What is Fiction? Fiction is literature that an author imagines or invents.

Sometimes the author bases the story on real events.

Types of Fiction (Genre)

Historical Fiction Myths/Legends/Fairy Tales Science Fiction

Mystery Horror Fantasy

Elements of FictionTerms to use when discussing literature

1. Characters

2. Setting

3. Plot

4. Point of View

5. Theme

6. Symbolism

7. Conflict

CHARACTERS are the people, animals or imaginary creatures that take

part in the action of the story.

Antagonist The force working against the protagonist, usually another character but could be from another kind of conflict (sickness, hurricane, government)

Protagonist The main character in a story. The character is involved in the main conflict of the story.

Main or Minor?Main Character: the person/animal/creature who the events of the story/conflict centers on.

Minor Character: provides the background of the story, interacts with the main character and helps to move the plot along.

Main CharacterProblem: Needs to rescue Princess Fiona in order to save his swamp.

Minor Character Donkey helps Shrek solve his problem.

Minor CharacterGingerbread Man provides entertainment. Not essential to the plot.

Characterization: The way an author develops a character and makes him come alive for the reader.

The character’s actions or words The character’s thoughts The character’s appearance The responses of other characters to the character.

1. Character’s words and actionsAnyway everything was going fine until Tristan’s mystery powder started melting.

He moved his foil off the plate just as my powder began to melt, too, which is why I moved mine off the plate, and then my hand accidentally bumped his hand for a fraction of a second. Tristan jerked his hand away so fast he dropped his foil on the floor while also knocking everyone else’s foil off the heating plate.

…Tristan didn’t even care about the spilled powder on the floor or that he ruined the experiment. What he was most concerned about was getting to the lab sink to was his hands as fast as possible. That’s when I knew for sure that there was this thing about touching me at Beecher Prep. (Wonder 72)

What can you infer about Tristan’s personality based on his actions in this passage?

“Hey, is this seat taken?” I looked up, and a girl I never saw before was standing across from my table with a lunch tray full of food…“…Summer!...Why are you sitting here? Come back to the table.”“It was too crowded,” Summer answered her. “Come sit here. There’s more room…”“Never mind,” said the girl, leaving.Summer looked at me, shrugged-smiled, and took another bite of her mac and cheese. (Wonder 51)

What can you infer about Summer’s personality based on her words and actions in this passage?

2. Character’s ThoughtsDoes August see how other people see him, or has he gotten so good at pretending not to see that it doesn’t bother him? Or does it bother him? When he looks in the mirror, does he see the Auggie Mom and Dad see, or does he see the Auggie everyone else sees? Or is there another August he sees, someone in his dreams behind the misshapen head and face?

I wish I could ask him this stuff. I wish he would tell me how he feels. (Wonder 89)

What can you infer about Via’s personality based on her thoughts in this passage?

3. Character’s AppearanceHis eyes are about an inch below where they should be on his face, almost halfway down his cheeks. They slant downward at an extreme angle, almost like diagonal slits that someone cut into his face, and the left one is noticeably lower than the right one. They bulge outward because his eye cavities are too shallow to accommodate them. The top eyelids are always halfway closed, like he’s on the verge of sleeping. The lower eyelids sag so much they almost look like a piece of invisible string is pulling them downward: you can see the red part on the inside, like they’re almost inside out. He doesn’t have eyebrows or eyelashes. His nose is disproportionately big for his face, and kind of fleshy… (Wonder 88)

And being at school was awful in the beginning. Every new class I had was like a new chance for kids to “not stare” at me. They would sneak peeks at me from behind their notebooks or when they thought I wasn’t looking. They would take the longest way around me to avoid bumping into me in any way, like I had some germ they could catch, like my face was contagious. (Wonder 61)

Compare the author’s physical description of Auggie in these two paragraphs. How are they different?

4. The responses of other characters to the character.

Dear Mr. Tushman,

I spoke with Amanda and John Will yesterday, and they expressed their regret at Jack’s having punched our son, Julian, in the mouth……I wonder if Jack’s unexpectedly violent behavior might have been a result of too much pressure being placed on his young shoulders? I am speaking specifically of the new child with special needs who both Jack and Julian were asked to “befriend.” In retrospect, and having now seen the child in question at various school functions and in class pictures, I think it may have been too much to ask our children to be able to process all that. …There are many parents—myself included—who question the decision to let this child into our school at all.

