1. ELEMENTS OF FICTION Sarah Tomczyk LRC 320 September 10, 2008

2. FICTION  The telling of stories which are not real.  Imaginative form of narrative  Don’t have to be entirely imaginary and may include real people, places, and events.  Can be written or Oral.  Think of three examples of fiction pieces that you know. (2 written, 1 oral)  Ex: “Cinderella”, “Harry Potter”, “Gone with the Wind”

3. ELEMENT #1  PLOT: what happens, how and why the events unfold the way they do. A Plot can unfold in many different ways as listed below. 1.Chronological: the events occur in the order that they actually happen Ex: 8 am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4 pm etc. Everything happens in order 1.Flashback: the narrator goes back in time to a previous event in the middle of the story. Ex: Start on September 15, 2008 and flashback to July 15, 2008. 1.Flashforward: the narrator goes forward in time to make the reader aware of an event that may occur in the future Ex: Start on September 15, 2008 and flashforward to January 5, 2008 1.In Medias Res: the story begins in the middle of things Ex: Start on Wednesday, then go back to Monday then go to Friday.

4. ELEMENT #2  CHARACTERIZATION: Description of the character through gesture, actions, and dialogue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CuDH8M9Q9Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CuDH8M9Q9Q  What gestures does Donald Duck use that make him unique? What actions make us aware that of his character? What kind of Dialogue does Donald use that makes him a unique character?  Ex: his slurring words, his spitting, his nervous habits etc.

5. ELEMENT #3  THEME: a central idea or issue that the writer contemplates or explores in the story.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI2tceUD3os http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI2tceUD3os  Listen to the song and write out different themes.  Ex: love, terrorism, race, discrimination etc.  Similar themes can be brought up in a fictional piece that is written rather than sung in a song.

6. ELEMENT #4  SETTING: time and place where the story happens.  There are usually vivid memorable settings in a short story.  What is the setting of this picture? What time of day is it? Where is the picture taken? How do you know?

7. ELEMENT #5  SYMBOL: some word or object that stands for something else  What does a rose stand for? What meanings can it have outside of just being a flower?  Ex: love, beauty, goddess, Virgin Mary etc.  A rose can take on several different meanings and could be a symbol within a text that represents love or any of the other examples listed

8. ELEMENT #6  POINT OF VIEW: perspective, position or vantage point from which the story is told  1 st person: uses “I”  Write a sentence using a 1 st person narrator. Ex: I went to the store and bought apples for my teacher.  2 nd person: uses “you”  Write a sentence using a 2 nd person narrator.  Ex: You should be getting this by now.  3 rd person: uses “he/she”  Write a sentence using a 3 rd person narrator.  Ex: The girl was very beautiful and he glared at her in anticipation.