LESSON 2: Types and Elements of Fiction

ELEMENTS OF FICTION

Conflict: a clash of actions, ideas, desires, or will.

 Man vs. Himself
 Man vs. Man
 Man vs. External Force (physical nature, society, or “fate”)
 Man vs. Nature (environment)
 Protagonist: central character in a conflict, sympathetic or unsympathetic
 Antagonist: any force against protagonist\

Suspense
 Mystery an unusual set of circumstances for which the reader craves an explanation.

 Dilemma: a position in which he or she must choose between two courses of action,
both undesirable
Ending

Is it logical within the story’s own terms and does it afford a full, believable revelation?
 Surprise Ending: a sudden, unexpected turn or twist, and furnishes meaning full
illumination, not just a reversal of expectation
 Happy Ending: more common in commercial fiction.
 Unhappy Ending: more common in literary fiction because it more closely mirrors real life
and forces readers to contemplate the complexities of life.
 Indeterminate Ending: no definitive conclusion is reached, but need not be in terms of a
resolved conflict.

Artistic Unity
 There must be nothing in the story that is irrelevant.
 Nothing that does not advance the central intention of the story.

Plot Manipulation: unjustified turn in the plot by the situation or the characters.

Deus ex machina: Latin for “god from a machine”—the protagonist is rescued at the last
moment from some impossible situation by a god descending from heaven.
Chance: the occurrence of an event that has no apparent cause in previous events or in
predisposition of character.
Coincidence: the chance occurrence of two events that may have a peculiar correspondence.
Consider the function of plot in trying to understand the relationship of each incident to the larger
meaning of the story.

Example: focus on its central conflict or examine the way incidents and scenes are connected as a way of
testing the story’s plausibility and unity.
 Characterization

Direct Presentation: readers are told straight out what the characters are like, or they have
another character in the story describe them. Little emotional impact
Indirect Presentation: the author shows us the characters through their actions; we determine what they are
like by what they say or do. In good fiction, characters are dramatized.

Principles of Characterization
1.
Characters are consistent in their behavior unless there is a clear reason for the change
2.
Character’s words and actions spring from motivations the reader can understand and
believe
3.
Characters must be plausible or life like, not perfectly virtuous or monsters of evil; nor can
they have some impossible combination of contradictory traits. The character could have
existed, so we have the illusion the person is real.
 Flat Characters: usually have only one or two predominant traits; they can be summed
up in a sentence or two.
 Round Characters: complex and many sided; they have the three- dimensional quality of
real people.
➢ Stock Characters: type of flat character; stereotyped figures who have recurred so often
in fiction that we recognize them at once: silent sheriff, mad scientist, brilliant detective.
➢ Static Character: does not change during the story.
 Dynamic Character: (developing) under goes distinct change of character, personality or
outlook. Usually experiences an epiphany which is a moment of spiritual insight into life
or into the character’s own circumstance. This epiphany usually defines the moment of
the dynamic character’s change.
Theme

 The controlling idea or central in sight

 The unifying generalization about life stated or implied by the story
 Gives the story its unity
 What view of life does the author want readers to support?
 The theme should be expressible in the form of a statement with a subject and a
predicate.
 NOT JUST “motherhood” or “loyalty”
 Theme must be a statement about the subject.
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 It is the central and unifying concept of a story.

 There is not one way of stating the theme of a story

Avoid reducing the theme to some familiar saying that we have heard all our lives:

“You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Example: Motherhood sometimes has more frustrations than rewards. Loyalty to country often inspires
heroic self-sacrifice.

This is a great thesis written by one of my students:

Frankenstein is a prime example of English Romanticism because of the way that Shelley portrays the
importance of god parenting through traits of romantic literature. Shelley emphasizes the individual,
portrays man’s love of nature, and values emotion over reason to contribute to the theme’s side that the
role of parents is vital to raising responsible offspring.
This is a “not so great” thesis. .

Frankenstein is an example of English Romanticist fiction because Mary Shelley uses Nature,
Individualism, and Freedom to contribute to the Romantics view of Nature.
Point of View
 Who tells the story and how much do they know about the thoughts of the
characters?
 Omniscient: the story is told in first person by an orator whose knowledge and
prerogatives are unlimited.

 Third Person Limited: from the viewpoint of one character in the story.
No knowledge of what other characters are thinking or feeling.
 First Person: the author disappears into one of the characters, who tells the story in the
first person. This maybe either a minor or major character, protagonist, or observer, and
it will make a considerable difference whether the protagonist tells the story or someone
else tells it. Shares the limitations of the third-person limited point of view.
 Objective Point of View: (dramatic POV) the narrator disappears into a kind of roving
sound camera. This camera can go anywhere but can record only what is seen and
heard. It cannot comment, interpret, or enter a character’s mind.
Symbol: something that means more than what it suggests on the surface. It may be an object, person,
situation, action or other elements.
Name Symbolism: Adam, Phoenix
Object Symbolism: flag, wedding ring, red, quilts
Action Symbolism: journey

Setting Symbolism: landscape, railway station Clues for identifying symbols:

 The story itself must furnish a clue that a detail is to be taken symbolically usually by
emphasis, repetition, or position.
 The meaning of the literary symbol must be established and supported by the entire
context of the story.
 A symbol may have more than one meaning—a cluster of meanings.

