Intro to Literature

1. Intro to Literature Forms and Elements of Literature

2. Novel and Novella • Novels and Novellas are long works of prose fiction that tell a story about imaginary people or animals called characters who live in a made-up world. • A novella is briefer than a novel • Each has a plot, a theme, and sometimes a subplot

3. Short Story • A short story is a brief work of prose fiction • Tells a story about imaginary people or animals called characters • Plot is short and focused

4. Nonfiction • Nonfiction tells the story of a person’s life, narrates a series of true events, describes a real scene, or presents information

5. Fiction Literature created from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation. Types of literature in the fiction genre include the novel, short story, and novella. The word is from the Latin fictiō, “the act of making, fashioning, or molding.”

6. Poetry • Poetry is literature that appears in verse form • Many poems have a regular rhythm and possibly a rhyme scheme • Most poems use highly concise, musical, and powerful language to tell a story or to convey a single image or idea

7. Science Fiction • Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which the stories often tell about science and technology of the future. It is important to note that science fiction has a relationship with the principles of science—these stories involve partially true-partially fictitious laws or theories of science. It should not be completely unbelievable, because it then ventures into the genre fantasy. • Science fiction texts are often set in the future, in space, on a different world, or in a different universe or dimension.

8. Drama • Drama can be written in prose or poetry • It tells a story through the words and actions of actors who impersonate characters • The text of a drama contains the characters’ spoken words, or dialogue, and calls for stage directions, telling actors how to speak and move • Most dramas are meant to be performed

9. Plot • The plot of a story is a sequence of actions • A typical plot, diagrammed below, involves: Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution

10. Characters • Imaginary people or animals that take part in the action of the story • Authors use Characterization to bring these characters to life • Characterization is the development of the characters in a story. Usually the author reveals things about the characters in the story (traits, thoughts, actions or reactions) that tell you about them

11. Point of View • POV is the vantage point from which the story is told • First person: narrator is involved in the action, refers to himself or herself as “I” • Third person: narrator is outside of action. Narrator is referred to as “she” or “he” • Omniscient third person: The narrator knows all of the characters’ thoughts

12. Setting • Setting is the story’s world • It includes not only the time and place of the story’s action, but also the customs and beliefs of that time and place

13. Theme • The Theme of a story is an insight into life that it offers directly or indirectly • Certain recurring themes appear in many stories because they are important. Example: Good vs. Evil

14. Conflict • A struggle or problem a character must overcome • This exists on the “Plot Diagram”

15. Tone • The author’s voice or attitude about what he or she writes

16. Mood • The feeling a reader gets from a story

17. The End Now, let’s read!