CONTENT PAGE

Title Pages

Content 1

Literary Element / Key Features 2

Literary Devices in Graphic Organizer:

How the Leopard Got Its Spots by Rudyard Kipling 5

My Short Story:A Flood and Its Aftermath 6

Reflection 8

Bibliography 9

Appendices 10

1
 LITERARY ELEMENTS / KEY FEATURES
THEMES:
• A broad idea, message or lesson that is conveyed by a work
• It is may be about life, society or human nature
• It’s often explore timeless and universal ideas and may be implied rather than
stated explicitly
( Obstfeld, Raymond :2002 )
• The central or dominant idea of a work of fiction
( Dr Kristi Siegel, http://www.kristisiegel.com )
• Traditionally means a recurrent element of subject matter
• Modern insistence on simultaneous references to form and content emphasizes
the formal dimension of the terms
• Themes always a subject, but a subject is not always a themes
Peter Childs and Roger Fowler, The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms
PLOT:
• The sequence of interrelated events arranged to form a logical and achieve an
intended effect
( Polking, K :1990 )
• Exposition - the explanation of the story's premise and background material
necessary for the reader to understand the story
• Crisis - the peak in the story's action. The moment of highest dramatic tension
• Climax - the scene which presents the story's decisive action
• Resolution or denouement - the outcome of the story--the information that ties
up all (or many) of the story's loose ends
( Dr Kristi Siegel, http://www.kristisiegel.com )
• A term of highly varied status
• It can mean just the paraphrasable story of a work

2
 • Simple narrative line which we can then flesh out b considering character and
description, tone and texture, pattern and myth
• Plot is a compositional whole
Seymour Chatman, Story and Discourse (1978);
Tzvetan Todorov, The Poetics of Prose (1977)
SETTING:
• Setting includes the times, location, circumstances, and characters
• Everything in which a story takes places , and provided the main backdrop and
mood for a story
• Setting has been referred to as story world or milieu to include a context
( especially society ) beyond the immediate surroundings of the story
• Element of setting may include culture, historical period, geography, and hour
( Rozelle, Ron : 2005 )
• The historical, physical, geographical, and psychological location where a
fictional work takes place
( Dr Kristi Siegel, http://www.kristisiegel.com )
• The physical backdrop of the tale
• The historical background and cultural attitudes of a given places and time, the
mood of a time, and how the story people talk
Jack M. Bickham, The Element Of Fiction Writing
CHARACTER:
• Representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art
• Derived from ancient Greek word kharakter through its Latin transciption
character
• A character who stands as a representative of a particular class or group of
people is known as a type
Braiman J ( 2007 ), http://www.mrbraiman.com
• Round characters are usually main characters and are fully developed so that
the reader can understand their personality and motivations.
• Flat characters are usually minor characters who are barely developed or may
be stereotypes
3
• A foil is a character who serves to contrast with another character. A hypocritical
character, for example, may help emphasize the hero/heroine's honesty
( Dr Kristi Siegel, http://www.kristisiegel.com )
• The frictional representation of a person, which is likely to change
• Ideas of the place of the human in the social order, of human individuality and
self-determination
• Characters are not simply represented verbally but inpersonated by actors
• A situation often used to explore the paradoxes of being or identity themselves
Leo Lowenthal, Literature and the Image of Man (1957)

HOW THE LEOPARD GOT

ITS SPOTS
By Rudyard Kipling

4
 A FLOOD AND ITS AFTERMATH
I was swinging in the park when my friend told me to go home. He said the
dark clouds that had been gathering all morning is going to give way to thunderous
roars of rain.
We ran back into our houses and waited for the rain to stop. We thought it was
just a thunderstorm that would stop in an hour or so. It was a thunderstorm all right but
we never guessed it would continue way beyond one hour. In fact, it rained and rained
with undiminished intensity all that afternoon. By dusk, we knew that if the rain did not
stop we were going to face the possibility of flood.
Just after dusk, our fears became reality. The swollen river 100 meters from
my house overflowed its banks and the water swept quickly through the neighborhood.
My mother was so nervous because the water came faster than before. Actually my
neighborhood always floods stricken but this time, it is more extreme than usual.
Frantically we worked to put our precious belongings onto higher safer place.
However ten minutes was not exactly enough time to do anything effective. My father
asked me and my brothers to help him to raise the electronics equipment onto the
cupboard. My sisters help my mother packed all the clothes and important documents
into a big bag.
Soon it became obvious that we had to leave the houses. The police arrived
urging everyone to evacuate to higher ground. Reluctantly but quickly my parents,
brothers, sisters, and I waded out of our house empty-handed into some lorries
provided by the police. My neighbors did the same.
As the lorries made their way to a flood-relief center, I glanced back at my
house to see that the flood waters had already risen up to the windows. This was the
most terrible flood I think. My family agreed with me. My father said this was the most
terrible food since he first came here twenty years ago.

