ELEMENTS OF
FICTION
Plot, Characters, Setting, Theme, and Point of View
Ms. Adame
8 th Grade Language Arts
Parts of a Fictional Story
•All fictional stories have
•Plot
•Point of View
•Setting
•Characters
•Theme
•Mood/Tone
Plot Vocabulary
1. plot: series of actions and events
of a story.
2. conflict: a struggle between two
opposing forces. Conflict causes
the action.
3. exposition: introduction to the story;
it gives background information that is
necessary to understand the story. It
consists of• characters: who or what the story is
about
• setting: time and place of the story
• basic problem: the main problem of the
story (the main character wants
something, but someone or something
gets in the way.)
4. rising action: sequence of events leading up
to the climax. Suspense begins to
build/things get interesting.
5. climax: the turning point; the most
interesting part of the story. Something
happens that changes the plot; the main
character changes in some way.
6. falling action: sequence of events leading to
the conclusion. The conflict begins to get
resolved.
7. resolution: the end or conclusion. All the
loose strings are tied together.
Plot Diagram
(copy in composition book)
THE TURNING
POINT
Climax
Exposition
Resolution
Plot Analysis of Boy Named Sue
•Exposition:
1. Characters: Sue and Dad
2. Setting: Gatlinburg in mid July
3. Basic problem: Sue hates his name and wants to get revenge
against his father for naming him Sue, but he does not know
where his father is.
•Rising Action
1. A boy is named Sue by his father
2. The father abandons his wife and child
3. Sue grows up being teased about his name
4. Sue becomes a fighter
5. Sue vows to find and kill his father
6. Sue finds his father playing cards in a saloon in Gatlinburg
Plot Analysis of Boy Named Sue
(continued)
•Climax: Sue approaches his father and says, “My name
is Sue! How do you do! Now you’re gonna die!”
•Falling Action
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sue and his father fight
Sue and his father pull guns on each other
The father explains his reasoning behind naming him Sue
The father says Sue should thank him for making him
tough
•Resolution: Sue sees his name from a new perspective
and throws down his gun. He decides not to kill his
father, but resolves to give his own son a better name.
Plot Diagram
Sue approaches
his father and
says, “My name
is Sue! How do
you do! Now
you’re gonna
die!”
Climax
Exposition
Resolution
Point of View
An automobile accident occurs. Two drivers are involved.
Witnesses include four sidewalk spectators, a policeman, a
man with a video camera who happened to be shooting the
scene, and the pilot of a helicopter that was flying overhead.
Here we have nine different points of view and, most likely,
nine different descriptions of the accident.
In fiction, who tells the story and how it is told are critical
issues for an author to decide. The tone and feel of the story,
and even its meaning, can change radically depending on who
is telling the story.
Remember, someone is always between the reader and the
action of the story and is telling the story from his or her own
point of view. This angle of vision, the point of view from
which the people, events, and details of a story are viewed, is
important to consider when reading a story.
Point-of-View
•The view from whose eyes the story
is being told (where you place the
camera)
•There are three major types of
point-of-view
First Person
•the story is told from the viewpoint
of one character who narrates the
story.
•Pronouns “I,” “me,” and “my” are
mostly used.
•Key element: Narrator is a character
in the story. Narrator is not reliable.
Third Person Limited
•Uses an outside narrator who is not
involved in the story.
•Pronouns used are mostly “he,”
“she,” and “they.”
•Key element: Narrator does not
know what is in other characters’
minds. Narrator can only tell what is
observable about other characters.
Third Person Omniscient
•The narrator is not a character in the
story.
•Pronouns mostly used are also “he,”
“she,” and “they.”
•Key element: This narrator has
access into ALL characters’ minds
and can tell what they are ALL
thinking, feeling, and doing.