Understanding Fiction

Understanding Fiction

Plot

Plot has been defined as

“

an author

?

s careful arrangement of incidents in a narrative to achieve a

desired effect.

”

Two ingredients of a plot: causality and conflict.

Causality:

In a narrative with a plot, there is little that happens without a cause. In a story, a writer would

need to state or imply causes for why something happened.

Conflict:

Traditionally, plots grow out of a conflict

–

an internal or an external struggle between the main

character and an opposing force.

When a story includes internal conflict, the main character is in conflict with himself or herself.

An

external

conflict

can

occur

between

the

central

character

and

either

another

character,

society, or natural forces, including Fate. The most common external force is another character.

PLOT STRUCTURE

A plot has six structural components: exposition, initiating incident, rising action, climax, falling

action, and the resolution or denouement.

Following is a diagram developed by Gustav Freytag to illustrate the structure of ancient Greek

and

Shakespearean plays.

It

can be

applied

to

nearly

all

narratives,

including

the

novel

and

the

short story.

CLIMAX

reversal

complication

Rising

Falling

exposition

action

action

catastrophe

INITIATING INCIDENT

RESOLUTION

1

In

literature,

exposition

refers

to

the

explanatory

information

a

reader

needs

to

comprehend

the

situation

in

the

story.

Exposition

establishes

the

setting,

the

major

characters

and

perhaps

some

minor ones, the situation, and any necessary background information about what happened before

the story began.

The initiating incident is the event that changes the situation established in the exposition and sets

the conflict in motion.

In the rising action, various episodes occur that develop, complicate, or intensify the conflict.

Climax has been defined in a number of ways: the point of greatest conflict, the emotional high

point,

the

turning

point

in

the

plot,

the

point

at

which

one

of

the

opposing

forces

gains

the

advantage. A story

?

s climax often requires the main character to choose some form of action that

will either worsen or improve his or her situation.

The events that follow the climax are known as the falling action. In novels, this section of the

written work may be fairly long; in short stories it tends to be fairly brief.

The

falling

action

leads

into

the

resolution

or

denouement

of

the

story.

The

term

resolution

sometimes refers to all the events that follow the climax, including the denouement. Denouement

is a French word that means the

“

unknotting

”

or the untying of a knot.

The

above

components

of

a

plot

may

be

of

varying

length,

although

the

exposition

and

rising

action

usually

are

the

longest

sections,

while

the

falling

action

and

resolution

usually

are

the

shorter.

TECHNIQUES IN STORYTELLING

Authors

employ

a

number

of

techniques

in

telling

their

stories.

They

include

flashback,

foreshadowing, suspense, and coincidence.

Flashback:

the

representation

of

material

that

occurred

before

the

events

of

the

story

–

interrupts

the

chronology and often provides important exposition.

Flashbacks

can

occur

in

the

narration

or

the

dialogue,

with

one

or

more

characters

revealing

information.

Foreshadowing:

Gives hints or clues that suggest or prepare the reader for events that occur later in a work.

Using

the

technique

of

foreshadowing,

a

writer

can

create

suspense

–

the

feeling

of

anxious

anticipation, expectation, or uncertainty that creates tension and maintains the reader

?

s interest.

2

Coincidence

Writers can use coincidence

–

the chance occurrence of two things at the same time or place

–

to

denote

the

workings

of

Fate

in

a

person

?

s

life.

But

this

technique

must

be

employed

carefully.

Coincidence

can

weaken

a

story

if

it

seems

too

improbable;

however,

in

a

humorous

story,

far-fetched coincidences often accentuate or promote the comedy.

Task.

Discuss the plot of

“

Blackmail

”

< br> from the abovementioned aspects.

Setting

Setting of a tale refers to the time and the place. Descriptions of setting help to orient the reader

and to anchor a story in time and space.

Setting can be general (for example, a city in the Midwest in the early twentieth century), specific

(for

example,

a

three- story

mansion

on

Pine

Street

in

Chicago

in

1885),

or

very

detailed

(the

darkened parlor of that mansion at four o

?

clock on the first Tuesday in December). Setting usually

functions as more than a backdrop for a story, however.

Setting creates certain expectations in readers. Obviously, a writer cannot violate the limitations of

a setting throughout a work. Characters in a historical setting cannot speak or act as if they know

about

twentieth-century

people

or

events;

readers

would

find

it

odd

to

read

of

a

17

th

-century

doctor referring to germs, for example, or a description of a gas fire in a story set in the Middle

Ages.

PURPOSES OF SETTING

Setting

may

serve

a

number

of

purposes,

such

as

influencing

action,

defining

character,

and

contributing to mood. We focus on the second purpose.

Defining character

Setting can help define the psychological, cultural, and economic states of the characters, as well

as their social status..

Setting

is

so

important

that

some

readers

base

their

literary

likes

and

dislikes

largely

on

the

environment in a work

–

the future, early Rome, the English countryside, medieval France, Los

Angeles in the thirties, Detroit today, Cairo yesterday. Whatever the scene, the details of setting

can

influence

the

action,

the

characterizations,

the

mood

of

a

work.

Though

his

words

have

become a cliché

, the author who first penned

“

It was a dark and stormy night

”

had the right idea.

He was merely setting the scene for a work he hoped would be full of suspense.

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Task.

Discuss the setting of

“

Blackmail

”

and the purpose it serves.

Character

A character is a person created for a work of fiction.

Different categorizations of character.

ROUND AND FLAT CHARACTERS (E. M. Forster)

A

round

character

is

a

three-dimensional

character

complex

enough

to

be

able

to

surprise

the

reader

without

losing

credibility.

Because

such

characters

exhibit

many

characteristics,

some

of

which

may

be

contradictory,

they

have

what

Forster

calls

the

“

incalculability

of

life.

”

Such

characters are said to be fully or well-developed.

In contrast, a flat character is one whom Forster deems incapable of surprising the reader. Such a

two-dimensional character can often be summarized with one or two characteristics

–

cowardly,

for example, or puzzled, or stubborn.

MAJOR OR MINOR CHARACTERS

The term protagonist refers

to the main or central character in fiction.

Protagonist is an ancient

Greek word for the central character of a drama. The protagonist is generally the roundest, most

fully developed character in a work of fiction.

The protagonist

?

s opponent is antagonist. Like protagonists, many antagonists will also be round

characters, though it is possible for an antagonist to be a flat character.

Together, the protagonist and antagonist comprise the major characters or forces in fiction.

Characters other than major characters are classified as minor characters.

CHARACTERIZATION

Character creation is the art of characterization

–

what the author does to bring a character to life,

to provide the reader with a sense of that character

?

s personality, to make that character unique.

Authors can characterize or develop a character directly or indirectly.

DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

In direct characterization, the narrator or a character summarizes or tells the reader what another

character looks like or what kind of person he or she is. Direct characterization often occurs during

the exposition since it conveys background information efficiently, but it can occur throughout the

story.

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