5
 We spent the night at the flood-relief center. There were about a hundred of us
gloomy-faced and teary-eyed about what had happened. Fortunately no lives were lost.
The news said the flood was cause by unpredictable rained that afternoon.
Late night the rain stopped. When morning came we were able to return to our
houses. What awaited us was far worse than the dreadful night at the flood-relief center.
What were once cozy homes were covered with slimy mud. A good half meter of wet
slush was on the floor. The walls, cupboards, beds, furniture – everything was covered
with mud!
The flood has wrecked the gate and some windows. Piles of rubbish were
stuck to the fence. My father’s once shiny red car was now a dirty muddy mess. My
bicycle was half buried in mud. It was mud, mud everywhere! It drove everybody crazy
cleaning up the huge mess the flood had left behind.
We spent a good week cleaning up our house. Our neighbors were all busy
too bringing their houses back to reasonable condition. Things are back to normal now;
well almost normal anyway. Every time it rains, we are reminded of the flood. We pray
silently that it will not happen again. It was a really bad, terrible experience to me.

6
7
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITE AND INTERNET
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/portals:arts/literature_devices

• Obstfeld, Raymond (2002). Fiction First Aid: Instant

Remedies for Novels, Stories and Scripts. Cincinnati, OH:
Writer's Digest Books. ISBN 158297117x.
• Polking, K (1990). Writing A to Z. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's
Digest Books. ISBN 0898794358
• Rozelle, Ron (2005). Write Great Fiction: Description &
Setting. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. ISBN
158297327x.
http://www.kristisiegel.com

• Dr Kristi Siegel
Professor of English, Chair-Language, Literature and Communication
Division, Director, English Graduate Program, Acting Chair, world
Language, Mount-Mary College
http://www.mrbraiman.com

• Braiman J (2007)

BOOKS

8
9
 Basic Literary Terms
(Adapted from Literature: Reacting, Writing)

The Novel and Short Story - Basic Terminology

an extended narrative in prose. Typically the novel relates

Novel to a series of events or follows the history of a character
or group of characters through a period of time.
a fictional narrative generally centering on one climactic
Short
event and usually developing only a single character in
Story
depth; its scope is narrower than that of a novel.
the way in which the narrative events are arranged.
Generally, plots have the same basic elements:
 Exposition - the explanation of the story's premise
and background material necessary for the reader
to understand the story;
 Crisis - the peak in the story's action--the moment
Plot
of highest dramatic tension;
 Climax - the scene which presents the story's
decisive action;
 Resolution or denouement - the outcome of the
story--the information that ties up all (or many) of
the story's loose ends.

10
 the angle from which a story is told; i.e., the type of
narrator the author chooses to use

• In first-person narration the narrator uses "I" to tell

his or her story. The first-person narrator may be a
major character in the story or simply an observer.
In third-person narration narrators are not actually
characters in the story.
• Omniscient third-person narrators can reveal the
Point-of-
thoughts of all their characters; they are "all-
View
knowing."

• A limited omniscient narrator only reveals the

thoughts and feelings of one (or possibly a limited
few) character(s).
• An objective third-person narrator does not reveal
anyone's thoughts and provides the sort of external,
objective information that a camera (or an objective
reporter) might record.
a fictional representation of a person (or animal).
Characters may be described as either flat or round.

• Round characters are usually main characters and

are fully developed so that the reader can
understand their personality and motivations.
Charact
• Flat characters are usually minor characters who
er
are barely developed or may be stereotypes.

