Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.

LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr. and Hazel R. Barcelos

MODULE 4
FICTION: NATURE, ELEMENTS, AND CHARACTERISTICS
Brief Introduction or Description

This module contains a comprehensive discussion of fiction with emphasis on its elements, types, and
characteristics. Further, this includes the steps in writing fictional stories.
Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the module, you should be able to:

1. Distinguish fiction from other literary forms and genres

2. Identify the elements of fiction as reflected in a given literary text

Pre-Discussion Activities Recitation

1. What makes fiction different from non-fiction?

2. How can we say that a fictional story is good? What elements are involved?

Lesson 4

FICTION
The very nature of fiction is difficult to classify. In essence, defining fiction is by saying what it is not. Unlike poetry, fiction is
usually written in paragraphs, not verses. Instead of lines, we have sentences, marching one after the other like a row of
obedient ants. But fiction still uses figurative language, metaphor, and narrative, and the weight of one’s choice of words is
still important. Unlike drama, fiction is seldom performed in front of an audience: one consumes a short story or a novel in the
privacy of one’s home. It is a one-on-one correspondence between the reader and the writer. Unlike the essay which relies
on a version of the truth from memory, fiction is created using imagined events, characters, and even places, which means that it
cannot possibly have happened in real life. In other words, to write fiction is to lie.

When we talk about fiction, we can say that fiction is something that is created using words either written or spoken, and is
made up from the imagination of the person creating that piece of fiction. In literature, fiction takes the general form of the
short story and the novel. The main difference between the two is the word count: a short story is anywhere between 1,000 and
10,000 words, while anovelisanywherefrom30,000wordsandbeyond.Infact,onecanclassifyfictionbasedonitslength.

Classification Word Count

Flash fiction 100 – 1,000 words
Short story 1,000 – 10,000 words
Novellete 10,000 – 20,000 words
Novella 20,000 – 30,000 words
Novel 30,000 words and beyond.
Another word for fiction is story, and perhaps this is the best place to start when attempting to define fiction as a genre of
literature. When we talk about a story, we usually refer to something interesting that happened over a given period of time.
More often than not, we use stories to entertain, to educate, and to express ourselves to other people.

In literary terms, a story is an imagined narrative. Narration is a rhetorical mode used as a pattern of paragraph development. It
involves placing a sequence of events in a logical order to create coherence and understanding. This mode is still used in

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 Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.
LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr. and Hazel R. Barcelos

creating a story. The difference is that in a story, the narration hinges on a turning point or a significant moment in the imagined
narrative.

Furthermore, a literary story – the kind of imagined narrative that becomes book and films and TV shows – has certain elements
that gather together to create the turning point in a narrative.

More often than not, there are six basic elements of fiction and they are:

1. PLOT – the sequence of events in a story. This usually includes the conflict of the story as well as its resolution.
2. CHARACTERS – the individuals in the story. This includes the protagonist or the main character, and the antagonist, or the
main villain in the story. Characters do not have to be human beings; they can also be inanimate.
3. POINT OF VIEW – the position in which the story is being told and the manner of its telling.
4. VOICE AND DIALOGUE – how speech is rendered in a story, either as the narrator talking to the reader or characters talking to
each other.
5. SETTING – where and when the story take place.
6. THEME – what the story is trying to say about the human condition.

PLOT

The writer, E. M. Forster, famously differentiated plot and story like this: An example of a story is,“The king died, and then the queen
died. Plot, on the other hand, is “The king died, and so the queen died of grief.” In other words, plot examines the causality of
each event, usually connected by the phrase “and so”. Plot provides us with a more in-depth understanding of how and why
each event follows the other, and provides us with a logical framework or a pattern to explain why these events occur in a
certain order.

In ancient Greek drama, this was known as the mythos, and the philosopher Aristotle considered mythos to be the most important
element of drama. This can be seen in traditional Greek drama, which is usually divided into three parts: Act I or the protasis, Act II or
the epitasis, and Act III, the catastrophe. This consideration was carried over into dramatic structure, which is essential in crafting
the structure of the plot. Gustav Freytag, a German dramatist in the nineteenth century, used Aristotle as jumping off point and
restructured the dramatic plot, which he said can be divided into five parts.

