Literary Elements and Techniques Too! Some basics that every good story must have ….

So, What Are They?  Characters  Setting  Plot  Conflict  Mood

Every story needs characters People Animals Or Creatures

The protagonist is the “good guy”

The antagonist is the “bad guy” or force

Characters Can be….  Round –A major character who is fully developed in a work of fiction and who encounters conflict and is changed by it.  Flat –A flat character is a minor character in a work of fiction who does not undergo substantial change or growth in the course of a story

Great stories have a conflict Man vs. Man Man vs. NatureMan vs. Society Man vs. Himself Man vs. Machine

Two Types of Conflict  External Conflict –A character struggles against another character or outside force  Internal Conflict –A struggle within a character –B Basketball or Sing? Oh no…what will I do?

Which Is It?  Internal or External?

SETTING  Time and place where the action occurs  Details that describe a setting include –All Scenery: furniture, customs, time period, history, transportation, clothing, dialects, weather, time of day, time of year

For Example…

What’s the Point of Setting?  To show the reader a different way of life  To make action seem more real  To be the source of conflict or struggle  To create a mood or atmosphere /

PLOT STRUCTURE  VERY EASY –Beginning, Middle, End LET’S TAKE A LOOK

The climax is the most exciting part!!

The point of view is the perspective of the story “That rotten wolf tried to eat us!!!!” “I was framed! I just wanted to borrow a cup of sugar!”

MOOD  MOOD is the feeling the author wants the reader to get

MOOD  Techniques used to establish mood –Word choice –Dialogue –Description

Don’t forget the theme  THEME  A central message, concern, or insight into life expressed through a literary work  Can be expressed by one or two sentence statement about human beings or about life  May be stated directly or implied  Interpretation uncovers the theme

Literary Techniques  Foreshadowing  Flashback  Word Choice

A hint about what will happen next is called foreshadowing For example, if you hear this: Then you know someone’s about to get eaten!

Flashback  Flashback- interrupts the normal sequence of events to tell about something that happened in the past

WORD CHOICE  If the author uses boring word choice, no one will want to read. –I went to the store. I bought a cake. I ate the cake.  So, the author has to use colorful language- figurative language like similes, metaphors, and personification.  This makes the author’s writing come alive!

Whether you’re the reader, or the writer, a great story includes all these literary elements!!! conflict setting point of view climax characters protagonist antagonist foreshadowing