Fiction Writing

1
Fiction Writing

• What you should know

2
The Elements of Fiction

• Setting
• Character
• Conflict
• Message
• Point of View
• Plot
• Literary Devices

3
Setting

• Time
• Place
• Circumstance

4
What were the settings of?

• Down these Mean Streets?
• Dreaming in Cuban?
• Rising Star?

5
Setting creates Atmosphere

• Setting is closely related to the atmosphere or
  mood of the story
• During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless
  day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds
  hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been
  passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly
  dreary tract of country.
• The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan
  Poe

6
Characters

• The People appearing in a literary work
• can also be animals or things that act as people

7
Types of Characters

• Main Character/Protagonist
• The character through whose eyes and ears and
  thoughts we read the story
• Opposing Characters/Antagonists
• The character who opposes, or presents a conflict
  for, the main character (can be more than one)

8
Who are the main and opposing characters in?

• Dreaming in Cuban?
• Fears?
• Falling Star?

9
Conflict

• The problem that must be solved to complete the
  story.
• There can be more than one conflict in a story,
  but usually only one MAIN conflict

10
Types of Conflict

• Man vs. Man
• Man vs. Society
• Man vs. Himself
• Man vs. Nature
• Man vs. Superbeing

11
Name a conflict from one of the stories?

• Man vs. Man
• Man vs. Self
• Man vs. Society

12
Message

• The whole point of the story
• Usually a message or lesson that the writer wants
  to reader to come away with when done reading

13
What was the message in?

• Malcolm X?
• We Could Do Worse?

14
Point of View

• Who is telling the story?
• 1st Person
• Story is told from point of view of one of the
  characters who uses the first person pronoun I.
• Omniscient 3rd Person
• The narrator telling the story knows all the
  characters thoughts and feelings.
• Limited Omniscient 3rd Person
• Told from the viewpoint of a character in the
  story- knows only that characters thoughts and
  feelings

15
From what point of view are these stories told
from?

• Fears?
• Auspicious Eggs?
• Falling Star?

16
Plot

• The series of events and actions that take place
  in a story
• Story Map or Storyboard- an outline of the plot
  of a story that breaks it down into scenes and
  chapters

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Plot Line
Climax The turning point. The most intense
moment (either mentally or in action).
Rising Action the series of conflicts and crises
in the story that lead to the climax.
Falling Action all of the action which follows
the Climax.
Exposition The start of the story. The way
things are before the action starts (Background
introduced)
Resolution The conclusion, the tying together of
all of the threads.
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What was the climax of?

• Dreaming in Cuban?
• Falling Star?

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Literary Devices

• Allusion
• Metaphor
• Symbolism
• Foreshadowing
• Flashback
• Irony

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How do you create ?

• An allusion?
• A symbol?
• Foreshadowing?
• Flashback?

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The Final Word

• If you had trouble answering the questions in
  this slide show, then you are going to have
  trouble writing these elements into your stories.
• LEARN THEM, KNOW THEM, USE THEM !