again and instead stared at the statue. The sound of footsteps broke the silence and her concentration. Footsteps from the Italian Renaissance were descending upon them! The guard was coming down the steps. There was just too much time before the museum opened on Sundays. They should have been in hiding already. Here they were out in the open with a light on!

Point of View:

From From the Mixed-Up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg

It is funny that my trip has ended by being such a fast trip around the world. I find myself referred to now as one of the speediest travelers of all times. Speed wasn’t at all what I had in mind when I started out. On the contrary, if all had gone the way I had hoped, I would still be happily floating around in my balloon, drifting anywhere the wind cared to carry me – East, West, North, or South.

Point of View:

From The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois

One of the soldiers, the taller one, moved toward her. Annmarie recognized him as the one she and Ellen always called, in whispers, “the Giraffe” because his height and the long neck that extended from his stiff collar. He and his partner were always on this corner. He prodded the corner of her backpack with the stock of his rifle. Annmarie trembled. “What is in here?” he asked loudly. “Schoolbooks,” she answered truthfully.

Point of View:

From Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

The day after May didn’t come to us, Ob didn’t get out of bed. He didn’t get me up either, and from a bad dream I woke with a start, knowing things were wrong, knowing that I had missed something vitally important. Among these, of course, was the school bus. It was Monday, and OB should have called me out of bed at five-thirty, but he didn’t, and when I finally woke at seven o’clock, it was too late to set the day straight.

Point of View:

From Missing May by Cynthia Rylant

He himself was a very old man with shaggy white hair which grew over most of his face as well as his head, and they like him almost at once. But on the first evening when he came to meet them at the front door he was so odd-looking that Lucy (who was the youngest) was a little afraid of him, and Edmund (who was the next youngest) wanted to laugh and had to keep on pretending he was blowing his nose to hide it.

Point of View:

From The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

For one whole semester the streetcars and I shimmied up and scooted down the sheer hills of San Francisco. I lost some of my need for the Black ghetto’s shielding-sponge quality, as I clanged and cleared my way down Market Street, with its honky-tonk homes from homeless sailors, past the quiet retreat of Golden Gate Park and along closed undwelled-in-looking swellings of the Sunset district.

Point of View:

From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

While still a teenager, Lee met and began to train with some of the best divers in the country, among them several former Olympians. One former champion – Farid Simaika the Egyptian 1928 silver medalist who had moved to this country – gave Lee a piece of advice that he took to heart. He told the young diver that he might encounter prejudice in competition because he was of Korean descent. Simaika told Lee he would simply have to work twice as hard as other athletes. “You’ve got to be so much better that they have to give you the medal,” Simaika said.

Point of View:

From The Olympic Games by Theodore Knight

He was an only child, eleven years old. She was a widow. She was determined to be neither possessive nor lacking in devotion. She went worrying off to her beach. As for Jerry, once he saw that his mother had gained her beach, he began the steep descent to the bay. From where he was, high up among red-brown rocks, it was a scoop of moving bluish green fringed with white. As he went lower, he saw that it spread among small promontories and inlets of rough, sharp rock, and the crisping, lapping surface showed stains of purple and darker blue.

Point of View:

From “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing

One spring day a few years before the Rough Rock Demonstration School was opened, a five-year old Navajo boy named Fred Bia was watching the family sheep flock in the arid countryside near the little town. It was his daily chore to follow the sheep as they drifted over the red, rocky earth in their endless search for grass and leaves of semi-desert plants.

Point of View:

From “Pictures on a Rock” by Brent Ashabranner

Theme • Theme is the central message or lesson

in a work of literature.• Theme is what the story teaches the

reader.• Theme is not expressed in a single word.

It is a sentence with a subject and a predicate.Living a simple life leads to greater personal freedom.

Theme

In most stories, the theme is not directly stated, instead, it is revealed to us through the characters’ experiences.

Universal Theme

Different writers from different cultures often express similar themes.

● A theme is a generalization about life or human nature.

● Certain types of experiences are common to all people everywhere.

To identify the theme, be sure that you’ve first identified the story’s plot, the way the story uses characterization, and the primary conflict in the story.

Step 1: Find the “big ideas” or general topics in the work.

Step 2: Find out what the characters do or say that relates to the general topics.

Step 3: Come up with statement of the author’s point or message about the topic.

Finding the Theme

Finding the Theme

Writers often express theme through what their characters learn.

● Does the main character change?

● Does a character realize something he or she did not know before?

Finding Theme

Conflict helps reveal theme. • What is the conflict, or struggle between

opposing forces, that the main character faces?

• How is the conflict resolved?

CONFLICTTHEMERESOLUTION

Two friends find a wallet. One friend wants to return it to the owner; the other wants to keep it.

