WRITING ABOUT FICTION

The Nature of Fiction

Broadly defined, the term fiction refers to any narrative, in prose or in verse, that is wholly or in part the product of the imagination.

This includes plays, poems, folktales, parables, fables, legends, allegories, satires and romances -- all of which contained certain fictional elements.

Fiction should be regarded as a presentation or imitation of life and not to be confused with a literal transcription of life itself.

Fiction is REPRESENTED rather than REPORTED

Fiction is IMPLICIT rather than EXPLICIT Fiction has become more DRAMATIC rather

than NARRATIVE Fiction SHOWS rather than TELLS

Story versus Plot

A story could be defined as a narrative of events arranged in their time sequence.

A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality.

Conflict in a Plot

For a plot to begin, we need to have conflict. Conflict is a device through which the reader is given the information or material from which to conclude the “hows” and “whys” of what happens.

Two kinds of conflict

External conflict is when the protagonist is pitted against some object outside himself. This may reflect a basic opposition between man and society or between man and nature.

Internal conflict is when the issue to be resolved is confined to the protagonist’s psyche or personality. For example, in Conrad’s “The Secret Sharer,” when a young captain must conquer his insecurity and self-doubt to become the master of his ship.

The Five-Stage Structure of PlotThe traditional plot may be broken down as

follows; however, many plots do not follow in exact sense or sequence this breakdown.

a. Exposition b. Complication or rising action c. Crisis or climax d. Reversal or falling action e. Resolution

Exposition

the presentation of essential information, especially about what has occurred before this piece of action begins (background of characters and setting or a situation).

Complication or rising action

when the conflict is introduced. The conflict may exist between the protagonist and an antagonist, or between the protagonist and non-human factors such as fate, nature, or between the protagonist himself.

Crisis or climax

the decisive turning point. This is when the plot reaches its point of greatest emotional intensity, directly precipitating its resolution.

Reversal or falling action

once the crisis has been reached, the tension subsides and the plot moves towards its appointed conclusion. (Note: Sometimes there is no reversal or falling action).

Resolution or denouement

The final section of the plot. It records the outcome of the conflict.

Analyzing PlotIn approaching the work of fiction, we can analyze the plot by attempting to answer such questions:

What is the conflict? Is it internal, external or the combination or both?

What are the chief episodes that make up the plot? How is it arranged?

Compare the plot’s beginning and end. What essential changes have taken place?

Describe the plot in terms of its exposition, complication, crisis, falling action, and resolution.

Is the plot unified? Do the individual episodes logically relate to one another?

Is the ending appropriate to and consistent with the rest of the plot?

Is the plot plausible?

Point of View

A story must have a plot, characters, and a setting. It must also have a storyteller: a narrative voice, real or implied, that presents story to the reader. The narrative voice is the point of view, the method of narration that determines the position, or angle of vision, from which the story is told.

The point of view involves, among other things, the distance that the author wishes to maintain between the reader and the story and the extent to which the author is willing to involve the reader in its interpretation.

There are four basic points of view Omniscient Limited omniscient First-person Dramatic

Omniscient point of view (panoramic, shifting, or multiple point of view) The omniscient narrator is an all-knowing

presence. From a vantage point outside the story, the narrator is free to tell us much or little, to dramatize or summarize, etc.

The narrator firmly imposes himself between the reader and the story, and retains full and complete control over the narrative.

The narrator can direct the reader’s attention and control the source of information.

Limited omniscient point of view (third person or selective omniscient) The narrator retains the right of immediate access to

the work but moves the point of view inside by selecting a single character to act as the centre of revelation.

The reader’s knowledge of the events is always restricted to what his focal character can know or see.

The tightness of focus and control are the main advantages of this limited point of view as it provides the intensity that is suited to the story. It also works well as a means of creating and sustaining irony because it can exploit the disparity between what the focal character thinks he or she knows and the true state of affairs.

First person point of view

This view is tightly controlled and limited in its access to information.

Dramatic point of view (Objective point of view) The story is told by no one. The reader is left

largely on his own. There is no way of entering the minds of the characters; no evaluative comments are offered to the readers of how to respond to the events or the characters. Without the presence of the narrator, telling is replaced by showing (action and dialogue).

Reliable and Unreliable Narrators The omniscient and the dramatic point of

view could always be regarded as reliable narrators as they are placed outside the work and aids directly in its analysis and interpretation. However, when the narrative voice is positioned inside the work and belongs to a character, the reliability of this voice becomes questionable.

