Writing Fiction

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Writing Fiction
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Section One Why Fiction?

• All literary workswhether poetry, fiction,
  drama, or humorous essayshave one thing in
  common the writer has arranged the words so that
  the effect produced in the audience is one of
  pleasure.
• Although the images themselves may not be
  appealing (for example, slasher films) placing
  them in a dramatic form is meant to produce
  enjoymentpeople enjoy being scared.
• Because of the vast range of works that comprise
  world literaturestretching from the ancient past
  to the present, in hundreds of formsfor the
  purposes of this class, we will talk only about
  prose fiction.

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Prose Fiction Background

• Prose fiction means stories told in plain old
  everyday language (as opposed to stories told in
  verse, in song, or on stage).
• In the history of literary writing, prose fiction
  is a relatively recent development.
• The modern novel dates from the 1760s in
  England. The modern short story dates from the
  year 1820 in the U.S.A.
• The very first short stories ever published were
  Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy
  Hollow by Washington Irving (in a book called
  The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon).

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Prose Fiction Characteristics

• The characteristics of prose fiction are as
  follows
• Verisimilitude is present.
• Tension is created.
• Artistic unity is present.
• Language that creates an aesthetic response is
  used.

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Verisimilitude Is Present

• Verisimilitude means being true to life.
• Elements such as setting (when and where the
  story takes place), dialogue (characters
  talking), and characterization (details that make
  characters come to life) are used to create a
  plot (storyline). The writer uses these tools
  make the story seem more real.
• The most basic element of all stories is the
  scene (action in a location).
• A scene combines a graphic description of the
  setting, a vivid portrayal of a character, and/or
  a conversation between characters which enables
  the reader to become a part of the imaginative
  world of the writer.

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Tension is Created

• Tension means the expectation of action.
• Usually, tension is created through conflict.
  However, tension may also be created simply by
  placing two or more things together that ought
  not to be mixed (like kids, a gas stove, and
  matches).
• Conflict may be psychological (inside the
  character, with the character pitted against some
  aspect of himself). Or it may be physical
  (outside the character, with one character pitted
  against another, or the forces of nature), or
  social (both inside and outside, with the
  character pitted against both the morals of
  society and his own conscience).

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Artistic Unity

• Artistic unity means that a story should have a
  beginning, middle, and end which are connected to
  each other in some basic and meaningful way.
• What happens in the middle of the story should be
  a result of events at the beginning what happens
  at the end should follow inevitably from the
  complications in the middle.
• When we talk about theme (the central idea in a
  literary work) we are recognizing the unity of
  the elements in a story. It is this unity that
  allows us to identify a theme.

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Aesthetic Language

• Aesthetic language (the artistic side of literary
  writing) is the most important feature of the
  Literary Aim.
• A literary artist deliberately selects words that
  have an aesthetic effect on the reader.
• Tools like imagery (both literal and figurative),
  symbolism, connotations, and rhythm engage both
  the senses and the imagination and make the
  authors fictional world come alive for the
  reader.

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Imagery

• There are two types of images
• 1) Literal image something that engages the
  senses. Anything the reader can see, touch,
  smell, taste, or hear is a literal image (for
  example, the smell of apple pie or the taste of
  brown sugar or the sound of teeth crunching
  through crust).
• 2) Figurative image something that engages the
  imagination. Anything that produces a mental
  picture can be a figure of speech.

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Imagery, continued

• The three main types of figurative imagery are
• 1) Simile a comparison using like or as (for
  example, your breath smells like an outhouse).
• 2) Metaphor a direct comparison, stronger than a
  simile (for example, Hey, outhouse breath!).
• 3) Personification giving human characteristics
  to something that isnt (for example, the smell
  of the outhouse reached out and slapped me in the
  face).
• There are many more types of figurative imagery
  than these three. However, these are the ones
  used most often in prose fiction.

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Symbols and Symbolism

• A symbol is an object, person, place, or action
  that stands for something else in addition to its
  literal meaning in a literary work. A symbol
  suggests a meaning beyond itself.
• Most symbols are limited to a specific work or
  context.
• However, universal symbols mean the same thing
  across many works (for example, the grim reaper
  as a symbol of death).
• Symbolism is the pattern of meaning created by
  the authors use of individual symbols in a
  literary work.
• The author constructs a larger meaning by adding
  together symbols that carry similar associations.

