Character Characterization is one of the five elements of fiction, along with plot, setting, theme, and writing style. A character is a participant in the story, and is usually a person, but may be any persona, identity, or entity whose existence originates from a fictional work or performance. Characters may be of several types: • Point-of-view character: the character by whom the story is viewed. The point-of-view character may or may not also be the main character in the story. •
Protagonist: the main character of a story •
Antagonist: the character who stands in opposition to the protagonist • Minor character: a character that interacts with the protagonist. They help the story move along. •
Foil character: a (usually minor) character who has traits opposed to those of the main character. According to
Robert McKee, "True character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure—the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character's essential nature."
Plot The
plot, or storyline, is the rendering and ordering of the events and actions of a story. Starting with the initiating event, then the rising action, conflict, climax, falling action, and possibly ending with a resolution. Plot consists of action and reaction, also referred to as stimulus and response, and has a beginning, a middle, and an ending. The climax of the novel consists of a single action-packed sentence in which the conflict (problem) of the novel is resolved. This sentence comes towards the end of the novel. The main part of the action should come before the climax. Plot also has a mid-level structure: scene and sequel. A scene is a unit of drama—where the action occurs. Then, after a transition of some sort, comes the sequel—an emotional reaction and regrouping, an aftermath.
Setting Setting is the locale and time of a story. The setting is often a real place but may be a fictitious city or country within our own world; a different planet; or an alternate universe, which may or may not have similarities with our own universe. Sometimes setting is referred to as
milieu, to include a context (such as society) beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. It is basically where and when the story takes place.
Theme Theme is what the author is trying to tell the reader. For example, the belief in the ultimate good in people, or that things are not always what they seem. This is often referred to as the "moral of the story." Some fiction contains advanced themes like morality, or the value of life, whereas other stories have no theme, or a very shallow one.
Style Style includes the multitude of choices fiction writers make, consciously or not, in the process of writing a story. It encompasses not only the big-picture, strategic choices such as point of view and choice of
narrator, but also tactical choices of grammar, punctuation, word usage, sentence and paragraph length and structure, tone, the use of imagery, chapter selection, titles, etc. In the process of creating a story, these choices meld to become the writer's voice, their own unique style.
Narrator The
narrator is the storyteller. The main character in the book can also be the narrator.
Point of view Point of view is the perspective (or type of personal or non-personal "lens") through which a story is communicated. Narrative point of view or narrative perspective describes the position of the narrator, that is, the character of the storyteller, in relation to the story being told.
Tone The
tone of a literary work expresses the writer's attitude toward or feelings about the subject matter and audience.
Suspension of disbelief Suspension of disbelief is the reader's temporary acceptance of story elements as believable, regardless of how implausible they may seem in real life. ==Authors' views on writing==