Elements of a Novel

Plot, Characters, Setting, Conflict, Point of View

Let’s go more in depth• Characters

• Protagonist• Antagonist

Let’s go more in depth

• Characters• Protagonist• Antagonist

Why are characters important to a novel?- They are why we care to read a novel. We empathize or are amazed by them, or sometimes disagree with them. They draw us in to allow us to have a vicarious human experience- Watching them behave and reason and respond is how we learn from novels. We see what they discovered and can sometimes make the same discovery. We may have the same questions they have and as they grow, we grow.

Let’s go more in depth• Setting

• Tells us the current situation or mood• Often introduces the conflict

Let’s go more in depth• Setting

• Tells us the current situation or mood• Often introduces the conflict

Why does the setting matter? Why is it an “element” of a novel?

- The setting tells us what the characters’ lives are currently like, for better or for worse.

- Sometimes the setting acts as a hostile environment that needs to be changed. (What kind of conflict is this called when that happens?)

Let’s go more in depth• Point of view

• First person, second person, third person• Allows us to see things from a certain character’s perspective, or

sometimes multiple characters’ perspective

Let’s go more in depth• Point of view

• First person, second person, third person• Allows us to see things from a certain character’s

perspective, or sometimes multiple characters’ perspectives.

Why does the point of view matter? - How does it affect the reading of your novel and what we

understand about the story? - It allows for honesty about whatever it is we want to talk

about.

Let’s go more in depth

• Conflict• Person v. society• Person v. self• Person v. person

Let’s go more in depth

• Plot• Exposition• Climax• Resolution

Let’s go more in depth• Plot

• Literary elements that aide the plot

• Flashbacks• Foreshadowing• Sub-plots• Parallel plot structure

Flashbacks• A flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative

back in time from the current point the story has reached. • Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened

prior to the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial back-story.

Flashbacks• Examples

• The Bourne Identity• Gone with the Wind

Flashbacks• Have there been any flashbacks in your own novel?• What did those flashbacks reveal?

Foreshadowing

• Foreshadowing is when an author mentions or hints at something that will happen later in the story.

• Ex: A character places a gun on the table

• Used to Increases interest, expectation of action, creates intrigue• When we read that there is a gun somewhere in the scene, what

do we expect as the reader?

Foreshadowing

• Examples• Movie clips

Foreshadowing

• Have there been any elements of foreshadowing in your novel?• Any sense that something bad, good or exciting is about to

happen because some object, character or piece of information was introduced?

Linear plot structure

A Linear plot begins at point A, progresses through events which build towards a climax, and then finally reaching point B. (Shrek)

This type of linear plot is also referred to as the Aristotlean plot structure. (The Odyssey)

It can usually be represented by drawing an arc.

Linear plot structure

A Linear plot begins at point A, progresses through events which build towards a climax, and then finally reaching point B. (Shrek)

This type of linear plot is also referred to as the Aristotlean plot structure. (The Odyssey)

It can usually be represented by drawing an arc. ADVANTAGES OF THIS KIND OF PLOT - you know (most of

the time) the story will have a beginning, ending and a journey in between. This is the “classic” storyline that feeds our desire for adventure or growth.

Non-linear plot structureWe still have a point A and a point B, but the story

branches and goes many directions. The point A and point B are typically more abstract.

Flashbacks, dreams, flash-forwards are ways a story becomes non-linear

“In media res” If a story starts in the middle and we don’t understand the context, we might have a non-linear plot structure (The Bourne Identity)

Example: The House on Mango Street, The Help, Napoleon Dynamite

Non-linear plot structureWe still have a point A and a point B, but the story

branches and goes many directions. The point A and point B are typically more abstract.

Flashbacks, dreams, flash-forwards are ways a story becomes non-linear

“In media res” If a story starts in the middle and we don’t understand the context, we might have a non-linear plot structure (The Bourne Identity)

Example: The House on Mango Street, The Help, Napoleon Dynamite

ADVANTAGE OF NON-LINEAR PLOTS: Allows you to focus on the issues more than the journey.

Parallel plot structurePlots in which each main character has a separate but related

story line that merges in the end.Two stories of equal importance are told simultaneously (or

repeated)Could be multiple unrelated story lines where the characters

are dealing with the same issues (Babel)

Literary examples: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Parallel plot structurePlots in which each main character has a separate but related

story line that merges in the end.Two stories of equal importance are told simultaneously (or

repeated)Could be multiple unrelated story lines where the characters

are dealing with the same issues (Babel, documentaries, )

Literary examples: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

ADVANTAGES OF PARALLEL PLOTS: Allows the author to make his point in a stronger way. Ensures the reader has more than one perspective on the situation or issue.

Sub-plotsA secondary story line that is not equal in strength and

intensity to the main plot. It must be relevant to the main plot.

Examples: A Christmas Carol - The main plot is Scrooge’s change of heart. Subplots are Tiny Tim’s sickness and Scrooge’s nephew’s attempt to engage his uncle

Star Wars - The main plot is Luke fighting the evil empire by confronting Darth Vadar and the Emporer. Subplots are Hans Solo escaping his enemies and becoming a good guy, R2D2 and C3PO.

Sub-plotsA secondary story line that is not equal in strength and

intensity to the main plot. It must be relevant to the main plot.

Examples: A Christmas Carol - The main plot is Scrooge’s change of heart. Subplots are Tiny Tim’s sickness and Scrooge’s nephew’s attempt to engage his uncle

Star Wars - The main plot is Luke fighting the evil empire by confronting Darth Vadar and the Emporer. Subplots are Hans Solo escaping his enemies, becoming a good guy, R2D2 and C3PO.

In action movies a lot of times the subplot could be the romance. Ex: Indiana Jones

ADVANTAGES OF SUBPLOTS: Makes stories more dimensional, creates different settings for the character to enter and respond to, immerses the audience in the culture presented in the story.