Fiction for the Dazed--_by_ the dazed!

Fiction

Fiction just looks like regular paragraphs.

Fiction is simply stories--things happening to characters.

Terms and elements of fiction.

• The story is usually told by a narrator.
  
• Dialog is given in quotation marks like these: " " These, however, are NEVER USED: 「」
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  Usually there are one or more characters, who act out the story. Not necessarily people; could be animals, robots, etc.
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  Plot. The events or actions of the story.
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  There is often a "status quo" at first, and that is disrupted somehow.
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  There is usually a conflict that needs resolution.
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  The status quo needs some exposition usually (explanation of the back story that is needed to understand what happens in the story), and a setting: a location, a time period, a social status, etc.
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  The climax is the most exciting or most intense moment of the story, possibly the point of highest emotion.
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  After the climax, we have falling action--in which we recover from the excitement of the climax and get ready for the resolution. At the end of the story, we usually are at some stable situation, although not necessarily the same situation as before.

Sorry, this is the lecture I was giving Tuesday. Don't know if anyone noticed I was teaching or not.