Best, Melissa Perper Albans

How does the reader know how other characters feel about Auggie?

Setting

• Time: 1865, Revolutionary War, today, the future, 3rd period

• Place: Philadelphia, the desert, a bus, wealthy neighborhood

Settings can sometimes have their own personality and emotions, authors use setting to create mood.Mood: (atmosphere) the feelings created within the reader upon experiencing the text.

Freytag’s Pyramid

ResolutionExposition

Climax

Rising

Act

ion

Plot t

hick

ens

Falling Action

Inciting Incident

Plot: the sequence of events in a story.

Exposition• Characters are introduced• Setting is described• Mood is set

Main Character: Harry PotterMinor Characters: Ron Weasley

Hermione Granger

Setting: (Time) Current During the school year, (Place) Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry

Mood: Magical, Mysterious, Suspenseful, Fantastical

Inciting IncidentThe precise moment when something in the main character's life changes dramatically, and sets the rest of the story in motion. The event is life-changing, and without the event, the story wouldn't happen.

Harry Potter gets the letter from Hogwarts telling him that he is a wizard and he is to come to Hogwarts for the new school year. This changes Harry’s life and without this event the story wouldn’t happen.

Examples of other types of Inciting Incidents

Someone dies Something is won or lost• Something is important is discovered

Rising Action• Plot gets more complex• Characters struggle to find solutions

to the conflict• Suspense builds

1. Harry leaves his home on the Hogwarts Express to start his new life.

2. Harry discovers that the mysterious package from Gringott’s is now at Hogwarts.

3. Harry Potter and friends rush to tell Dumbledore that Hagrid has accidentally given away the secret and the stone is in danger, only to find that Dumbledore himself has been lured away—leaving the stone vulnerable to Snape.

4. Harry Potter and friends come up with their own plan to save the stone and set it into motion.

Climax

• Highest point of action in the story• Outcome of the conflict is decided• Usually a change in the protagonist

will occur

Harry Potter’s confrontation with Professor Quirrell who is being controlled by Lord Voldemort.

Falling Action

• the part of a story that comes immediately after the climax and before the conclusion.

Dumbledore destroys the sorcerer’s stone.

Harry discovers that his mother’s love is what protected him from Voldemort.

Resolution

• Loose ends are tied up• Story ends

Gryffindor wins the house cup.

Harry returns to the Dursley’s for the summer.

Point of View

First Person: the story is told by the protagonist and uses the pronoun “I”.

Excerpt from The Lightning Thief example:

Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his brown curly hair, and she knew I couldn’t do anything to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.

“I’m going to kill her,” I mumbled.

Point of View

Second Person: The author or a character speaks directly to the audience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52UxIgsC_0g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRJ38y4Jn6k

Point of View

Third Person: The narrator is not a character in the story. Third person uses the pronouns “she,” “he,” “it,” and “they”So while first-person narration is- “I never sing in the choir on Sundays.” Third-person narration is, “She never sings in the choir on Sundays.”

Theme The theme of a literary work is the message or insight

about life or human nature that the writer presents to the reader.

It is a message that can apply to all people—it has universal meaning.

Because the theme is not usually stated directly, the reader has to “read between the lines”.

It is always written as a sentence!

Example of Theme

Topic: Freedom

Theme Sentence: People will sacrifice their personal freedom for a greater good.

NOT: Don’t judge a book by its cover.

The sentence should be original.

SymbolismAn image/object in a story that is used

repeatedly and carries a deeper meaning.

Universal Symbols:

water = purity

black clouds = evil approaching

What attributes does Darth Vader have that make him a symbol of evil?

What attributes does Luke Skywalker have that make him a symbol of good?

ConflictA struggle or battle between two or more opposing forces.

Every story must have a conflict.

EXTERNAL CONFLICTS

(outside of the character)

Character vs. Character

Character vs. Nature

Character vs. Society

Internal ConflictCharacter vs. himself

(a character struggles with a problem within himself)

http://prezi.com/wfqqdycmbqyl/elements-of-plot