A Quick Note on Elements of Fiction and How to Use it in Fiction Writing for the Novice Writer

 

A Quick Note on Elements of Fiction and How to Use it in  Fiction Writing for the Novice Writer

 

by Ryker J. Phoenix

 

Fiction is the art of storytelling, and it can take on many forms and styles. Regardless of the genre or style, all fiction contains certain key elements that are essential to creating a compelling and engaging story. These elements of fiction include setting, plot, character, theme, and point of view.

The first element of fiction is setting. The setting of a story refers to the time, place, and circumstances in which the story takes place. This includes the physical environment, the social context, and any cultural or historical factors that might be relevant to the story. Setting helps to create the atmosphere of the story and can often play a significant role in shaping the plot and character development.

The second element of fiction is plot. The plot refers to the sequence of events that make up the story. It includes the conflict or problem, the rising action, the climax, and the resolution. The plot is the backbone of the story and is responsible for keeping the reader engaged and interested in what happens next. A well-crafted plot should be suspenseful, surprising, and ultimately satisfying.

The third element of fiction is character. Characters are the people or creatures who inhabit the story and drive the plot forward. They can be protagonists, antagonists, or supporting characters, and they should be fully developed with their own unique personality traits, motivations, and goals. Good characters are relatable, engaging, and realistic, and they should undergo some form of transformation or growth over the course of the story.

The fourth element of fiction is theme. Theme is the underlying message or idea that the story conveys. It is often expressed through symbols, motifs, or recurring images. Themes can be universal, such as love, death, or identity, or they can be more specific to the story’s context or setting. Themes help to give the story depth and resonance and can provide the reader with insights into the human condition.

The final element of fiction is point of view. Point of view refers to the perspective from which the story is told. It can be first-person, third-person, or omniscient, and it can have a major impact on the reader’s experience of the story. Point of view helps to establish the narrative voice and tone, and it can also be used to create suspense, ambiguity, or dramatic irony. The choice of point of view should be deliberate and should serve the needs of the story.

In conclusion, these five elements of fiction – setting, plot, character, theme, and point of view – are essential to the craft of storytelling. They work together to create a well-crafted, engaging, and meaningful story that resonates with readers. Whether writing a short story or a novel, understanding these elements of fiction is necessary for creating a compelling work of literary fiction.

Also see:

• 7 Elements of Fiction: ProWritingAid's Expert Guide
•  The 10 Key Elements of Fiction
   

 

More Quick Notes for the Novice Writer

The Elements of the Short Story by Edward Everett Hale and Fredrick Thomas Dawson, (1915) (PDF)

 

The Elements of the Short Story 

by Edward Everett Hale and Fredrick Thomas Dawson

(1915)

INTRODUCTION

The method of studying the short story here presented is based upon two ideas. The first is that the well-equipped student of the short story should have in mind a number of standard examples which exhibit in concrete form the chief elements and principles of importance. The second is that the best way to see in those examples the elements and principles in question is by some very definite and systematic method of analysis.

The study of the short story has developed of late into diverse lines. There have been excellent studies of the history of the matter, which have exhibited the development of the form from very early times. There have been critical analyses which have taken their illustrations of principles or qualities from whatever examples might be found in the broad field. There have been guides to the writing of the short story which have given such practical and theoretical help as was possible to those who wished to write short stories themselves.

We have followed none of these methods. Any treatment of the short story will include a good deal of general material, and much within our pages will be familiar to all who have followed the development of the study. But our particular course is different from those just mentioned.

We have presented a limited number of well-known standard stories. In the study of any phase or form of art, the student should have well in mind a few classic examples. Then he can pursue with intelligence a broad reading which will present to him all the possibilities of the art in which he is interested. We have selected our chief examples from American literature, partly because it was in America that the modern short story was first developed and partly because in a limited field we can indicate something of the actual development, which we do not treat in detail.