1. Exposition – this is also known as the introduction. The setting, point of view, and the main character’s situation at the beginning of
the story are introduced here.
2. Rising Action – this is where the inciting incident occurs: the moment that starts the story moving along, and the main
character encounters more and more difficulties the further along the story he or she progresses.
3. Climax – this is the pinnacle of the story, where all the events in the rising action arrive at this point. This is usually where
your character needs to make a choice that would have long-lasting consequences.
4. Falling Action – this is the “untangling of knots” in a story. This is when the consequences of the choices made by the
characters are finally dealt with.
5. Resolution – the ending of the story. This may be open-ended, with an option to be continued in the imagination of the
reader, or closed, with every plot point accounted for by the end of the story.

The plot moves because of the main character’s motivation, or what the main character wants. If a character does not want
anything, then the story does not progress. The main character’s motivation is usually hindered or halted by someone else’s
motivation that runs corollary to the main character. This creates conflict, which moves not only the story along, but also
forces the main character to act, make decisions, and deal with the consequences of these decisions.

Conflictcan be classified as internal orexternal,and can be further subdivided into three types:

1. Man vs. Himself/Herself – an internal conflict, in which the characters struggle with themselves regarding moral or
ethical choices.
2. Man vs. Man - an external conflict, in which two or more characters are up against each other because of different
motivations.

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 Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.
LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr. and Hazel R. Barcelos

3. Man vs. Nature – an external conflict, in which the characters are up against the forces of nature or circumstances in which
they have no control. (Other references include Man vs. Society and Man vs. Supernatural).

As we can see, plot is not just a sequence of events or a series of cause-and-effect moments, but an understanding of how
each decision is connected to each other and how each cause may have consequences.

CHARACTER

Fictionalcharactersareusuallymadeup ofthreeparts:appearance,attributes,andaspirations.

Appearance refers to the physicality of the character. This does not just refer to what they look like I visual level – hair color, eye
color,body shape and size – but other sensory details as well.

Attributes refer to the personality and preferences of the character. They can be kind or mean, introvert or extrovert, like ice cream
or know every word of their favorite song. In other words, attributes describe what your character is like outside of the plot of your
story.

Aspirations refer to the motivation of the character. In other words, this answers the question,
“What do they want?”.

Furthermore, most stories usually have a cast of characters to provide for different points of view to move the plot along. They can
be classified in different ways.
Presence Position Characterization Movement
-refersto howoften we see -referstowhetherthe reader - the manner of creating or - how far the plot of your
the character/s in the story is for or against the portraying a character in a character moves along
motivation of the character story.
Major Protagonist Round Dynamic
Major characters are usually The major character whose Round characters are Dynamic characters usually
point-of-view characters and motivation the audience portrayed using all three exist throughout theentire
are central to the plot of the believes and empathizes aspects of a character plot. A change usually occurs
story with (appearance, attributes, and in their characterization
aspirations) (e.g., from a coward to a
brave person)

Minor Antagonist Flat Static Static

Minor characters only appear The major character whose Flat characters are characters usually exist
in specific scenes or have motivation the audience portrayed using only one or only during a certain
specific role and are not does not believe or two aspects of a character. section of the plot.
central to the plot of the empathize with They exist tosupport round Theircharacterization
story. characters. does not change (e.g.,
a coward remains a
coward.

Putting all these things together to create characters is what we call characterization. There are four major ways of
characterizing anyone in your story. These are:

1. Direct characterization – this is when you directly describe the characters in terms of their appearance or even
their attributes.
2. Indirect characterization – this is when you allow the audience to slowly recognize who the characters are and
what kind of person they are.
3. Comparative characterization – this is when you show the flaws or strengths of your character compared to other
characters in the story.
4. Active characterization – this is when you allow the character’s actions, movements, or physicality
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 Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.
LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr. and Hazel R. Barcelos

to show the reader what kind of person they are.

Whichever form of characterization you choose, you must remember to craft your characters consistently. This means that
your characters stay true to the way you created them and do not do anything out of the character.

