2. Elements of Fiction

3. Plot and Conflict Plot: is what happens in a story. –Plot contains: Basic situation Conflict Series of Events Climax Resolution

4. Basic Situation Who are the characters? What do they do? What is the problem?

5. Conflict A struggle between opposing characters or opposing forces. –Internal: takes place in the character’s mind (struggles with shyness, accepting differences among friends) –External: struggles against an outside force (another person, a group of people, or a force of nature)

6. Foreshadowing To make us feel suspense storytellers give us clues that hint at future events.

7. Climax The story’s most emotional or suspenseful moment. This is the point where the conflict is decided one way or another.

8. Resolution The end of the story. This is where the loose ends of the plot are tied up. And they lived happily ever after… »Or did they?

9. Point of View Omniscient: is the all-knowing point of view (The people are…) First-person: told from one character’s perspective (I am feeling…) Third-person limited: the narrator is telling the story from one character’s perspective (This boy is…)

10. Characterization Direct characterization: when a writer tells you directly what the character is like. Most writers don’t do this anymore. Instead…

11. They Show you. Indirect characterization: you have to observe the character and come to your own conclusion about the kind of person you are meeting. For example: The man looked into your eyes as if he were looking straight into your soul.

12. The writer shows what a character is like by: Appearance (How do they look?) Action (What are they doing?) Speech (How do they talk?) Thoughts and Feelings (What are they thinking?) Other characters’ reactions (Are other people afraid? Do they like the person?)

13. Mood and Theme Mood: the overall feeling of a story, poem, or other work of literature. –Words to identify mood: Nostaligic Peaceful Exciting Scary Regretful Angry Joyful Proud

14. Theme Theme is the truth about life revealed in a work of literature. –Tips for finding theme: Think about the title and what it might mean Look for key passages in which the writer seems to make important statements about life.