Fiction Writing
What you should know…
The Elements of Fiction
• Setting
• Character
• Conflict
• Message
• Point of View
• Plot
• Literary Devices
Setting
• Time
• Place
• Circumstance
What were the settings
of?
• Down these Mean Streets?
• Dreaming in Cuban?
• “Rising Star”?
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
Characters
The “People”* appearing in a literary
work
*can also be animals or things that act as people
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)
Who are the main and
opposing characters in?
• Dreaming in Cuban?
• “Fears”?
• “Falling Star”?
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
Types of Conflict
• Man vs. Man
• Man vs. Society
• Man vs. Himself
• Man vs. Nature
• Man vs. Superbeing
Name a conflict from one
of the stories…?
• Man vs. Man
• Man vs. Self
• Man vs. Society
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
What was the message
in?
• Malcolm X?
• “We Could Do Worse?”
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 character’s thoughts and feelings
From what point of view are
these stories told from?
• “Fears”?
• “Auspicious Eggs”?
• “Falling Star”?
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
Plot Line
Climax: The turning point. The most
intense moment (either mentally or in
action).
Rising Action: the
series of conflicts Falling Action: all of the
and crises in the action which follows the
story that lead to Climax.
the climax.
Exposition: The start of the story.
The way things are before the
action starts (Background Resolution: The conclusion, the
introduced) tying together of all of the
threads.
What was the climax of?
• Dreaming in Cuban?
• “Falling Star”?
Literary Devices
• Allusion
• Metaphor
• Symbolism
• Foreshadowing
• Flashback
• Irony
How do you create …?
• An allusion?
• A symbol?
• Foreshadowing?
• Flashback?
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 !