Elements of Fiction

Elements of Fiction Conflict

The Purpose • Why do we like stories? • What drives us to turn the page?

The Driving Force • Conflictdrives the reader to turn the page. It is the most important element of a story • You can have a story without symbolism or exposition, but no story can be successful without conflict.

How important is conflict? • Other popular mediums rely heavily on conflict. • Films, Nonfiction, Journalism, TV, etc. • The elements of fiction don’t just cover fictional stories. They actually cover any story intended for entertainment.

Conflict Remains

Resolution • Most stories end with a resolution, or the outcome of the action and conflict. It is up to the characters to find a solution to the conflict. You may be able to predict how the characters will solve the conflict based on how they act.

The Cliff Hanger • When a conflict doesn’t have a clear outcome, the resolution may not be that effective.

Jumping the Shark • When your favorite TV show resolves its main conflict, the writers of the show will stretch to create more conflict. • Friends, Happy Days, Lost, etc. • Even “the show about nothing” had to have conflict in every episode. • Game shows are also an example.

Types of Conflict • Internal • Individual vs. Self • External • Individual vs. Individual • Individual vs. Society • Individual vs. Nature

Individual vs. Self • Is a story where the main character has a problem with himself. • The problem is internal or in other words, the problem is in his/her head. • Doesn’t mean that the external forces can’t have an influence. • Can you think of any stories with this conflict?

Individual vs. Individual • An Individual vs. Individual conflict can be described as a conflict arising between two or more characters of the same kind. An example of this might be a fist fight between two people. Such as the Protagonist (main character) vs. the Antagonist (villain or someone who’s against the protagonist).

Individual vs Society • Individual vs. Society is a literature theme in fiction in which a main character (or characters) thinks differently from society or has different concepts than what most people think.

Individual vs Nature • Individual vs. Nature is the theme in literature that places a character against forces of nature. Many disaster films focus on this theme, which is predominate with many survival stories.

Quiz • 1. What is the conflict of the following story? • Individual vs Individual • Individual vs Self • Individual vs Society • Individual vs Nature

Quiz • 5. What is the main driving force behind a story? • conflict • plot • resolution • characters

Quiz • 6. If the conflict doesn’t have a clear outcome, what might lose its effectiveness? • conflict • resolution • plot • characters

Elements of Fiction