FICTION
THE MEANING OF THE WORD FICTION
In everyday life, fiction usually refers to something untrue or made up.
In literature, fiction refers to a genre characterised by the narration of a sequence of events
connected by cause and effect.
WHAT IS A NOVEL?
Nowadays when we speak of fiction, we generally mean the novel.
The novel is a fictional form which originated and became popular in Britain at the beginning of the
eighteenth century. Since then its popularity has constantly increased so that today a novel is one of
the most common forms of reading for entertainment.
THE STRUCTURE OF A NOVEL
A novel is built up according to specific conventions.
When writing a novel, an author chooses those conventions he/she considers appropriate to the
effects he/she wants the novel to have on the reader. The writer is also free to adapt them or create
new conventions if he is not satisfied with the existing ones.
GUIDELINES FOR READING FICTION
Reading essentially means understanding what the writer wants to tell us. This is not always easy as
it sounds, it implies recognising what fictional conventions are at work in the text and what
meaning can be extracted from them.
We shall see how some of the basic fictional conventions function in a narrative text.
We will use five simple questions as guidelines:
1. Who is telling the story ? (this question will deal with the narrator and the narrative point
of view). A narrative always implies a narrator, not to be identified with the author, who is
the narrative voice an author chooses for particular reasons. This choice always influences
the way the story is told.
2. What is the story about? (this question will deal with the content of the story and some
features like place, time, characters and events.) A narrative usually consists of a story of
some kind. The story builds up a fictional world with a setting (place and time), events and
characters. There is a traditional pattern according to which most of the stories can be
illustrated:
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- BEGINNING (Presentation of the situation)
- EVENT (Starting the story)
- SUBSEQUENT EVENTS (Adventures or consequences)
- END (Initial situation changed, maintained or re-established)
3. To whom is the story told? (this question will deal with the reader and the reading public
at large.) When writing a story an author has always in mind an imaginary reader, the
implied reader, who is not to be identified with the real one, because a book can be read by
different people in different places and at different times (and often in different centuries).
Sometimes the narrator addresses the reader directly by using the pronoun you.
4. How is the story told? (this question will deal with the way an author uses fictional
conventions and language). Many aspects should be taken into account. First of all the point
of view, that is the angle or angles from which the story is told. The choice of the narrator is
one of the main elements that creates the point of view. Then you should consider the way
the story is told, that is you should pay attention to narration, description and dialogue.
The type of language used is also very important. NARRATION is used to relate events in
chronological sequence, DESCRIPTION is used to describe people and places, (it is often
mixed with narration), DIALOGUE is the technique used to show characters’ personality
and behaviour through their own words.
5. Why is the story told? (this question will deal with the author’s purpose and the text’s
main theme). The purpose that lies behind a work of fiction is the aim of the author in
telling a particular story. The purpose may be simply one of entertainment, but, even when
the author’s main intention is to entertain his readers, you can often find some additional
meaning in the text which may be more serious.
SHORT STORIES VS NOVELS
The most striking and obvious difference between a novel and a story is length. The short story is
characterised by brevity, it often deals with one crucial event or psychological moment from which
the reader is intended to infer a wider reality. Characters may be just suggested rather than fully
described. The novel is much longer. It can build up a complex world and include a variety of
characters who develop in the course of the novel as they could do in real life, and a variety of
events which can be related to one another in intricate ways.
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STORY AND PLOT
When talking about a narrative we will distinguish between story and plot.
The story is what the author has in mind, that is the mere chronological and linear development of a
series of events; the plot is the way in which an author decides to tell these events, the sequence of
events and actions as presented by the writer. The plot is not simply the story therefore, but the way
the story is told in order to create a certain effect. The narrator may choose to postpone or
anticipate some essential information to increase the reader’s curiosity.
TYPES OF PLOTS
Plots may be very simple or highly intricate according to the aim of the novel. They can also be
organised in different ways according to different aims.
Plots can be based:
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On social or political issues
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On historical events (historical novel, ex. Walter Scott)
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On the psychological or moral growth of one character
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On journeys
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On suspense and mystery (crime stories, detective stories, ex. Agatha Christie)
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Scientific discoveries or technological progress (science fiction, ex. Isaac Asimov)
FICTIONAL VS CHRONOLOGICAL TIME
The organisation of a plot involves some interference with the linear sequence of chronological
time. A writer can anticipate or postpone some events in order to create a certain effect.
