STORY ELEMENTS

Important Parts of a Novel

•Setting•Characters•Plot•Theme•Point of View

SettingTells when (time) and where (place) the story

takes placeSpecific: The summer of 2002 in Voorhees, N.J.General: A large city sometime in the future

Setting Clues: characters, lifestyles, transportation, dress, speech

Novels can have more than one setting – each has a time (when) and place (where)

CharactersThe people or animals in a storyDescribed by how they look, act, think,

or feelMajor Characters/Minor CharactersHow the characters are revealed:

What they say or thinkWhat they doWhat others sayPhysical characteristics/personality

traits

PlotSeries of events created by the author to tell a storyElements of a plot:

Exposition/Conflict – the basic problems, main goals

Rising Action – suspense, events before the climax

Climax – turning point, most exciting part

Falling Action – events after the climax

Conclusion/Resolution – how everything turns out, how the conflict was solved

Plot Diagram

Exposition/ Conflict

Climax

Resolution/Conclusion

Falling ActionRising Action

Theme• The underlying message or point

the author is trying to make• Ties the plot setting or characters

together– Example: Cinderella – Evil is punished, good is rewarded

Point of ViewThe position from which the events

in a story are told1st Person – the narrator is a character in the

storyClues: I, me, mine, we, ours

3rd Person – the narrator is someone outside the story

Clues: he, she, him, her, they, them, theirs

Sequence of EventsThe order in which events happen

Chronological – the order in which events actually happen

Interrupted – the events are listed in an order different than they actually happened

Cause and EffectCause – something that makes something

else happen, happens firstEffect – what happens because of the

cause, happens lastExamples:

Cause EffectThe boy kicked the ball.

The ball rolled.

He teased the dog. The dog growled.Sam studied very hard.

Sam earned an A.

Sara became tired. Sara went to bed.

Fictional GenresRealistic Fiction – everything in the story is

fiction, but could actually happen in real life

Tall Tale – a story based on possible occurrences but is exaggerated enough that it could not be true

Legend – a story about a person and heroic deeds or about a place surrounded by mystery. The story starts with a real event or person, but over the years the story grows and changes

SymbolismA symbol in literature is an object that

represents and idea or entire set of ideas

Peter Pan’s shadow is a symbol of reality. When he loses his shadow, it shows us how he has lost his sense of reality from being in Neverland.

AllusionsAn allusion is a reference to someone or

something that is known from literature, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports, or any other field that most people are familiar with.

Allusions enrich the reading experience and broaden the meaning of what is said or written.

Examples: He is a real Scrooge. You are opening up Pandora’s box. Hers is a real Cinderella story.Writers expect readers to recognize the

allusions.

Elements of a Good StorySettingPlotConflictClimaxResolutionThemeCharacterization