The theme is the controlling or main idea of the novel or story. Theme may also contain a statement about life, but it dosent always.
Setting
Mood
The spiritual or emotional setting of a story. Any word that names an emotion can describe the mood of a story: happiness, sadness, frustration, anger, fear etc.
Physical setting
Is the time and place in which the story occurs. A short story has one setting, but the action in a novel may occur in several places over an extended period of time.
Plot
5 Key Elements of a Novel
Plot is the action that happens in a novel, plays, movies, stories, and narrative poems. In a novel there will be one main plot and several subplots or lesser plots. A short story contains one plot. Plot has four different parts.
Conflict
Conflict occurs when an obstacle prevents someone from achieving his or her goal.
The 4 parts to Plot
Introduction or initial incident
Falling Action
The explanation given to tie up loose ends, and tells the outcome of the story.
- Introduction or initial incident
- Rising action
- Climax
- Falling action
Gives you the time and place in which a story occurs. The introduction should get your attention and it should succeed in interesting you enough to make you want to finish the story
There are 3 different types of conflict.
Character
- Person against person
- Person against Environment
- Person against self
Rising Action
The gradual building of tension or action in a plot.
Person against self
Person against person
Climax
The point at which the tension or action that has been building up finally comes to a head. The climax is the highest point in a story; the point where the reader is certain that the main character is either going to achieve the goal or fail to.
Conflict can occur between people. If two people were competing in a race, each with the goal of winning, a conflict is going to occur. The winner will be an obstacle that the other person couldn’t overcome to achive their goal.
People may experience conflict within themselves, called an inner conflict. This often has to do with competing values.
Person against environment
Characters do the action in a novel. They must seem real so that the reader can identify with them.
Conflict can also occur between people and their environment. The environment can be either physical (ex. nature) or social (ex. a culture or society).
Antagonist
Is attempting to stop the protagonist from reaching the goal.
Protagonist
Is the person attempting to achieve a goal in a novel.
Minor characters
Appear once and a while and rarely affect the outcome of the story.
Major characters
Those who plays a main part in the story, and who are affected by or who influenced events.
Appearance
Tells us what the character looks like (eg. Body structure, facial features, clothes, posture. etc.).
Personality
Tells us what a person is like, how he or she thinks, feels, and acts.