People are often rewarded for making the right moral decision

They return the wallet and share a small reward.

Finding Theme

Sometimes the title gives clues.• Does the title have a special

meaning?• Does it point to the theme?

The theme applies to the entire work.

● Test your statement of the theme. Does it apply to the whole work, not just part of it?

Finding Theme

There is no single way to state the theme.

● People may express the same theme in different words.

● There may be different opinions about what the main theme is.

● The most meaningful literary works have more than one theme.

Finding Theme

Because of a feud over a piece of land, Ulrich and Georg are bitter enemies. One night they encounter each other on the disputed land. Each thinks of killing the other. Suddenly a huge tree falls and pins them both under its weight. At first the men threaten each other. After a while, however, they notice each other’s suffering, make a pact of friendship, and look forward to being rescued and living in peace. Then they are attacked by wolves.

“The Interlopers” by Saki

Q: What is the conflict and how is it resolved?

Q: What do the characters learn?

A: Two men fighting over a piece of land put their feud behind them when they are both facing possible death.

A: Survival is more important than land ownership. Letting go of hatred feels good.

Finding Theme

Because of a feud over a piece of land, Ulrich and Georg are bitter enemies. One night they encounter each other on the disputed land. Each thinks of killing the other. Suddenly a huge tree falls and pins them both under its weight. At first the men threaten each other. After a while, however, they notice each other’s suffering, make a pact of friendship, and look forward to being rescued and living in peace. Then they are attacked by wolves.

“The Interlopers” by Saki

Q: What is the theme? (state it in a sentence)

A: If you wait until tragedy strikes to make peace with your enemies, you may not be able to enjoy the rewards of forgiveness.

● Theme should be stated as a generalization about life. Avoid using characters’ names or overemphasizing specific events from the story as part of the theme statement.

● Avoid overgeneralizations; use “often” instead of “always”, “may” instead of “will”, etc.

● The theme is the central concept. It must account for all the major details.

● Themes may be stated in a variety of ways, and complex works may have several main themes.

Theme Statements

Common Theme Statements

Don’t judge people by appearances alone.

Money can’t buy happiness.

People will risk their lives for freedom.

Innocence cannot last forever.

Hard work and determination are rewarded.

The grass is not always green on the other side.Be loyal to your friends.

Figurative Language

Figurative Language

• Writers create imagery through figurative language. Figurative language uses imaginative comparisons to describe ordinary things in fresh ways.

SIMILEA simile is a comparison of two things using the word like or as.

“The stars glittered like diamonds”

METAPHOR

A metaphor is a direct comparison of two things without using the word like or as.

“Christopher is a fish in the water”

EXTENDED METAPHOR/MOTIF

An extended metaphor is a metaphor used throughout a text and which is central to the text’s meaning. For example, in the poem “Identity” by Julio Noboa Polanco, the author compares herself to a tall, ugly weed.

“Let them be flowers…”I’d rather be a tall, ugly

weed”

HYPERBOLE

Hyperbole is an exaggeration made to emphasize a point.

“That speech lasted ten years”

PERSONIFICATION

Personification is giving human qualities to nonhuman things.

“The campfire hissed angrily as we doused it with

water”

Sound Devices

ALLITERATION

Alliteration involves creating a repetition of similar sounds in a sentence.

The Wicked Witch of the West went her own way.

ONOMATOPOEIA

Onomatopoeia is a word whose sound is very close to the sound they are meant to depict.

The click of the door in the nighttime.

RHYME

Rhyme is the correspondence of sound between words or the ending of words.

Roses are redViolets are blueSugar is sweetand so are you

RHYTHM

Rhythm is the regular pattern of stressed or unstressed syllables; beat.

AUTHOR’S CRAFT

TONETONE is a feeling or atmosphere the

author has meant to set in the story or towards a subject. It can be considered as the attitude or feeling of the author towards a subject.

The tone can be revealed by the author’s choice of words or details. The author may use a negative or positive tone for his work.

Some possible adjectives to describe a tone are serious, bitter, joyful, humorous, amusing, or angry.

Examples of Tone in a Story

• I’d rather stay here and wait then go into that dark room. (the sentence imposes that the person is scared).

• The sun is shining brightly in the meadow, let’s go out and play. (the person is happy and excited).

• I called my friend her house, her brother said that she’s not home, but I heard her voice in the background. (the person is suspicious.)

MOOD

MOOD is the emotions that you feel when you are reading. Some literature makes you feel sad, others joyful, and other, angry.

Examples of Mood in a Story

• The night was dark and stormy. (This sentence gives you a scary mood.)

