Kostanai State Akhmet Baitursynov University Samambet M.K. Reading Fiction
When you read a story, you are reading a work of fiction. Fiction is writing that comes from an author’s imagination. Although the author makes the story up, he or she might base it on real events. Fiction writers write either short stories or novels. A short story usually revolves around a single idea and is short enough to be read at one sitting. A novel is much longer and more complex.
Strategies for Reading Fiction To really “get inside” a story, try the following strategies:
Strategy 1 Preview a story before you read it by: -looking at the title and -the pictures (if there any), or - even skimming through the pages, reading some words here and there.
Strategy 2 Try to visualize the setting and the characters. Can you picture a similar place in your mind? Can you “see” the action and the characters?
Strategy 3 As you read, make connections. Do any of the characters have thoughts or experiences that you have had? Does the story remind you of an event or person you’ve heard of or read about?
Strategy 4 While you read, question: a) events, b) characters, and c) ideas. “Why isn’t he able to talk about what happened?” “Why is she so sad?” Asking good questions is at the heart of good reading.
Strategy 5 During your reading, - stop occasionally and - predict what might happen next and - how the story will end.
Strategy 6 - As you read, build on what you are learning about the characters and events in the story. - Let your thoughts change and grow as you learn more.
Strategy 7 - Continually evaluate the story as you read. - Think about your feelings toward the characters and their actions. - Also consider how well the author is telling his or her story.
Remember A story never tells you everything. It leaves room for you to build your own ideas. When you read, you gather first impressions, but you need to be able to elaborate and expand them by referring to the story, your own experiences, and other stories you have read.
Narrative A narrative is a sequence of events that a narrator tells in story form. A narrator is a storyteller of any kind, whether the authorial voice in a novel or a friend telling you about last night's party.
The point of view The point of view is the perspective that a narrative takes toward the events it describes.
First-person narration A narrative in which the narrator tells the story from his/her own point of view and refers to him/herself as “I.” The narrator may be an active participant in the story or just an observer. When the point of view represented is specifically the author’s, and not a fictional narrator’s, the story is autobiographical and may be non-fictional
Third-person narration The narrator remains outside the story and describes the characters in the story using proper names and the third- person pronouns "he," "she," "it," and "they."
Omniscient narration The narrator knows all of the actions, feelings, and motivations of all of the characters. For example, the narrator of Thackeray’s Vanity Fair seems to know everything about all the characters and events in the story.
Limited omniscient narration The narrator knows the actions, feelings, and motivations of only one or a handful of characters. For example, the narrator of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland has full knowledge of only Alice.
Free indirect discourse The narrator conveys a character’s inner thoughts while staying in the third person. Jane Austen is the first English author to use this style in Emma
Objective narration A style in which the narrator reports neutrally on the outward behavior of the characters but offers no interpretation of their actions or their inner states. Ernest Hemingway pioneered this style.
Unreliable narration The narrator is revealed over time to be an untrustworthy source of information. Poe’s Montresor The Cask of Amontillado or M. Twain’s Huckleberry Finn are examples of unreliable narrators.
Stream-of-consciousness narration The narrator conveys a subject’s thoughts, impressions, and perceptions exactly as they occur, often in disjointed fashion and without the logic and grammar of typical speech and writing. Molly Bloom's monologue in the final chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses is an example of stream of consciousness, while stream-of- consciousness narration usually is written in the first person, it can, by means of free indirect discourse, be written in the third person, as in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.
Character A character is a - person, - animal, or any - other thing with a personality that appears in a story.
Protagonist The main character around whom the story revolves. If the protagonist is admirable, he or she is called the hero or heroine of the story. A protagonist who is not admirable, or who challenges our notions of what should be considered admirable, is called an antihero or antiheroine. For example, Uriah Heep in Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield is an antihero because he challenges the traditional conception of what a hero should be.
Antagonist The primary character or entity that acts to frustrate the goals of the protagonist. The antagonist typically is a character but may also be a nonhuman force. For example, Claudius is the antagonist in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Stock character A common character type that recurs throughout literature. Notable examples include the witty servant, the scheming villain, the femme fatale, the trusty sidekick, the old miser, and so on. For example, Maria in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. A stock character that holds a central place in a culture’s folklore or consciousness may be called an archetype.