Unit 1

English 8

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Objectives

Today students will:

• Understand and describe the characteristics, types, and purposes of fiction and nonfiction.

• learn about author Patricia C. McKissack

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McKissack Talks about the Forms

Nonfiction is a factual account of a person,place, or event, while a story with imaginary

elements is fiction.

Fiction is usually read for fun, but a lot of truth also can be found in its pages.

Although nonfiction books are used to gather facts about a subject, they can be

fun to read, too.

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Traveling in Worlds Real and Imaginary• Patricia C. McKissack has

written numerous works of fiction and nonfiction about the history and experiences of African Americans.

The books I read allowed me to leap over the racial

barriers an African American child faced in the South

during the 1950s and 60s.

Patricia writes with her husband and their goal is to write stories about African Americans that have been “left out, forgotten, misrepresented, or minimized by mainstream history texts.”

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As a reader, I savor fiction the way one eats a yummy hot-fudge sundae – slowly and joyfully. As a writer I try to bring the

same enthusiasm into my narratives. Fiction is not true, but fictional characters are sometimes more

deliciously real than living people!

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Elements of Fiction“Fake”

Elements of Fiction

SETTING PLOT CHARACTERS POINT OF VIEW THEME

FIRST-PERSONPOINT OF VIEW

THIRD-PERSON POINT OF VIEW

Let’s talk about each one on pg. 4

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Types of Fiction

Novels

HistoricalFiction

Novellas

Short Stories

Fiction

Differences between short stories and novels:

1. Length

2. Goals

A short story gives a moment of insight or inspiration.

A novel builds an entire fictional world!

A novella’s goals are closer to those of a novel than of a short story.

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Elements of Nonfiction“Not Fake”

Elements of Nonfiction

They deal onlywith real people,

events, ideas, andplaces.

AUTHOR POINTOF VIEW

They are narrated by the author, who is

a real person

MOODThe overall feeling

that the workevokes in the

reader.

AUTHOR’S STYLE

Consists of every Feature of a writer’s

Use of language(rhythm, language,

organization

FACTS

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Purposes of Nonfiction

ToInform

ToEntertain

To Persuade

Nonfiction

Speeches and editorials are used to persuade

Biographies, autobiographies and travel narratives are entertaining

Articles, reference books, historical essays and research papers are used to inform

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Check Your Understanding

Indicate whether each literary work described is an example of fiction or nonfiction.

1. a writer’s account of his or her life2. a speech given at a graduation

ceremony3. a story about a talking elephant