Five Pillars of Fiction

NOTE: The pillars can also be used in studying a longer piece of fiction (i.e., a novel), but separate pillars are used for non-fiction (i.e., essays, biographies...)

What is a Short Story?

A short story has had many definitions since its inception. The Poe definition is one that has had a lasting impression on the literary world, though contention has remained over what a suitable time for sitting is.

A more concrete definition of a short story is:a work of fiction longer than 1,000 words, but fewer than 20,000.

If a piece of fiction has fewer than 1,000 words, it is considered "flash fiction". If the piece of fiction contains more than 20,000 words, it is considered a novella (little novel).

Freytag's Pyramid

This style of narrative employs "I", "me", "myself" to tell the story through a singular lens. The reader is subject to the narrator's biases and prejudices. The reader may not be aware of the narrator's true intention of relating all of this information.

This method of narration has several pitfalls for readers: the reliability of the narrator (the most famous examples of unreliable first person narrators: "Turn of the Screw", "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd", and "The Yellow Wallpaper") because the narrator's thoughts are the sole basis of one person's analysis of events.

First person narratives can also come in the form of "frame narratives", wherein the narrator is relating events as told to them. In frame narratives, the narrator has very little to do with the action of the story. Famous examples of frame narratives include "Heart of Darkness" and "Wuthering Heights"

Five Pillars of Fiction

Protagonist v. Antagonist

The "good" guy in the story is the protagonist (though this may not always be the main character, or narrator) and the "bad" guy is the antagonist (though this may not always be the opposing force against the main character)

Flat/Static v. Dynamic/Rounded

When a character changes over the course of the story, they are called dynamic (changes in personality or behaviour) or rounded (complex character, with potentially unpredictable behaviour). If character stays the same over the course of a short story, they are called flat (a character who has a one dimensional personality, usually representative of a stereotype) or static (has stayed the exact same from the beginning of the novel to the end) characters. Static characters usually play a supporting role on the main character's journey of self-discovery.

Characterization

Without characters, the author would have a difficult time establishing a conflict. Characters drive a story.

Characters are generally human, though they can be inanimate objects, such as nature, or animals.

In novels, readers have the opportunity to watch as a character grows.

In a short story, because of its length, a character's growth is usually precipitated by an event in the story and is generally a dramatic shift.

Conflict Within Plot

Within the plot, there is conflict. There are several types of conflict and more than one type of conflict may be present.

These conflict are divided into internal and external conflicts.

External conflicts are: character v. nature, character v. character, character v. society

Internal conflicts are: Character v. self/conscience

Examples:

Character v. Nature: Survival movies/books (post-apocalypse etc.)

Character v. Character: Spiderman v. Hobgoblin

Character v. Society: Dystopian societies, unjust governments

Character v. Self/Conscience: Struggle over decisions, actions, questioning sanity

Plot

Without plot, there is not a story worth telling. A plot is what happens within the story; it is the driving narrative.

While occasionally, the plot may seem obscure or allegorical, there is still action. There is still something happening to someone.

A short story usually follows the Freytag Pyramid.

Setting

Imagery

Images that come to a reader's mind while they are reading a piece of fiction is called imagery.

Imagery is important because it adds realism and authenticity to a piece of writing.

Imagery can be evoked through metaphor or similes, or through the senses.

The basic idea of setting is the when. This is expanded to include not only the physical location, but the chronological location. Setting can also be linked to the theme of a story. If a story were to take place in a city, the state of the city can contribute to the theme (as well as the tone and atmosphere of the story). If the story takes place during a dark and stormy night, the setting is clearly ominous and foreboding.

The setting also provides contextual details for the reader to get situated within the story.

Food for Thought...

In the film 2001, a computer named HAL is controlling a flight to Jupiter. When the human crew decides to abort the mission, HAL—programmed to guarantee the success of the mission—“logically” begins to kill off the humans. Science fiction’s oldest theme: man develops a technology which he not only cannot control, it controls him.

Consider HAL’s name. Add one letter to each of the letters in his name. Change the H to I, the A to B, and the L to M. When you realize how close HAL is to IBM, the first response is disbelief. But clearly the closeness of the names is either an absolute accident or an intentional choice. As much as we are startled by the latter, we probably agree that the odds against the former—it being an accident—are astronomical.

Somebody thought that up. Or maybe a computer.

