Elements of Fiction

Question 1

What is setting?

Answer 1

Term used to describe total environment in which the action of a narrative takes place. May include: geographical locations, characters’ physical and mental environment, cultural attitudes and historical time.

Question 2

What are the elements of setting? (3)

Answer 2

Location
Time
Weather

Question 3

Protagonist

Answer 3

Main Character in a Literary work

Question 4

Antagonist

Answer 4

Character opposed to the protagonist (villain)

Question 5

Flat or type character

Answer 5

two-dimensional character built around a single quality (NPC)

Question 6

Round character

Answer 6

three-dimensional character who is complex in temperament and motivation (detailed NPC)

Question 7

static character

Answer 7

character who changes very little if at all

Question 8

dynamic character

Answer 8

character who is modified by actions and experiences (changes)

Question 9

Image

Answer 9

sensory representation of a thing, impression, feeling or idea

Question 10

Symbol

Answer 10

an image that refers to something concrete in reality but that also evokes an additional, often abstract level of meaning

Question 11

types of symbols? (2)

Answer 11

conventional
contextual

Question 12

conventional symbol

Answer 12

symbols with meanings that are commonly understood by a society or a culture

Question 13

contextual symbol

Answer 13

symbols with meaning that are produced by the way they are used in a particular literary work

Question 14

What is irony?

Answer 14

Term used to denote that the appearance of things differs from their reality, whether in terms of meaning, situation or action. It is ironic when there is difference between what is spoken and what is meant.
Discrepancy between the ostensible and true meaning of words which is used to achieve special rhetorical or literary effects.

Question 15

Types of Irony (4)

Answer 15

Verbal
Situational
Dramatic
Structural

Question 16

Verbal Irony

Answer 16

Discrepancy between what is said and what is meant

Question 17

Situational Irony

Answer 17

Character intends for one thing to happen but another happens instead

Question 18

Dramatic Irony

Answer 18

When the reader knows more about the immediate circumstances or future events of a story than a character within.

Question 19

Structural Irony

Answer 19

Double level meaning is continued throughout a work by means of some inherent structural feature like naive hero or fallible narrator.

Question 20

Sarcasm

Answer 20

Type of verbal irony that is used to mock, ridicule or express strong disapproval

Question 21

Story

Answer 21

constituted by events that are ordered chronologically, sequence of events in time

Question 22

Plot

Answer 22

constituted by events that are ordered with aim of achieving particular emotional and artistic effect

Question 23

POV (7)

Answer 23

Focalizer
First-person
First-person multiple
Third-person omniscient
Third-person limited
Third-person multiple
Free indirect discourse

Question 24

Focalizer

Answer 24

character from whose perspective we are viewing a particular scene

Question 25

First-person

Answer 25

limits the narrative to what the narrator knows and experiences

Question 26

First-person multiple

Answer 26

uses first person but shifts between multiple characters

Question 27

Third-person omniscient

Answer 27

narrator knows everything that needs to be known about the agents, actions, events, etc. has privileged access to the characters’ thoughts. narrator free to move at will in time and place, report or conceal the thoughts of characters.

Question 28

Third-person limited

Answer 28

narrator tells story in third person, but stays inside the confines of what is experienced, thought and felt by a single character within the story

Question 29

Third-person multiple

Answer 29

uses third-person limited POV but shifts between multiple characters

Question 30

Free indirect discourse

Answer 30

mode of narration in which reports of what a character says and thinks shifts in pronouns, tense, etc.
ex. Yes, yes, he was finally rich (implied: John though).

Question 31

Special Effects (7)

Answer 31

Fallible or unreliable narrator
Narrative hook
Flashback
Flashforward
Foreshadowing
Frame story
Metafiction

Question 32

Fallible or unreliable narrator

Answer 32

a narrator whose perception is flawed or limited, whose opinions do not coincide with the author’s

Question 33

narrative hook

Answer 33

literary device in which author presents intriguing image or situation at the beginning of the narrative to capture attention

Question 34

flashback

Answer 34

literary device by which a work presents material that occurred prior to the opening scene of the work

Question 35

flashforward

Answer 35

literary device by which a work presents events that have not yet occurred in the main timeframe of the narrative

Question 36

foreshadowing

Answer 36

literary device in which author provides subtle hints about future plot developments

Question 37

frame story

Answer 37

a main story within which is narrated a connected series of other stories

Question 38

metaficition

Answer 38

foregrounds its own constructedness in order to highlight that it is fiction
self-referential