Fiction: Common elements, features, and forms

It is a piece of writing that aims to entertain the readers.

It tells a story and may be in the form of a poem or a book.

Literary texts are fictional, i.e., they are made up or not genuine.

Fiction includes short stories, novellas, novels, poetry, drama, comics, biographies, prose, etc.

Fiction books are created by authors with their own imaginations.

Some forms of fiction are:

1. Novel: Novels are books with long stories written in them.
2. Novella: This is a kind of fiction that is longer than a short story but shorter than a novel.
3. Short stories: A short story is much smaller than a novel and has only a few characters.
4. Playscript: These are stories written for actors to perform on stage.
5. Poems: Poems use rhyme, rhythm, and imagery to tell us a story or narrate something. Poems vary in length.

Features of Fiction

Some common elements of fiction are:

1. Characters

Characters are the people in a story. It can be humans, animals, creatures, or any inanimate objects. Characters are people about whom the story is written, and the report shows their feelings and actions.

2. Setting

The setting describes when and where the story takes place. The setting may include the site where the characters live or currently stand, the weather of a class, or the time of the day when the scene takes place.

3. Plot

It refers to the sequence of events that happen in a story. The events occur in order. Accounts have a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning introduces the characters and key events of the story to the readers. The middle part describes what happens to the characters; it shows the conflict or problem. The end shows how the problem is solved.

4. Conflict

Conflict is the problem that arises in a story, a struggle between opposing forces, and a conflict takes the plot forward.

5. Theme

The theme is the message the story conveys or the lesson learned from it.

6. Point of View

The point of view is the voice that tells the story. It can be in the first person where the character tells the story (using ‘I’ and ‘me’). It can also be in the third person where someone narrates the story (using ‘he/ she’ or ‘them).