PROSE FICTION - NARRATIVES NOVEL STUDY

Prose Fiction DEFINITION: A type of writing that employs basic storytelling techniques that include dialogue, narrative, exposition, and so on. Fiction is any work that is not a narrative of reality; the story is, instead, conceived by the author. While prose fiction may be based on real events and people, the actual characters and plot of the story are made up, which can open up possibilities for fantastic events that could not take place in reality.

Prose Fiction HOW DOES IT WORK AS A FORM OF WRITING? Prose is the most typical form of language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure (as in traditional poetry). The simplicity of its construction and loosely defined structure has led to prose’s adoption for the majority of spoken dialogue, factual discourse as well as fictional writing. It is commonly used in literature, newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, broadcasting, film, history, philosophy, law and many other forms of communication.

Prose Fiction WHAT IS ‘FICTION’? Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical, cinematic or musical work. Fiction contrasts with non-fiction, which deals exclusively with factual (or, at least, assumed factual) events, descriptions, observations, etc. (e.g., biographies, histories).

Prose Fiction WHAT IS A ‘NARRATIVE’? Narrative: A narrative describes a sequence of non- fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to tell", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled”. The word "story" may be used as a synonym of "narrative". It can also be used to refer to the sequence of events described in a narrative. A narrative can also be told by a character within a larger narrative. An important part of narration is the narrative mode, the set of methods used to communicate the narrative through a process narration.

Prose Fiction SMALL GROUP TASK: Research a FACTUAL event from current news stories (eg. The Olympics) and in your group compose a PROSE FICTION NARRATIVE from the perspective of one or more of the people involved. Publish your narrative as a graphic story (like a comic strip)

Prose Fiction A narrative is a story or part of a story. It may be spoken, written or imagined, and it will have one or more points of view representing some or all of the participants or observers. In stories told orally, there is a person telling the story, a narrator whom the audience can see and/or hear, who adds layers of meaning to the text non-verbally. This is distinguishable from the written form in which the author must gauge the readers' likely reactions when they are decoding the text and make a final choice of words in the hope of achieving the desired response.

Prose Fiction FICTION VS. NON-FICTION Whatever the form, the content may concern real-world people and events; this is termed "personal experience narrative". When the content is fictional, different conventions apply. The text projects a narrative voice, but the narrator belongs to an invented or imaginary world, not the real one. The narrator may be one of the characters in the story. Described as a "paper being", and fiction comprises their narratives of personal experience as created by the author. In written narratives the reader hears the narrator's voice both through the choice of content and the style and through clues that reveal the narrator's beliefs, values and ideological stances, as well as the author's attitude towards people, events and things.

Prose Fiction NARATIVE PERSPECTIVE There is a distinction between first-person and third-person narrative, technically known as homodiegetic (1st person) and heterodiegetic (3rd person). Homodiegetic narrators describe their own personal experiences as a character-narrator in the story. Such a narrator cannot know more about other characters than what their actions reveal. A heterodiegetic narrator, in contrast, describes the experiences of the characters that appear in the story. A narrative wherein events are seen through the eyes of a third-person internal focaliser is said to be figural. This means, a 3rd person narrator but one with a limited character’s perspective. In some stories, the author may be omniscient and employ multiple points of view as well and comment on events as they occur.

Prose Fiction TASK: Go to the EXTRACT from John Marsden’s novel ‘Tomorrow, When the War Began’ and read it together. http://www.johnmarsden.com.au/extracts/tomorrow_ when_the_war_began.html Discuss what you think is happening in the extract, re-write it as a 3rd Person Narrative. Then, write the next event in the story. (2 pages maximum)

Prose Fiction NARRATIVE STRUCTURE A narrative is by definition a highly aesthetic enterprise. Aesthetic meaning ‘a sense of beauty; concerned with emotion and sensation as opposed to pure intellectuality’. There are a number of elements that typically interact in well-developed stories. Such elements include the essential idea of narrative structure, with identifiable beginnings, middles and ends, known as (Orientation – Complication – Rising Action – Climax – Falling Action – Conclusion) or (Exposition – Development – Climax - Denouement), with important inciting incidents, normally constructed into recognisable plot lines.

Prose Fiction INDIVIDUAL TASK: COMPOSE A PROSE FICTION NARRATIVE, USING EITHER A 1ST OR 3RD PERSON NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE. YOUR NARRATIVE MAY BE FICTIONAL OR NON-FICTION IN SUBJECT MATTER. BASE YOUR NARRATIVE ON THE NOVEL YOU HAVE BEEN READING IN CLASS. LENGTH: 500 – 1000 WORDS (2 – 4 PAGES)