An Introduction to Fiction

Some Terms to Remember Fiction, almost self-evidently, is writing that creates a fiction—or a made-up story (although this story can have factual elements) One major feature of fiction is Narrative, which is the presenting of events in some sort of logical, orderly way. It is essentially how the telling of the story is organized. Other important terms include genres within the genre of fiction: Novel—a long story with a complex narrative that explores a variety of complex ideas. Short Story—a briefer story usually centered around a single idea or set of ideas. Novella—a story that is longer and more complex than a short story, but still shorter and less complex than a novel. Short stories often include what is called an epiphany, a realization about the world that a character comes to or sometimes even the reader is expected to come to.

A Little bit of History of Fiction Fiction started out as oral stories, passed down from person to person. These stories often included elements of poetry such as rhyme that made the stories easier to remember. One such story would be Homer’s Odyssey. Eventually, these stories were written down, often as poetry. Chaucer’s the Canterbury Tales would be an example of this. Later, though, because they were written down, the conventions of poetry were dropped from some stories, and these stories became prose. This prose then became widely available with the invention of the printing press, and the conventions of various genres of prose solidified.

A Few Genres: Various types of novels have developed over time including The Pastoral Romance—a prose story set in an idealized world The Picaresque Novel—a novel that tells a series of episodic adventure stories about a rogue-like character. The epistolary Novel—a novel in which the story is told through a series of letters or other documents. The Novel of Manners—a novel which is largely concerned with social conventions. The Realistic Novel—a story told about everyday events and everyday characters in a realistic way. The Modern Novel—a novel that grapples with the complexity of the world as it has changed since the beginning of the twentieth century. The Post-modern Novel—a novel which reacts to and often against the confines and limitations of fiction conventions.

A Last Note: Although the genres presented represent novels, elements of these genres of novels sometimes find their way into the short story. However, the short story usually focuses on only a few characters and a single event or single series of events.

An Exercise: Read the story “Hills Like White Elephants” in your text on page 96. Compare this story to “All about Suicide” on page 6. Form groups of 3-4 people In your group come up with an answer to the following question: Do these stories have more similarities or differences? Come up with reasons and evidence to support your answer. Share your argument with the class.