Narration

Tone

Mood

Fanciful

Frightening

Frustrating

Gloomy

Happy

Joyful

Melancholy

Romantic

Sentimental

Suspenseful

Angry

Amused

Formal

Gloomy

Informal

Light

Matter-of-Fact

Optimistic

Sarcastic

Suspicious

Witty

(cc) image by anemoneprojectors on Flickr

Tone vs. Mood

Tone = Author

Mood = Reader

Mood

Symbolism

is the general atmosphere created by the author’s words. It is the feeling the reader gets from reading those words. It may be the same, or it may change from situation to situation.

Narration in a short story influences the reader's perception of events, characters, setting, tone, etc.

There are several ways to identify the narration or point of view.

Narration can also vary within the piece of fiction, switching between any of the following styles, depending on the author's purpose.

Tone

Symbolism is a literary feature used to emphasis a point, a feature, or a theme. A symbol can be any kind of inanimate object, animate object, or even an ideal.

A symbol replaces a concrete idea with an abstract one.

Common symbols include red for passion (anger, love etc.), rose for love, dove for purity and innocence, black for death.

However, when examining symbols, the reader must keep in mind their own background and the literary background of the author. What may seem like an obvious symbol to the reader, the author may have intended differently.

Tone is the author’s attitude toward the writing (the characters, the situation, the conflict) and the readers. A work of writing can have more than one tone. An example of tone could be both serious and humorous. Tone is set by the setting, choice of vocabulary and other details.

Other Types of Narratives:

Narratives are not limited to these three points of view. There are several other narrative types that are found in literature such as:

- stream of consciousness (where the narrator puts to paper, ostensibly, every word that comes to mind, not thought is omitted ("Catcher in the Rye")

- epistolary narratives (the entire narrative is comprised of letters, telegrams, diary entries) ("Dracula")

- frame narrative (where there is a story within a story; two narrators relate different events: the first the external context and the second the actual story ("Wuthering Heights", "Heart of Darkness", "Life of Pi")

Narratives also use one of three tenses: past, present, or future, with the present tense being the most difficult to maintain over longer pieces of work.

Third Person Narrative

Third person narratives are more common, because of the variety of third person narratives available authors depending on their purpose.

Third person omniscient means that the narrator can see into every characters' thoughts and feelings and that nothing is hidden from the reader; the reader is aware of each characters' true motivations. This leads to dramatic irony.

Third person limited means that that narrator is limited to one or two characters' thoughts and feelings. The narrator cannot see the true motives behind each characters' actions.

Third person objective where the narrator does not have access to any of the characters' thoughts or feelings and describes only what would be observable to an outsider.

Second Person Point of View

Second person point of view is one of the hardest point of views to achieve because of its structure. Second person narratives employ "you" forms. In can be found in limited contexts in some novels, and is more commonly found in song lyrics. In adolescent literature, it is found in "Choose Your Own Adventure" novels.

First Person Narrative

Introduction:

Every story has elements that work to create a cohesive unit of writing. These elements can be broken into five parts or pillars.

These pillars are: characterization, plot, setting, theme, and style.

We will be looking at each of these pillars in detail to examine how they function as separate entities, but are each necessary.

Style

Style encompasses many things: narration, tone, point of view, imagery, symbolism etc.

Theme

The last pillar is theme.

Theme is sometimes the most difficult idea to understand because the author deliberately obfuscates theme. Theme is what the author would like the reader to take away from story without actually telling the reader.

A theme is usually an abstract concept, such as the importance of right vanquishing wrong. A theme can be forwarded through the use of symbols, imagery, characters (both round, flat, dynamic, and static), motifs etc.

Motif

A motif is a concrete recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature. This could be a symbol, or colour, or object that recurs through the text

A motif may also be two contrasting elements in a work, such as good and evil.

A motif can be constructed through continual use of imagery, symbolism, dialogue,

Motif and theme are different: a motif is concrete while a theme is abstract.

Intro to Short Story Unit

Recap:

Five pillars of fiction:

1) Setting

2) Characterization

3) Plot

4) Style

5) Theme

Edgar Allan Poe on Short Stories

The short story's great advantage, Poe maintained, was its ideal length, which was ample enough to produce "an intense and enduring impression" but short enough to be experienced at one sitting to produce a temporary "exultation of the soul" in the reader. (Gioia, 2001)