• The man kicked and threw the poor cat out of his house. (The sentence gives you a feeling of anger towards the man or pity towards the cat.)

• There was plenty of food and the music was playing. Everyone was having a good time. (The sentence gives you a mood of happiness and fun.)

IMAGERY

Imagery is the use of descriptive words that appeal to the five senses (sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste) and create a picture in the reader’s mind.

“His silk shirt, soaked in perspiration, clung to his body like a wet napkin.”

FLASHBACK

Flashback is when the present action in a story is paused to describe an earlier event.

For example, a character named Leah refuses to help an old friend who comes knocking at her door. In a flashback, Leah relives a night long ago when this friend betrayed her.

FORESHADOW

Foreshadowing is a clue about what is going to happen in a story. For example, on his way to explore a deserted gold mine, Ben reads a magazine article about a ghost said to haunt the mine. Later in the story, Ben finds himself face-to-face with the ghost.

Little Red Riding Hood

•Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived with her mother. Her mother asked her to take her old and lonely grandmother some food one day. "Don't stop along the way. Go straight to your Grandma's house and back. Don't talk to any strangers and watch out for the wolf in the woods! Now get along!"

Foreshadowing

FORESHADOWING

Little Red Riding Hood’s mother is warning her about the wolf in the woods, which hints about what may happen next.


While she was walking through the woods, a wolf was walking past her. "I bet I could convince her to take the long way. Then I could get to her grandmother's house first and trick her into thinking that I was her grandma. That way I could have her and her grandma for a large feast,” he thought.


The wolf went up to Little Red Riding Hood and told her that he knew a shortcut. Little Red Riding Hood thought back to what her mother told her. “Don’t talk to any strangers and watch out for the wolf in the woods!” But it was too late, she had already listened to the wolf’s directions.

Flashback

FLASHBACK

The second set of underlined words is an example of flashback. Little Red Riding Hood is thinking back to something that happened earlier in the story.


Most know how the rest of the story ends. Little Red Riding Hood and her grandma are saved from the wolf. Hopefully you can understand foreshadowing and flashback now.

SYMBOLISM

Symbolism is the use of a concrete object to represent an abstract idea.

Authors may use a dove as a symbol for peace; clouds or rain as a symbol of sadness; a seedling as a symbol for hope.

IRONY

Irony involves a difference or contrast between appearance and reality (a discrepancy between what appears to be true and what really is true.

Irony exposes a contrast between: 1. What is and what seems to be2. What is and what ought to be3. What is and what one wishes to be4. What is and what one expects to be

• There are three common types of irony in literature:

VERBAL IRONY

Verbal Irony occurs when people say the opposite of what they really mean (sarcasm).

Examples:•When Bob points out the obvious, Joe exclaims, “Wow, you’re a regular Einstein!” •Awesome! Another homework packet!”

SITUATIONAL IRONYSituational Irony is when the situation is different from what common sense indicates it is, will be, or ought to be.

Example:•General Sedgwick’s last words were, “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.”

•An ambulance rushing to the scene of a car accident runs over one of the victims who had been crawling across the street to get away from the wreckage.

DRAMATIC IRONYDramatic Irony is when the reader understands more about the events of a story than a character.Examples: •Tim’s parents are proud of the “A” he got on a test but we know he cheated.•Alex writes a love poem to Judy but we know that Judy loves Devin.•In a horror movie, the scared babysitter runs to hide in the basement and bolts the door behind her, but we already know the killer is waiting behind the boiler with an axe.

Throughout most of The Lion King, Simba mopes around feeling guilty for his father’s death, unaware (as the audience is) that Scar actually killed Mufasa.

Review

Something that is ironic is unexpected.

If unexpected by a character, it’s dramatic.

If unexpected by everyone, it’s situational.

If it’s sarcasm, it’s verbal.

PRACTICE1. In the movie, The Sixth Sense,”

Bruce Willis’ character thinks he’s helping a troubled boy through the trauma of supposedly seeing dead people, when in actuality, he himself is dead and the boy instead ends up helping him.

2. In an argument with your mother, who reprimands you for being “smart,” you reply sarcastically, “If you think I am smart, then why won’t you let me make smart decisions?”

3. A breaking news report says that a fire has just broken out at the fire station.

4. A group of protesters urge citizens not to go see a certain film because they strongly object to its content. The media frenzy that ensues gets people curious and more people go to see the film than would have had there not been such a fuss made over it.

5. Darla from the soap opera, “All My Problems,” is pregnant. Her husband Derek believes that he is the father, but the audience knows that Darla has been having an affair with Bruce and that he is the baby’s father.

elements of fiction. plot plot is the sequence of events in a story. there are 5 steps to plot. 1....

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