In the study of these examples we have followed a very definite method, because it seems the case that in the study of fiction, at least, a student's attention is especially likely to become diffused over a broad field, so that he often neglects the very thing that would be useful to him at the time, while gaining perhaps something that would be better at another time. We have made these exercises very specific, not because all literary study should be of this specific sort, but because at the beginning of a study like this, one wants to get correct ideas to measure by. We by no means feel that we are pointing out ways in which one should always study the short story. We are pointing out ways which will train the mind to look at short stories so as to perceive instinctively certain things. After such study the mind should work naturally in certain ways, as we may say. The student will know the main things that have been done with the short story, and he will turn to the current short story with the ability to compare and enjoy.

One or two minor points may be noted. We have put the work in such form as will make the student think things out for himself. That, of course, calls for no comment. We have laid stress on the importance of getting the author's own standpoint. That may be a little original, but everybody will agree that if we can see a story as the author saw it, we shall certainly have one sort of appreciation. (We have tried to make it clear that in literary study, there is not only opinion but fact. This is something that everybody knows, but present methods have rather tended to put the facts in the background. Some facts, however, may be more important than some opinions. Poe's own opinion of one or another of his works is probably more valuable to the student than the opinion of one or another of his critics, which may be better in itself. But Poe's opinion is a matter of historic fact to be determined by the methods of history, if we know them, or if we do not, by whatever way we can.

We have, however, gone beyond the limits of our particular method in offering with every exercise suggestions for further reading and study. Any method of study, however excellent, should give some opportunity for the student to read and think on his own account.

Any teacher may find in the suggestions for work offered in these exercises more than can be included in such a course as he wishes to give. We have thought it worthwhile to provide material for a variety of interests. It will be easy to make a selection from the suggestions for further work which shall suit any particular class. The main thing of importance is to keep in mind the definite and systematic kind of work to be done. Then, whether much ground be covered or little, the student will have in mind a method of work, a way of looking at his subject, which is the principal end to be attained.

CONTENTS

EXERCISE PAGE

I. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. . .Washington Irving
II. Rip Van Winkle. . .Washington Irving
III. Irving as a Story Writer
IV. The Great Stone Face. . .Nathaniel Hawthorne
V. Ethan Brand. . .Nathaniel Hawthorne
VI. Hawthorne as a Story Writer
VII. The Fall of the House of Usher. . .Edgar Allan Poe
VIII. The Murders in the Rue Morgue. . .Edgar Allan Poe
IX. Poe as a Story Writer
X. The Diamond Lens. . .Fitz-James O'Brien
XI. The Man Without A Country. . .Edward Everett Hale
XII. The Outcasts of Poker Flat. . .Francis Bret Harte.
XIII. Some Recent Stories

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Fiction Writing Tips Book Index Page

5 Elements of a Short Story (PDF)

5 Elements of a Short Story

 The 5 key elements that make up a short story are: Characters, Setting, Conflict, Theme, and Plot.

A plot is a series of events and character actions that relate to the central conflict. There are 5 elements of plot: Exposition; Rising Action; Climax; Falling Action, and Resolution.

Elements	Definitions/Descriptions
Characters	Characters are the people who are involved in the story.  Characters can be major or minor, and static or dynamic.
Plot	The order of events that make up a story.  The plot usually begins with an exposition, which introduces us to the characters and background information of the story.  Next comes the rising action, which involves complications that lead to conflicts between characters. After the rising action we reach the climax, which is a turning point in the story. After the climax there is a falling action which leads to the resolution of the conflict.
Point of View	This refers to who tells the story, and how they tell it.  The narrator can tell the story from the third-person point of view, meaning that they can tell us what the characters think and do, but they are not part of the story.  Third-person narrators use the pronouns he, she or it.   If the narrator is telling the story from a  first-person point of view, then they are part of the story and are telling it the way that they see it.  First-person narrators use the pronoun I.
Setting	The setting of a story gives us important information such as: 1)When the story is taking place, 2) Where the story is taking place, and 3) What environment the story is occuring in.  It sets the mood and helps us guess what might happen in the story.
Theme	The central meaning or idea of the story; the moral lesson the story is trying to teach. It is a message that gives an opinion about life, humanity or society. Examples of theme include: love, friendship, good vs. evil,the importance of family, crime is bad, etc.

