Introduction To Prose And Poetry

  Character A character is any person, personal, identity, or entity whose existence originates from a fictional work or performance. The people in a narrative are called characters. The author creates characters and presents his or her story through the actions and words of these characters. The author’s characterization, or means of developing a character so that they seem real, greatly affects one’s attitude toward individual characters and toward the story as a whole. Characters may simply be described, or they may reveal themselves through dialogue and action. Basically in a prose fictional narrative, there are two major characters, the protagonist and the antagonist. There are other characters too. They include the minor or supporting characters. The minor or supporting characters are involved in fewer actions or incidents in the work. Their roles are just to support the major characters in propelling the plot of the story. Characters are developed through appearance, wor...

 Elements of Fiction Just as a painter uses color and line to create a painting, an author uses the elements of fiction to create a story. The elements of fiction are: character, plot, setting, theme, and style. Of these five elements, character is the who, plot is the what, setting is the where and when, theme is the why, and style is the how of a story. Forster defines story as the chronological sequence of events and plot as the causal and logical structure which connects events (1927: 93). These definitions need some further clarification: A story is only a story if at least one event takes place that is something changes from state A to state B. Consider the following minimal stories: • The crocodile eats breakfast.  • Fred jumped out of bed.  • The king died. Compare to this:  • The house has blue shutters.  This last example is a description rather than a story precisely because no event takes place.  Notice also that events in a story involv...