POINT OF VIEW

Point of view is usually related to character, but there are also stories that employ multiple points of view that may have nothing to
do with character. Point of view is the perspective from which a story is told or narrated. There are three broad categories of
point of view.
1. First Person – uses the pronouns “I, me, my” and variations thereof. It is usually assumed that the one
who is telling the story from this perspective is the narrator of the story.

2. Second Person – uses the pronouns “you, yours, ours” and variations thereof. This is the least used
perspective, because it assumes that the reader is a character in the story.

3. Third Person – uses the pronouns “he, she, it, they” and variations thereof. This assumes that the narrator of the story is
omniscient and is not involved in the characters’ lives and the events of the story.

If you are trying to figure out which point of view is most suitable to the story you want to tell, you can take a look at the chart
below to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each point of view.

Points of View Pros Cons

- Intimacy - Limited
First - Can create a deep bond - Based on observation (and
between the reader and the speculation) of the
character consciousness
- Places the reader in the - Can be gimmicky
Second character’s shoes - Unorthodox
- Requires technical control
- Not bound to one - Requires control of the
consciousness consciousnessbeing used
Third - Distance is modulated by the - Multiple POVs can be
reader and the consciousness problematicunlessthe writer sets
- The writer must limit or select what out to mark that for the readers
the narrator talks about - What appears unconventional
- Once you introduce a POV might remove the readersfromtheir
character, be consistent suspension of disbelief

Whichever you choose, you must remember that the narrator is crucial to the success of your story. The narrator is the
one whose point of view is being used to show the story to the reader. Because fiction is an artifice, the point of view can also be
considered as an artificial lens with which to view the narrative. We can always assume that there is more to a story than meets
the eye – it just so happens that the writer wants us to follow a specific angle or direction in the story. In other words, the
narrator who tells us the story may or may not be telling the truth of the story. This makes the narrator either reliable or
unreliable.

A reliable narrator is one whom the audience can believe in and usually fades into the background, allowing the
events in the plot and the actions of the character to take center stage. He tells the story unobstrusively, and therefore, because
the readers forget he is there, he can be believed that he is telling the truth.
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 Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.
LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr. and Hazel R. Barcelos

The unreliable narrator, on the other hand, is a point of view that is deliberately inconsistent or opposite of what is
happening in the plot. Usually, it includes narrators that are involved in some way or form with the story as it unfolds, and
therefore provide another platform for the readers to figure out who is believable and who is not believable. According to
William Riggan, a German author, there are five kinds of unreliable narrators.
1. The Picaro is an unreliable narrator who always exaggerates or brags about his own abilities even though he may not have
done them all. An example of this is the character Humbert from Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita.
2. The Madman is an unreliable narrator who is either experiencing mental illness such as schizophrenia, paranoia, or dissociative
identity disorder, or is mentally defending himself because of post- traumatic stress or other psychological disorders.
An example of this is the character of Esther Greenwald from The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, who descends into
schizophrenia and requires psychological treatment as the novel progresses.
3. The Clown is an unreliable narrator who does not take narration he is performing seriously and intentionally makes fun
of the characters, the narrative, or even himself. An example of this is the character Bras Cubas from Joaquim Maria
Machado de Assis’s The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas.
4. The Naif is an unreliable narrator whose perceptions are either too immature or limited through his point of view, which
makes the character seem either innocent or ignorant about the events in the narrative. An example is The Great Gatsby by
F. Scott Fitzgerald.
5. The Liar is usually an unreliable narrator who deliberately confuses the reader throughout the narrative, usually to
hide his shameful past. An example of this would be Holden Caulfield from JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, who
consciously tells the reader about an invented character background for the reader to sympathize with him.

As you may have noticed, point of view is strongly tied with characterization, as well as the progression of a plot.
An effective point of view is just as important as a well-structured plot or a clearly characterized protagonist.

VOICE AND DIALOGUE

Tone is an attitude of the writer toward his subject matter or writing, and relies exclusively on the writer’s personal feelingsor opinions
towardthe topiche is writingabout.

Voice of story refers to the tone or style of a particular literary piece. This is different from tone because it refers to the specific
diction or arrangement of words that each writer is known for. Voice and tone contribute to the execution of the story or the
manner in which it is written.