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Elements of Fiction: Suspension of Disbelief

Elements of Fiction: Suspension of Disbelief

 

Suspension of disbelief is the reader's temporary acceptance of story elements as believable, regardless of how implausible they may seem in real life.

 

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Elements of Fiction: Tone

 

 

Elements of Fiction: Tone

 

The tone of a literary work expresses the writer's attitude toward or feelings about the subject matter and audience.

 

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Elements of Fiction: Point of View

 

Elements of Fiction: Point of View

 

Point of view is the perspective (or type of personal or non-personal "lens") through which a story is communicated. Narrative point of view or narrative perspective describes the position of the narrator, that is, the character of the storyteller, in relation to the story being told.

 

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Elements of Fiction: Narrator

Elements of Fiction: Narrator

 

The narrator is the story teller. The main character in the book can also be the narrator.

 

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Elements of Fiction: Style

 

 

 

Elements of Fiction: Style

Style includes the multitude of choices fiction writers make, consciously or not, in the process of writing a story. It encompasses not only the big-picture, strategic choices such as point of view and choice of narrator, but also tactical choices of grammar, punctuation, word usage, sentence and paragraph length and structure, tone, the use of imagery, chapter selection, titles, etc. In the process of creating a story, these choices meld to become the writer's voice, his or her own unique style.

For each piece of fiction, the author makes many choices, consciously or subconsciously, which combine to form the writer's unique style. The components of style are numerous, but include point of view, choice of narrator, fiction-writing mode, person and tense, grammar, punctuation, word usage, sentence length and structure, paragraph length and structure, tone, imagery, chapter usage, and title selection.

 

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Elements of Fiction: Theme

 

 

Elements of Fiction: Theme

Theme is what the author is trying to tell the reader. For example, the belief in the ultimate good in people, or that things are not always what they seem. This is often referred to as the "moral of the story." Some fiction contains advanced themes like morality, or the value of life, whereas other stories have no theme, or a very shallow one. re and when the story takes place.

 

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Elements of Fiction: Setting

 

Elements of Fiction: Setting

Setting is the locale and time of a story. The setting is often a real place, but may be a fictitious city or country within our own world; a different planet; or an alternate universe, which may or may not have similarities with our own universe. Sometimes setting is referred to as milieu, to include a context (such as society) beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. It is basically where and when the story takes place.

 

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Elements of Fiction: Plot

 

Elements of Fiction: Plot

The plot, or storyline, is the rendering and ordering of the events and actions of a story. Starting with the initiating event, then the rising action, conflict, climax, falling action, and ending possibly with a resolution.

Plot consists of action and reaction, also referred to as stimulus and response and has a beginning, a middle, and an ending.

The climax of the novel consists of a single action-packed sentence in which the conflict (problem) of the novel is resolved. This sentence comes towards the end of the novel. The main part of the action should come before the climax.

Plot also has a mid-level structure: scene and sequel. A scene is a unit of drama—where the action occurs. Then, after a transition of some sort, comes the sequel—an emotional reaction and regrouping, an aftermath.

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Elements of Fiction: Character

Elements of Fiction: Character

Characterization is one of the five elements of fiction, along with plot, setting, theme, and writing style. A character is a participant in the story, and is usually a person, but may be any persona, identity, or entity whose existence originates from a fictional work or performance.

Characters may be of several types:

• Point-of-view character: the character by whom the story is viewed. The point-of-view character may or may not also be the main character in the story.
• Protagonist: the main character of a story
• Antagonist: the character who stands in opposition to the protagonist
• Minor character: a character that interacts with the protagonist. They help the story move along.
• Foil character: a (usually minor) character who has traits opposed to those of the main character.

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