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An Example

• Take a closer look at the John Updike story A
  P on pages 89-93 the Introduction to Literature
  book. Updike does an incredible job of getting
  the most out of all the characteristics of prose
  fiction.
• Notice the use of figurative language. First, the
  narrator thinks of Queenies shoulders, with
  their tan line where her bathing suit has
  slipped, as looking like a shining rim.
  Second, the narrator thinks of Queenies breasts
  as two scoops of vanilla.
• Since A P is the coming of age story of a
  teenaged boy, these two uses of figurative
  language are particularly effective in showing
  his view of the world.

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Character

• Character one of the fictional people in a
  story.
• Characterization anything a writer does to make
  a character seem more real.
• Protagonist the main character in a story
• Antagonist the character or thing that the
  protagonist is struggling against. The
  antagonist may be a person. However, the
  antagonist of a story may also be an animal,
  nature, society, or even temptation.
• Narrator the character who tells the story. The
  character whose eyes the reader looks through.

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Kinds of Characters

• Round a round character is one that is
  developed. A round character is complex and true
  to life (for example, Captain Kirk, Mister Spock,
  and Dr. McCoy on Star Trek).
• Flat a flat character is not fully developed.
  Flat characters usually have only one defining
  characteristic. Many times a flat character
  exists merely to serve a purpose in the plot (for
  example, the red-shirted security guys who always
  get killed on Star Trek.).
• Dynamic a dynamic character changes over the
  course of a story as a result of experience.
• Static a static character does not change.

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Connotation vs. Denotation

• Denotative meaning is the dictionary definition
  of a word.
• Connotative meaning is the added significance a
  word picks up through use.
• Literary authors often focus on the connotative
  rather than the denotative meaning of words.
• For example, take the word hot. The dictionary
  definition of the word hot is having a high
  temperature. However, many connotative meanings
  have attached themselves over the years. For
  example, stolen (a hot stereo), lucky (a hot
  streak), sexy (a hot body), etc.

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Rhythm

• Rhythm in writing is like rhythm in music it has
  to do with the length and beat of the line.
• Really good literary writers vary the rhythm of
  their prose and its tone (the emotional content
  of the narrators voice) to match the level of
  tension present in the work.
• For example, when tension is low, the lines tend
  to be long and smooth. The narrators voice is
  calm. When tension is high, on the other hand,
  lines tend to get short and choppy. The
  narrators voice may sound angry or frightened.

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An Example

• Take another look at John Updikes short story A
  Pon pages 89-93 of the Introduction to
  Literature book.
• What kind of a person is the 1st Person narrator?
  
• What is his interest in the girls?
• Why does he quit his job?
• Notice how much more difficult to answer the
  third question is. Thats because even though the
  narrator is a character - a made-up construct, a
  figment of Updikes imagination - he is complex
  and interesting (round and dynamic, in character
  talk).
• Even though he is a typical teenager in some
  ways, he has depth enough to make a realization
  about the nature of life.

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Section Two Narration

• The characteristics of narration are as follows
• The organizing principle of narration is the
  relationship between events in time.
• We present one occurrence after another so that
  they create a coherent sequence.
• Each event is connected causally to each event
  that precedes it and each event that follows it.
• Narrations of all kinds are dynamic (that is,
  they change over time).

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Narration, continued

• There are two kinds of Narration
• 1) Narration of Event used to tell a story.
• 2) Narration of Process used to show the steps
  in a process, or to examine cause and effect.
• These two types of narration are totally
  different. They have different uses and different
  characteristics.
• In this section we will study Narration of Event.
  However, Narration of Process is also used in
  some prose fiction.

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Narration of Event

• Narration of Event tells a story.
• One occurrence follows another in time until the
  entire plot (sequence of related events) is told.
  
• Another name for a sequence of related events is
  plot.
• A plot in fiction is one type of Narration of
  Event.
• A plot may have a number of stages. The more
  stages there are, the more complex the plot. A
  stage is a certain level of action, and the
  tension (expectation of further action) that goes
  with it.
• First, a potential for action must exist. Then
  some inciting event creates a disturbance that
  causes the action to move forward and become
  complicated. This complication (produced by
  conflict) leads to a crisis which must be
  resolved. Upon resolution, the plot comes to an
  end.

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Narrator

• The narrator is the character telling the story.
• Because fiction is made up, readers cannot assume
  that just because an author uses first person
  pronouns (I, me, we, us) he is the actually the
  narrator of the story. For example in John
  Updikes short story A P on pages 89-93 of
  the Introduction to Literature book, Updike has
  written a tale about a characternot a confession
  of his own youthful mistakes and the lessons he
  learned from them.
• There are two kinds of narrator
• 1) Participant the narrator is involved in the
  story.
• 2) Observer the narrator only watches the action
  and reports what the other characters do, think,
  and say.