In fiction we are always faced with two sequences of time:
1. the time of the story, that is chronological time
2. the time of the plot, which is also called fictional time
There is almost never exact or close correspondence between the two sequences of time (for
example the main story of Great Expectation by Charles Dickens covers twenty-seven years but it
does not take twenty-seven years to read the novel because the events develop much faster than in
real life)
STORY PATTERN
Only a the end you can see the story pattern, that is the way the plot is organised as a whole.
The pattern that we learned to apply to the structure of short stories (see point 2, what is the story
about?) usually becomes more complex in a novel because one main plot can be related to various
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subplots. There may be more than one starting event while the final outcome may not only change,
maintain or re-establish the initial situation but may also have an “open” ending which leave some
question unanswered.
HOW TO DEAL WITH NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
When dealing with the narrative structure you should consider:
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the difference between story and plot to see how the plot is organised
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the emphasis which is given to some events at the expense of others and for what purpose
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the difference between chronological time, or the time of the story, and fictional time, or the
time of the plot, to establish what parts are dealt with in detail
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the possible relationship of the initial situation to the final outcome of the story
NARRATORS
A story or novel can be told in a number of different ways. The two most traditional techniques are
use of:
1. First person narrator. In this case the author employs the “I” mode, this narrator can
coincide with the narrator or a character. The choice of this narrator can have different
functions, for example:
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to bring the reader close to the mind and feelings of the narrator
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to convey an impression of reality
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to restrict the reader’s view
2. Third person narrator. In this case events may be described from the narrator’s detached
position or from the perspectives of one or more characters. When this narrator knows and
revels everything about the actions and the characters’ thoughts and intentions he/she is
called omniscient narrator. The third person omniscient narrator can be obtrusive when he
continually steps into the story addressing the reader directly and offering personal remarks
and digressions or providing a comment on the society of the time and on some of the
characters. He/she is unobtrusive when he is detached, objective (the point of view is not
explicitly stated but sometimes can be inferred from the tone) and does not interfere in the
story. On the other hand the third person omniscient narrator can be non-omniscient when
he/she does not know everything and leaves much to the reader’s judgement and
interpretation.
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POINT OF VIEW
A story can be told from inside the world of the story, as in the case of the fist person narrator or
from outside the story, as in the case of the omniscient narrator. It can be told from a fixed point of
view, which can be wide, as in the case of the omniscient narrator which dominates the whole
world of the story, or narrow, as in the case of the first person narrator. It can also be told from a
shifting point of view, as in modern fiction where the story is usually narrated from different points
of view.
CHARACTERS
How characters are developed
A writer can bring his characters to life in different ways.
Basically there are two techniques of characterisation:
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A writer can show characters using dialogue, monologue or interior monologue
therefore the reader has to infer the features of the characters from their actions,
thinking, feelings and interaction with others. The reader is free to interpret and draw
conclusions from what is said with little or no help from the narrator. Showing the
character in interaction with the others helps to create a more realistic atmosphere in the
novel.
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Or he/she can tell the reader about them. In this case he/she can use description,
narration or show other characters talking about the character concerned. Telling the
reader about character will involve the writer in detailed description of their personality
and appearance and the reasons of their behaviour. This second method allows the reader
little liberty to form an opinion because he is required to trust everything the writer says
about a particular character. Telling helps to give a psychological depth to the portrait of
the character.
Types of character
In a full-length novel, covering a long chronological time, the main characters may undergo various
degree of development. A character’s development is an important aspect to take into account when
analysing fiction. We can draw a broad distinction between flat and round characters:
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Flat characters are usually two-dimensional, based on a few features and do not undergo
any change in the course of the novel or short story. Because of this lack of development
these characters are often referred to as closed characters.
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Round characters on the other hand are three dimensional, more complex and more like
real people. They usually undergo some kind of change, often a radical one, either in their
feeling or in their outlook on life. They are sometimes called open characters.
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