Complete today’s warm up

Turn in short stories to the paper tray on the back table

“Most Dangerous Game” follow-along due Friday, 11/8

Elements of Fiction

Setting

The setting is the place where the story takes place. Setting includes the following:

The geographical location (for example, Wyoming, London, Cairo, Vancouver)

The time period (for example, 1865, during WWII, today)

The socio-economic characteristics of the location (for example, wealthy suburbs, depression dustbowl)

The specific building, room, and so forth (for example, a prep school, a log cabin, a bus, a military base)

Setting

Can be used to tell readers about the characters:

That evening, TJ smelled the air, his nostrils dilating with the odor of the earth under his feet. “It’s spring,” he said, and there was a gladness rising in his voice that filled us all with the same feeling.

“It’s mighty late for it, but it’s spring”…We were all sniffing at the air, too, trying to smell it the way TJ did, and I can still remember the sweet odor of the earth under our feet. It was the first time in my life that spring and spring earth had meant anything to me.

Setting

Can be used to set the atmosphere for 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 Allen Poe

Characters

The people (or animals, things, etc. presented as people) appearing in a literary work.

Round Characters are convincing, true to life. Have many different and sometimes even contradictory personality traits.

Dynamic Characters undergo some type of change or development in the story, often because of something that happens to them.

Flat Characters are stereotyped, shallow, and often symbolic. Have only one of two personality traits

Static Characters do not change in the course of the story.

Characters

ProtagonistThe main character in a literary work (for instance, Percy Jackson in “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief” or Cinderella or Snow White in the fairy tales named for their characters)

AntagonistThe character who opposes the protagonist (for instance, Hades or Luke in “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief” or the wicked stepmothers in the fairy tales)

Methods of Characterization

Direct CharacterizationThe author develops the personality of a character by direct statements.

“Jack had been in basic training in Florida and Dottie was there on vacation with her parents. They’re met on the beach and struck up a conversation. Dottie was the talker, the outgoing one– the extrovert. Jack was too shy around girls to say much at all.”

“Furlough- 1944” by Harry Mazer

Methods of Characterization

Indirect CharacterizationRevealing a character’s personality through

The character’s thoughts, words, and actions

The comments of other characters

The character’s physical appearance

Indirect Characterization

through Thoughts“Moonbeam closed his eyes and pretended to sleep the rest of the way to Bamfield. He couldn’t believe what he had gotten himself into. How had this happened? He’s never held a gun in his life, much less gone hunting for animals.”

“Moonbeam Dawson and The Killer Bear” by Jean Okimoto

Indirect Characterization through Words

“That Ed Johnson,” said Anderson, watching the old mechanic scratch his head in confusion as the sales rep explained Dralco’s newest engine performance diagnostic computer. “He hasn’t got a clue about modern electronics. Give him a good set of tools and a stack of yellowing manuals with a carburetor needing repair, and he’d be happy as a hungry frog in a fly-field.”

Indirect Characterization through Actions

“The boy held his breath; he wondered whether his father would hear his heart beating…Through a crack in the counter he could see his father where he stood, one hand held to his high stiff collar…”

“I Spy” by Graham Greene

Indirect Characterization

through Appearance“Miss Kinney was young and blonde and bouncy and had a boyfriend who picked her up after school in a blue Camaro.”

“Here There Be Tygers” by Stephen King

Point of View

The perspective from which the story is told.

Who is telling the story? (for instance, is it a player on the home team, someone watching the game?)

How do we know what is happening?(for instance, does a character tell us?)

Omniscient Point of View

The author is telling the story directly (there is a direct narrator). This person knows everything about the story and characters.

“Myop carried a short, knobby stick. She struck out at random at chickens she liked, and worked out the beat of a song on the fence around the pigpen. She felt light and good in the warm sun. She was ten, and nothing existed for her but her song, the stick clutched in her dark brown hand, and the tat-de-ta-ta-ta of accompaniment.”

“The Flowers” by Alice Walker

Limited Omniscient Point of View

Third person, told from the viewpoint of one character in the story. The reader knows the thoughts/actions of one character, but only sees the world through that character’s eyes.

“They all laughed, and while they were laughing, the quiet boy moved his bare foot on the sidewalk and merely touched, brushed against a number of red ants that were scurrying about on the sidewalk. Secretly, his eyes shining, while his parents chatted with the old man, he saw the ants hesitate, quiver, and lie still on the cement. He sensed they were cold now.”

“Fever Dream” by Ray Bradbury

First Person Point of View

Told from the viewpoint of one of the characters, using the first person pronoun “I”.

“The thousands of injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I give utterance to a threat.”

“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe

Theme

Theme is the central idea or central message of the story. It usually contains some insight into the human condition– telling something about humans and life.

The theme can be stated directly or implied by the events and actions in the story.

Symbolism

A symbol represents an idea, quality, or concept larger than itself.

A journey can symbolize life

A lion can symbolize courage.

A red rose can symbolize love.