Reading Fiction: Plot, Point of View, and Character

Fiction Fiction is any narrative, especially in prose, about invented or imagined characters and action. Fiction consists of many elements, including: plot, point of view, and character.

Plot Plot is defined as the arrangement(s) of action. The five main plot parts are: problem (exposition), rising action, climax, falling action (resolution), and conclusion.

Plot Diagram

Plot Diagram Explained The rising action involves the narration of inciting incidents, or destabilizing events (problems), that break the routine and intensify the conflict. The third part of a story is the turning point or climax, when the incidents and the conflicts they introduce converge on a decisive moment, realization, or action. The falling action, conclusion often reiterate the theme or message of the story.

Plot Problem Plots usually involve at least one conflict (a problem) and its resolution. Conflicts can be external (one character’s conflict with another character or with an outside force) or internal (within a character).

Point of View and Narrator Point of View is the perspective from which people, events, and other details in a work of fiction are viewed/ narrated. Narrator is defined as someone who recounts a narrative or tells a story.

First-Person Narrator First Person: is an internal narrator (inside the story) who consistently refers to himself or herself, using -I and –we.

Second-Person Narrator Second Person: consistently uses the second-person pronoun -you (uncommon technique).

Third-Person Narrator Third Person: uses third-person pronouns such as –she, -he, -they, -it, and so on. Third person are almost always external narrators (outside the story) and said to be omniscient (all-knowing).

Unreliable Narrator Sometimes narrators are unreliable, and give a faux or skewed version of the story. When we as readers are skeptical of a narrator’s point of view and judge his or her flaws or misperceptions, we call that narrator unreliable.

Character Character is defined as an imaginary personage who acts, appears, or is referred to in a literary work. Major/Main characters receive the most page-time (attention). Minor characters receive less.

Types of Character A leading character is protagonist or main character. A protagonist’s opponent is called an antagonist or the main character’s opposite. Although, most modern literature focuses on characters who are more like ordinary people, rather than heroes and villains.

Reading Fiction When reading fiction, try to ask yourself the following questions: What? Who? When/Where? How?

What? What is the story about? title, first sentence, first paragraph

Who? Who are the characters? main, minor, names

Where/When? Where /When does the story take place? place, time, past/present tense

How? How is the story narrated? Is the narrator identified as a character? Is it narrated in the past or present tense? Is it narrated in the first, second, or third person? Do you know what every character is thinking, or only some characters, or none?