Characters

The term character applies to any individual in a literary work. The kinds of character include: protagonist, antagonist, flat, round, stock, dynamic, and static.

Methods of Characterization

Characterization through the use of names Characterization through appearance Characterization by the author Characterization through dialogue Characterization through action

Setting

In its broadest sense, setting encompasses both the physical locale that frames the action and the time of day or year, the climactic conditions, and the historical period during which the action takes place. Setting helps the reader to visualize the action of the work. It helps to create and sustain the illusion of life.

The Functions of SettingThese functions, however, are not mutually

exclusive: to provide background for the action as an antagonist as a means of creating appropriate

atmosphere as a means of revealing character as a means of reinforcing theme

Analyzing Setting How does the author go about establishing

setting? Does the author want the reader to see or feel the setting or does the author want the reader both to see and feel it? What details of the setting does the author isolate and describe?

Is the setting important? If so, what is its function? Is it used to reveal, reinforce, or influence character, plot, or theme?

Is the setting an appropriate one?

Tone and Style

Tone: It is used to characterize the special qualities of accent, inflection, and duration in a speaker’s voice.

Style: The distinctive quality of literature that sets it apart from all other forms of artistic expression is its reliance on language.

Theme Theme may mean the moral or lesson

that can be extrapolated from the work, as with one of Aesop’s fables. Theme could also refer to the basic issue, problem or subject with which the work is concerned: For example, “the nature of man,” “the discovery of truth,” or “the initiation into adulthood.”

In literature, theme is the central idea or statement about life that unifies and controls the total work. In this case, theme is not the issue, or problem, or subject with which the work deals. Rather, theme is the comment or statement the author makes about the subject as it necessarily and inevitably emerges from the interplay of various elements of the work.

Identifying ThemeThe following suggestions and comments may prove helpful in identifying the theme of a particular work:

The theme of a literary piece must not be confused with the work’s subject or situation. Theme is the abstract, generalized statement or comment that the work makes about a concrete subject or situation.

Try not to understate or overstate or even failing to discover the total significance of the theme of the story.

Make sure that the theme that is proposed is supported by the work’s other elements.

Titles may also provide clues about the theme.

Biographical and autobiographical explorations are helpful in discovering the theme in a work. They can tell us something about the author’s intentions.

Symbol Symbolism enhances fiction in such a way as

to help readers organize and enlarge their experience of the work.

Allegory is a technique for expanding the meaning of a literary work by having the characters and sometimes the setting and the events represent certain general abstract ideas, qualities, or concepts usually moral, religious, or political in nature.

What is the plot? Plot has two chief meanings:

what happens, the gist of the narrative the writer’s arrangement or structuring of the material

into a story

A plot has an introduction, a complication, and a resolution. As the story gets under way some difficulty or problem or complexity arises (usually a conflict of opposed wills or forces) and finally there is some sort of settling down. The end is denouement (French for “untying”).

What is foreshadowing?

The fiction writer provides a coherent world in which the details work together. Foreshadowing which eliminates surprise or at least greatly reduces it and thus destroys a story that has nothing except a surprise ending to offer is a powerful tool in the hands of a serious writer.

In preparing to write about foreshadowing: Reread the story; now that you know how it

ends, you ill be able to see how certain early details are relevant to the ending

Underline or highlight these details, and jot down brief notes in the margins

At a later stage in the process of writing, you will probably find it useful to jot down on a sheet of paper key phrases from the text and to annotate them

Why writers use symbols?

Writers use symbols as they want readers to perceive that certain characters or places or seasons or happenings have rich implications, stand for something more than what they are on the surface. Writers help us perceive these things by emphasising them, by describing them at some length or by introducing them at times when they might not seem strictly necessary or by calling attention to them repeatedly.

Elaborate on the following points of view: third-person narrators and first-person narratorsThird person point of view:

Omniscient narrator knows everything that is going on and can tell us the inner thoughts of all the characters.

Selective omniscient reveal the thoughts of one of the characters but seeing the rest of the characters from the outside only

Effaced narrator (dramatic or objective point of view) does not seem to exist for he does not comment in his own voice and does not enter any minds.

In writing about a third-person narrator, speak of “the narrator” or “the speaker” not of “the author.”

How do you determine and discuss the theme?

Story is concerned with “How does it turn out? What happens?” Theme is concerned with “What does it add up to? What motif holds the happenings together? What does it make out of life, and what wisdom does it offer?”