Dialogue refers to the conversational exchange between two or more people. Dialogue is usually used as a means of
characterization, as well as a technique to move the plot along.

The word “dialogue” comes from the Greek words dia and logos, which can be literally translated into “to speak across,”
implying that there is an exchange of words between two or more speakers. Dialogue facilitates the flow of meaning, which
can be interpreted correctly or misinterpreted by the participants of the dialogue.

Four Ways of Writing Dialogue

1. Direct Dialogue usually happens in the moment. This is usually enclosed in quotation marks and preceded by “He said”
or “She said”. It is part of the action of the scene. It can be interrupted by narration, characterization, or description,
which can work to serve the pace of the story.
2. Indirect or Reported Dialogue is the dialogue that happens off-screen and is usually summarized or reported by the narrator.
It compresses unnecessary dialogue while at the same time establishes that a conversation has taken place.
3. Stylized dialogue usually tries to mimic the manner of speech of a character, including the accents and inflections that are
usually abandoned by the writer in an effort to make the language conform to its grammatical and syntactical rules. But since
language is also fluid, using stylized dialogue helps paint an even more effective characterization through speech patterns.

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 Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.
LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr. and Hazel R. Barcelos

4. Asynchronous dialogue is a dialogue that does more than convey information or an exchange of ideas, but also functions
on a figurative or metaphorical scale. This usually works in conjunction with other actions of the characters or the way the
events are unfolding.
SETTING
- refers to the place and time where the story takes place. This grounds the story in a physical sense. It creates the parameters of
the fictional dream. The setting can be something as simple as describing the room a character walks into, to something as
complex and complicated as creating fictional world. When we talk about setting, we usually start with the mise-en-scene or the
establishing of the scene. This is the first description of the setting that allows the reader to believe in the space you are creating.

1. Place and Space – Place refers to the physical world inhabited by a character or where the story takes place. This refers
to either the geographic or topographic features of the setting, which in turn influences how the character moves or acts in
the space. This can also refer to the spatial understanding of the character of the world they inhabit, or how they
interact with the place.
2. Time can refer to three things: the historical period or kind of society that the story is taking place, the passage of time
within the story, or how the character perceives the movement of time in the story.
3. Mood/Atmosphere is the combination of time and space (and even point of view) to create an emotional landscape
felt throughout the story.

THEMATIC ELEMENTS
Theme is essentially the central idea in your story. It is the overarching narrative of emotional or symbolic resonance in your story
and usually answers the question, “What is your story about?”

The thematic statement is the writer’s intention about the theme. Essentially, it is trying to convey what the writer thinks or feels about the
subject he or she is writing about.

Thematic concept, on the other hand, is what the reader thinks the work is about, based on the clues that the writer left behind.

Symbols refer to objects that represent, stand for, or suggest an idea, belief, concept, and abstraction that may not
otherwise be rendered into concrete images. In addition, context is the arrangement of the other elements around the
symbol. There are several kinds of symbolism used in literary texts.

1. Motif/Leitmotif is a repetition of a symbol in a story. It can be an object, an action, a word or phrase, or even a
description. Motifs are dependent on the fictional world of the story and may not carry any meaning in the real world.
2. Tropes are common literary devices, motifs, or figurative language that occur across several creative works. Tropes can
be identified by the way they are commonly used by creators.
Examples of common tropes in stories are: a boy falls in love with a girl who does not love him back; the monster in the closet; or
the ordinary, everyday person becomes the hero.
3. Archetypes usually refer to character templates in a story that fulfill a certain function. For instance, we know that the
hero is usually the protagonist of the story or that the wise old man is a figure of wisdom and full of advice.
4. Allusions reference events or objects beyond the story that the writer assumes the reader knows about. The reader
is the one who connects the reference in the fictional piece to its corresponding reference in the real world.
5. Allegory is also known as an extended metaphor and uses characters and events in literary or other art forms to
represent and symbolize abstractions.
NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES
There are many ways to get the creative juices flowing, and here are some techniques on how to harness them for your own
writing.