1. Allegory: a story that has a second meaning beneath the surface adding significance.

2. Fantasy: nonrealistic story and transcends the bounds of known reality.

3. Humor: appears in the many serious works, usually conveyed through irony
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4. Irony: a technique used to convey a truth about human experience by exposing some incongruity
of a character’s behavior or a society’s traditions. Irony helps to critique the world in which we live
by laughing at the many varieties of human eccentricity and folly.

Both evoke responses that are intellectual and emotional at once

 Verbal Irony: simplest kind, sarcasm, wordplay

 Dramatic Irony: the contrast between what a character says or thinks and what the
reader knows to be true.

 Situational Irony: the discrepancy is between appearance and reality, expectation

and fulfillment, or what is and what would seem appropriate
“Miss Caroline told me to tell my father not to teach me anymore, it would interfere with my reading.”–To
Kill a Mockingbird
Sentimentality: contrived or excessive emotion

Uncle Tom’s Cabin vs. Beloved

Editorialize: Sentimental writers often try to make words do what the situation faithfully
presented by itself will not do. They comment on the story and, in a manner, instruct us how to
feel. Or they over write and poeticize–use an immoderately heightened and distended language
to accomplish their effects. Also, they excessively use detail which all point one way, toward
producing emotion rather than conveying truth. Dying child always happy, never moody or
crying.

Style–The author’s type of diction (choiceofwords),syntax (arrangement of words), and other linguistic
features of a work.
Theme(s)–The central and dominating idea (or ideas) in a literary work. The term also indicates a message
or moral implicit in any work of art.
Exploring the Different Types of Fiction By Sarah Parsons Zackheim, Adrian Zackheim

Fiction is a general term used to describe an imaginative work of prose, either a novel, short story,
or novela. Recently, this definition has been modified to include both nonfiction works that contain
imaginative elements, like Midnight in the Garden Of God and Evil by John Berendt (Random House,19 4)
and Dutch by Edmund Moris (Random House,19 9), and novels consisting largely of factual reporting with a
pat in a of fictionalization, such as Memoirs of a Geishaby Arthur Golden(Knopf,19 7). However, in the
truest sense, a work of fiction is a creation of the writer’s imagination.

The two main types of fiction are literary and commercial.

Commercial fiction attracts a broad audience and may also fall into any subgenre, like mystery,
romance, legal thriller, western, science fiction, and soon. For example, The Bridges of Madison County by
Robert James Waler (Warner, 2) was a hugely successful commercial novel because the book described
the fulfillment of a romantic fantasy that is dear to the heart of millions of readers. Written in a short, easy-
to-read style, the book was as mesmerizing to 15-year-olds as it was to 10 -year-olds. Other blockbuster
commercial fiction authors include John Grisham, Sidney Sheldon, Daniele Steele, and Jackie Collins.
Literary fiction tends to appeal to a smaller, more intellectually adventurous audience. A work of
literary fiction can fall in to any of the subgenres described in the following sections. What sets literary
fiction apart, however, is the notable qualities it contains— excellent writing, originality of thought, and style
— that raise it above the level of ordinary written works. A recent work of literary fiction that enjoyed wide
popularity was Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (Atlantic Monthly Pres, 1997). Other popular authors of
literary fiction include Toni Morrison, Barbara King solver, John Le Care, and Saul Below.
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Mainstream fiction is a general term publishers and booksellers use to describe both commercial
and literary works that depict a daily reality familiar to most people. These books, usually set in the 20th or
present-day 21st century, have at their core a universal theme that attracts a broad audience. Mainstream
books deal with such myriad topics as family issues, coming of age initiations, courtroom dramas, career
matters, physical and mental disabilities, social pressures, political intrigue, and more. Regardless of
original genre or category, most of the novels that appear on the best seller list a reconsidered mainstream,
whether the author is Sue Grafton, Arundhati Roy, Michael Crichton, or David Gutterson.

1. Mystery

Mystery is a popular genre, boasting a huge established audience. All mysteries focus on
a crime, usually murder. The action tends to center on the attempts of a wily detective-type to
solve the crime. And the climax usually occurs near the end, in a leisurely setting where all the
elements of the mystery are neatly assembled for the reader’s convenience. The solution,
complete with surprises, is then delivered to the characters and the reader alike.
Mystery subgenres include spy, detective, and crime stories. You can find a vast network
of mystery writers associations, conventions, and conferences, as well as publications to help
mystery writers pursue their craft. Great practitioners in this genre include Arthur Conan Doyle,
Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammet, and Earle Stanley Gardner, creator of Perry Mason.

