LESSON 2: Types and Elements of Fiction

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

a. Explain the characteristics, types and elements of fiction; and
b. Interpret and evaluate 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 meaningful
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 lifelike, 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) undergoes 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.
Dynamic character is the one who learns a lesson or changes as a person either for
better or for worse.

Theme
 The controlling idea or central insight. It is the main idea or underlying
meaning a writer explores in literary pieces.
 The unifying generalization about life stated or implied by the story
 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”
  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.

Point of View
Who tells the story and how much do they know about the thoughts of the
characters. The one who is telling a story, or who is narrating it. A story or novel
can be told in different ways
Omniscient: the story is told in first person by a narrator 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 may be 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- immortality, resurrection and life after
death.
Object Symbolism: flag- liberty, equality, fraternity, justice, wedding ring-
married, red- love, war, courage, life, quilts- it is a fabric, warm bed-
covering -family, connections
Action Symbolism: journey- adventure, self- realization
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
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.
A. Verbal Irony: simplest kind, sarcasm, word play
B. Dramatic Irony: the contrast between what a character says or thinks and what
the reader knows to be true.
C. 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
D. 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 overwrite 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.
5. Style – The author’s type of diction (choice of words), syntax (arrangement of
words), and other linguistic features of a work.
6. 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

Fiction is a general term used to describe an imaginative work of prose,
either a novel, short story, or novella.

The two main types of fiction are literary and commercial.

1. Commercial fiction
Attracts a broad audience and may also fall into any subgenre, like mystery,
romance, legal thriller, western, science fiction, and so on.

For example, The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller

(Warner, 1992) 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 100-year-olds. Other blockbuster commercial fiction authors
include John Grisham, Sidney Sheldon, Danielle Steele, and Jackie Collins.

2. Literary fiction tends to appeal to a smaller, more intellectually adventurous

audience.
A work of literary fiction can fall into 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 Press, 1997).
Other popular authors of literary fiction include Toni Morrision, Barbara Kingsolver,
John LeCarre, and Saul Bellow.

3. 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 bestseller list are considered
mainstream, whether the author is Sue Grafton, Arundhati Roy, Michael Crichton, or
David Guterson.

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, Dashiell Hammett, and Earle Stanley Gardner, creator of Perry Mason.
Present day giants include Carl Hiaason, James Ellroy, Robert Parker, James Lee
Burke, and Elmore Leonard.

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

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
booksellers have identified a category within the mainstream that they classify as
Women’s Fiction. And its 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 Wells, and
Alice Hoffman.

Science fiction/fantasy
Science fiction/fantasy novels depict distant worlds and futuristic technologies
that whirl readers far away 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.

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 Carre, Len
Deighton, Ian Fleming, Clive Cussler, and Frederick Forsythe. It also includes the
police procedurals of Patricia Cornwell, Tony Hillerman, and Lawrence Sanders, as
well as the courtroom bestsellers of Scott Turow, Richard North Patterson, Steve
Martini, and John Grisham, and the military thrillers of Tom Clancy and Stephen
Koontz.

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 mass-market audience and a thriving regional market, it’s not the popular
genre it was 25 years ago.

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 bestsellers under his
name as well as his alter-ego Richard Bachman has dominated the bestseller lists
for nearly 25 years. Other major horror writers include Mary Shelley, Roald Dahl,
Clive Barker, Peter Straub, Dean Koontz, and Anne Rice. While horror isn’t science
fiction, the SFWA provides a great deal of information and community services
aimed at horror writers.

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.
Success stories in this genre share many of the qualities evident in the Harry
Potter books: a memorable voice (J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Little Brown,
1951), believable characters (Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Perigee, 1959), and a
willingness to write about the disturbing subjects that preoccupy teens and preteens
(Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, Dell Yearling, 1972, or Holes
by Louis Sachar, FSG, 1998).

ACTIVITY 2.1

Direction: Read the story “Silence - A Fable” by Edgar Allan Poe

(published 1838). Interpret and evaluate the story and present it.
Ours is a world of words: Quiet we call
Silence -- which is the merest word of all" -Al Aaraaf