1. Pick up a book and read.

2. Use bookmarks.
3. Make lists.
4. Keep a story journal or baul.
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 Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.
LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr. and Hazel R. Barcelos

5. Free writing

A scene is a dramatic unit that begins at one fixed point in time and ends in another. It is composed of a
sequence of actions that affect one another directly.

Since the writer can manipulate time and pacing in the story, there are different techniques that can be used
to move forward and backward in time. These are the following:

1. Foreshadowing means to provide hints of future events. Usually, the logic of storytelling dictates that for every decision,
there is always a consequence. Foreshadowing provides a hint of that consequence.

2. In medias res literally means “in the middle of things”. Usually, the exposition begins right in the middle of the action
without an explanation as to how the story got there. There is minimal background description or setting, instead
leaving the explanation of the action toward the middle of the story.

3. Flashback is when the narrative moves backward in time, usually as a memory or remembrance of how the past
influenced the current goings-on in the narrative, while flash forward is when the narrative moves forward in time,
usually providing a glimpse of the consequences of the present- day action or activities of the characters.

WRITING FICTION

Now that you are familiar with the elements of fiction and you know basic narrative techniques to create a story, it’s about
time for you to put pen to paper and begin writing your story. Here are a few things you should be mindful of when
reviewing your draft.
Conceptualization. All writing starts with an idea. Sometimes, ideas are helped along by limitations, such as genre (Are you
writing a realistic or a nonrealistic story?), word count (How long should the story be?), and even limitations on the
elements of fiction (Should the story be set in the Philippines Should the characters be humans or aliens?).
Execution. Now that you have an idea or a concept in mind, you need to put it on paper. There is no single way of writing a
story. Some people start from the beginning and following through the end.
Others write the scene they are most excited to execute and then write around it. some people even write the ending first
and then work backwards. Whichever way works for you, you still need to ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is there a plot that makes everything move? Is each scene related to each other?

2. Are your characters making scenes? If you are basing them on people you know, are the traits/characteristics
useful for the story? If you are making them up from scratch, do they sound/move/think as realistically as possible?

3. Does the point of view make sense? Are we looking at the story through the best lens? Is there another way of writing the
story?

4. Is the setting realized effectively? Does it contribute to the world of the story?

5. Canyour readers understand the theme of the story without it being explained to themexplicitly?

Revision. Now that you are done with your writing, you need to deal with the hardest part – revision. But you do not need
to revise immediately. Sometimes, if you have time, you can put your draft aside for a while then work on other things
before returning to the draft. This is so that you have a sense of distance between your work and yourself, and so when
you start editing, you can be more objective and critical about your work.

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 Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.
LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr.

Learning Tasks:

1. Quiz
2. Graded recitation
3. Essay writing: Reflection Page

a. Answer the following questions on your activity notebook.

i. What makes each element significant to the beauty of fictional stories?

ii. Why is it important to know the character’s classification and attributes?

b. The use of AI Tools and Plagiarism is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. Students who commit these acts will be
given a grade of zero (0) and reported.
c. The essay will be graded using the institutional rubrics for essay.

Institutional Rubrics for Essay:

Excellent Very Satisfactory Satisfactory Fair Poor
Indicators
(20) (17) (14) (11) (8)
Answers are Answers are Answers are not Answers are Answers are
Score comprehensive, accurate and comprehensive partial or incomplete.
________ accurate and complete. Key or completely incomplete. Key
complete. Key points are stated stated. Key points are not Spelling,
ideas are clearly and supported. points are clear. Questions punctuation,
stated, explained, addressed, but are not and
and well Very few spelling not well adequately grammatical
supported. and punctuation supported. answered errors create
errors, minor distraction,
Free from grammatical Most spelling, Most spelling, making
spelling, errors punctuation, punctuation, reading
punctuation or and grammar and grammar difficult
grammatical are correct are correct
errors allowing allowing
reader to reader to
progress though progress though
essay. Few essay. Some
errors remain. errors remain.

References:
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc. (n.d.). Readings in Philippine literature. Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.: Lucena
City

Vasquez, Louyzza Maria Victoria H. & Lee, Gabriela (2017). Creative writing. First Edition. Rex Book Store. Rex Publishing.
Sampaloc, Manila.

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