1. Building Blocks of Fiction
Literary Elements

2. Narrator
The person who tells the story

3. Character Mini-Lessons
Dynamic and Static Characters
Flat and Round Characters
Protagonists and Antagonists

4. Character
A person or an animal in a story, play or other literary text.
Static Character: One who does not change (much) during the course of the story.
Dynamic Character: This character changes as a result of the story’s events. The change is internal and may be sudden.
Round: all sides
Flat: one side

5. Character Development
Flat Character
Not fully developed
We only know one side of the character
The reader is left with many questions as to what the character feels and thinks
Round Character
Is fully developed
We see many traits in the character; both good and bad
The reader feels that he or she knows the character so well that the character becomes almost real

6. Protagonist Antagonist
The main/central character in a story and it’s conflict
The protagonist may or may not be the hero
The character or force that is working against the protagonist
It can also be the protagonist’s own self

7. Direct and indirect Characterization
Direct characterization: the narrator explicitly describes the character.
Indirect characterization: character’s traits are revealed through their actions.
S: says
T: thoughts
E: effect on others
A: actions
L: looks

8. Plot Mini-Lessons Conflict Plot Development Pyramid Suspense/Mood
Theme
Devices of Style

9. Plot A series of related events that make up a story.
The order of events in a story
Plot refers to WHAT the story is about!

10. Plot Structure Components
Climax: The turning point. The most intense moment (either mentally or in action.)
Rising Action: the series of conflicts and crisis in the story that lead to the climax.
Falling Action: all of the action which follows the Climax.
Exposition: The mood and conditions existing at the beginning of the story. The setting is identified. The main characters with their positions, circumstances and relationships to one another are established. The exciting force or initial conflict is introduced. Sometimes called the “Narrative HOOK” this begins the conflict that continues throughout the story.
Rising Action: The series of events, conflicts, and crises in the story that lead up to the climax, providing the progressive intensity, and complicate the conflict.
Climax: The turning point of the story. A crucial event takes place and from this point forward, the protagonist moves toward his inevitable end. The event may be either an action or a mental decision that the protagonist makes.
Falling Action/Denouement: The events occurring from the time of the climax to the end of the story. The main character may encounter more conflicts in this part of the story, but the end is inevitable.
Resolution: The tying up of loose ends and all of the threads in the story. The conclusion. The hero character either emerges triumphant or is defeated at this point.
Exposition: The start of the story. The way things are before the action starts.
Resolution: The conclusion, the tying together of all of the threads.

11. Conflict
A struggle between opposing characters or between opposing forces.
External:
Character vs. Character
Character vs. Nature
Character vs. Society
Internal:
Character vs. Himself
Herself

12. Climax:
Most emotional, suspenseful moment; when the conflict is decided one way or another

13. Motive
Driving force for a character's behavior

14. Theme
The true meaning in the story, a universal truth, a strong statement the story is making about our world, people, or the problems we face.

15. Inference
Use reason and experience to make a guess about what the writer does not say directly.