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Point of View

• Point of View refers to whose eyes the reader is
  looking through and whose thoughts the reader can
  know. Point of View is like a camera through
  which the reader views the narrative.
• There are two kinds of cameras available
• 1) Omniscient an omniscient point of view means
  that the reader can see through anyones eyes and
  has access to anyones thought process.
• 2) Limited a limited point of view means that
  the reader can see through the eyes of one
  character and can only know what one character is
  thinking.

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Point of View, continued

• There are four possibilities as to Point of View
  
• 1) First Person (I, me, my, we, us, ours) the
  narrator is a participant. The readers view is
  limited to the eyes and thoughts of the narrating
  character.
• 2) Second Person (you, your, yours) by directly
  addressing the reader, the author seeks to make
  the reader a participant in the action.
• 3) Third Person Limited (he, she, it) the
  narrator is an observer who can only see inside
  one characters head.
• 4) Third Person Omniscient (he, she, it) the
  narrator is a godlike observer through whom the
  reader can see and know all things.

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First Person

• Advantage the reader tends to identify strongly
  with the narrating character. There is almost no
  distance between narrator and reader, so the
  reader tends to be sympathetic to the narrator
  even when he/she does something morally wrong.
  In A P, by John Updike, the narrator looks at
  the three girls as objects of lustful desire and
  not much moredo you like him less for it?
• Disadvantage since the reader only sees/knows
  what the narrator does, its hard for the writer
  to pass information to the reader that the
  narrator doesnt know. In A P, Updike must
  have Sammy imagine what Queenies living room
  looks like by sliding right down her voice into
  itawkward, isnt it?

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Second Person

• Advantage there is no distance at all between
  the narrator and reader. This is why you tend to
  see the second person perspective used a great
  deal in advertising.
• Disadvantage second person perspective is
  awkward if used for very long. It is not a
  natural way to tell a story and tends to put the
  reader off.
• For the purposes of the class, it is recommended
  that you do not use the second person for your
  short story assignment. We will deal more with
  the second person point of view later in the
  course.

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Third Person Limited

• Advantage third person limited perspective has
  more distance than first person and less than
  third person omniscient. It allows the writer to
  combine the best characteristics of bothsome
  reader sympathy plus a less awkward delivery. In
  Ernest Hemingways Cat in the Rain (Literature,
  55-58), we are able to see the American wifes
  weaknessesand yet judge her more impartially
  than is impossible in first person.
• Disadvantage the reader can still only see into
  one persons head. In Cat in the Rain, we
  never learn what George is thinking. We learn
  what drives the wife, but the motivations of the
  husband remain a mystery.

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Third Person Omniscient

• Advantage the narrator knows all, sees all, and
  can pass any necessary information on to the
  reader by simply stating that a thing is so. The
  views and opinions of many characters can be
  explored. In Desirees Baby by Kate Chopin
  (Literature, 76-80), we see directly the thoughts
  of both Desiree and Armandadding to the readers
  perception of the characters with a great deal of
  ease.
• Disadvantage there is a great deal of distance
  between the reader and the characters.
  Literally, the reader only views the characters
  through the narrators omniscient lens. In
  Desirees Baby we see inside the heads of both
  charactersbut how deeply do we really get to
  know either one?

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Dialogue

• Dialogue, in prose fiction, occurs when the
  characters are talking.
• There are two kinds of dialogue
• 1) Direct Dialogue placed in quotation marks,
  direct dialogue is the actual words spoken by
  characters shown in real time.
• 2) Indirect Dialogue written without quotation
  marks, indirect dialogue is when the narrator
  tells the reader what was said by a character.

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An Example Direct Dialogue

• Direct dialogue allows a writer to show rather
  than tell what his characters are like
• Hey there, cutie pie! How bout a beer?
• Ive got a beer already.
• So you do! How bout steppin out on the dance
  floor there and cuttin a rug?
• I have a boyfriend.
• Maybe youd like to test drive a new one.
• I dont knowthe one I drive now plays
  linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys.
• See ya.

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An Example Indirect Dialogue

• Indirect dialogue is narration. The narrator is
  telling the reader what the characters say,
  rather than showing them
• The goat-roper sidled up to the girl at the bar
  and asked too loud if she wanted a beer. The girl
  knew he wanted more than just to buy her a
  longneck, and turned him down. When he got rude
  and asked if shed like to test-drive a new
  boyfriend, she just smiled and said the one she
  had now played linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys.
  The last she saw of the goat-roper was a black
  hat moving away through the crowd.
• Are these the same characters as the ones in the
  previous slide? How are they different? How can
  you tell?