Present day giants include Carl Hia son, James Elroy, Robert Parker, James Le Burke, and
Elmore Leonard.

2. Romance

Romance is a huge category aimed at diverting and entertaining women. In romance

novels, you have elements of fantasy, love, naïveté, extravagance, adventure, and always the
heroic lover overcoming impossible odds to be with his true love. Many romances, especially the
gothic romance, have an easy-to-follow formula — a young, inexperienced girl living a somewhat
remote existence is courted or threatened by an evil man and then rescued by a valiant one.
Other subgenres include historical, contemporary, fantasy romance, and romantic
suspense. If historical detail and settings interest you, try writing a regency or historical romance.
If you enjoy a dash of mystery or intrigue, then romantic suspense novels are for you. However, if
you’re interested in more modern stories with sexual candor, then consider writing a
contemporary romance.
Certainly, you have lots of opportunity in the field of romance writing, which is the largest,
most diverse, and most popular of the commercial genres. And romance writers’ organizations
can provide exact writing guidelines.

First-class romance writers include Jude Deveraux, Victoria Holt, Judith McNaught,
Daphne Du Maurier, Jennifer Greene, and Nora Roberts.

3. Women’s fiction

It’s common knowledge in the publishing industry that women constitute the biggest book-
buying segment. So, it’s certainly no accident that most mainstream as well as genre fiction is
popular among women. For that reason, publishers and bookseller shave identified a category
within the mainstream that they classify as Women’s Fiction. And it’s no surprise that virtually all
the selections of Oprah’s Book Club are in this genre.
From a writer’s perspective, some key characteristics of these books include a focus on
relationships, one or more strong female protagonists, women triumphing over unbearable
circumstances, and the experiences of women unified in some way. The field includes such
diverse writers as Barbara Taylor Bradford, Anne Rivers Siddons, Alice McDermott, Judith
Krantz, Anne Tyler, Rebecca Wels, and Alice Hoffman.
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4. Science fiction/fantasy

Science fiction/fantasy novels depict distant worlds and futuristic technologies

that whirl readers faraway from the here and now and yet provoke contemplation of
contemporary issues. Imaginative, thoughtful, and other-worldly, this robust category is made
even more popular by the Star Wars and Star Trek series. Leading science fiction and fantasy
writers include Ray Bradbury, Arthur Clarke, Isaac Asimov, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien, as
well as the current, multi- best-selling, young adult author J.K. Rowling.

5. Suspense/thriller

Suspense novels and thrillers are tense, exciting, often sensational works with ingenious
plotting, swift action, and continuous suspense. In this genre, a writer’s objective is to deliver a
story with sustained tension, surprise, and a constant sense of impending doom that propels the
reader forward. Unlike mysteries, thrillers are dominated by action in which physical threat is a
constant companion, and a hero (James Bond, for example) is pitted against a nefarious villain.
This genre includes the great espionage writers, including John Le Care, Len Deighton,
Ian Fleming, Clive Cusler, and Frederick Forsythe. It also includes the police procedurals of
Patricia Cornwell, Tony Hillerman, and Lawrence Sanders, as well as the courtroom best sellers
of Scott Turrow, Richard North Paterson, Steve Martini, and John Grisham, and the military
thrillers of Tom Clancy and Stephen Kontz.
6. Western

Known simply as westerns, these novels about life on America’s post-Civil War
western frontier usually involve conflicts between cowboys and outlaws, cowboys and Native
Americans, or Easterners and Westerners. While this category still has a mas-market audience
and a thriving regional market, it’s not the popular genre it was 25 years ago.

Zane Grey and Louis Lamour, both deceased, are still among the popular western writers.
7. Horror

Filled with gut-wrenching fear, this popular genre keeps readers turning the blood-filled
pages. From a writer’s perspective, the defining characteristic is the intention to frighten readers
by exploiting their fears, both conscious and subconscious: fears of supernatural forces,
alien visitations, madness, death, dismemberment, and other terrifying notions.
Tracing its roots back to the classic tales of Edgar Allan Poe, the horror genre today is
dominated by Stephen King, whose vast output of best sellers under his name as well as his
alter-ego Richard Bach man has dominated the best seller lists for nearly 25 years. Other major
horror writers include Mary Shelley, Roald Dahl, Clive Barker, Peter Straub, Dean Kontz, and
Anne Rice. While horror isn’t science fiction, the SFWA provides a great deal of information and
community services aimed at horror writers.

8. Young adult

This genre includes any type of novel with a protagonist in the 12 to 16 age range that
speaks to the concerns of teenagers. Currently, J.K. Rowling and her amazing Harry Potter
(Scholastic Press) books are dominating the field. Rowling’s accomplishment— a truly universal
story, brimming with magic and fantasy as well as likable characters that readers identify with—
is an amazing feat.