• A foil is a character who serves to contrast with

another character. A hypocritical character, for
example, may help emphasize the hero/heroine's
honesty.

Theme the central or dominant idea of a work of fiction

the historical, physical, geographical, and psychological

Setting
location where a fictional work takes place
the way a writer selects and arranges words to express
Style
ideas

11
 the attitude of the speaker or author of a work toward the
Tone
subject matter
a person, object, action, place, or event that in addition to
Symbol its literal or denotative meanings suggests a more
complex meaning or range of meanings
Allegory a story with two parallel and consistent levels of meaning,
on literal and one figurative

Poetry terms
Drama terms

Theme:

A broad idea, message, or lesson that is conveyed by a work. The message may be
about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal
ideas and may be implied rather than stated explicitly. Along with plot, character,
setting, and style, theme is considered one of the fundamental components of
fiction.( Obstfeld, Raymond (2002))

Plot:

12
in fiction, the plot is a sequence of interrelated events arranged to form a logical
pattern and achieve an intended effect.[1] Along with character, setting, theme, and
style, plot is considered one of the fundamental components of fiction.[2] Aristotle
wrote in Poetics that mythos is the most important element of storytelling.( Polking,
K (1990).)

Character:

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art (such as a

novel, play, or film).[1] Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr (χαρακτήρ) through its
Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the
Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749.[2] From
this, the sense of "a part played by an actor" developed.[3] Character, particularly when enacted
by an actor in the theatre or cinema, involves "the illusion of being a human person."[4] Since the
end of the 18th century, the phrase "in character" has been used to describe an effective
impersonation by an actor.[3] Since the 19th century, the art of creating characters, as practiced by
actors or writers, has been called characterization.[5]
A character who stands as a representative of a particular class or group of people is known as a
type.[6] Types include both stock characters and those that are more fully individualized.[6] The
characters in Henrik Ibsen's Heyday Gabbler (1891) and August Strindberg's Miss Julie (1888),
for example, are representative of specific positions in the social relations of class and gender,
such that the conflicts between the characters reveal ideological conflicts.[7]
The study of a character requires an analysis of its relations with all of the other characters in the
work.[8] The individual status of a character is defined through the network of oppositions
(proairetic, pragmatic, linguistic, proxemic ) that it forms with the other characters.[9] The
relation between characters and the action of the story shifts historically, often miming shifts in
society and its ideas about human individuality, self-determination, and the social order.[10]
Setting :
In fiction, setting includes the time, location, circumstances, and characters, everything in which
a story takes place, and provides the main backdrop and mood for a story. Setting has been
referred to as story world [1] or milieu to include a context (especially society) beyond the
immediate surroundings of the story. Elements of setting may include culture, historical period,
geography, and hour. (Rozelle, Ron (2005)

13
14
Plot (narrative)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In fiction, the plot is a sequence of interrelated events
arranged to form a logical pattern and achieve an intended
effect.[1] Along with character, setting, theme, and style, plot
is considered one of the fundamental components of
fiction.[2] Aristotle wrote in Poetics that mythos is the most
important element of storytelling.
Contents
[hide] [hide]

• 1 Plot structure
○ 1.1 Exposition
○ 1.2 Conflict
○ 1.3 Rising action
○ 1.4 Climax
○ 1.5 Falling action
○ 1.6 Dénouement
(Resolution)
• 2 Plot devices
• 3 Plot outlines
• 4 Notes
• 5 References
• 6 See also
• 7 External links

[edit]Plot structure

15
Freytag's pyramid

Plot is often designed with a narrative

structure, storyline or story arc, that includes exposition,
conflict, rising action and climax, followed by a falling action
and a dénouement. The term storyline also refers to the plot
or subplot of a story.
[edit]Exposition
Main article: Exposition (literary technique)
Exposition is the beginning of the plot usually concerned with
introducing characters and setting.
[edit]Conflict
Main article: Conflict (narrative)
Conflict is actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and
interests. A conflict may be internal (within oneself) or
external (between two or more individuals). It may also be
both internal and external.
[edit]Rising action
Main article: Rising action
The rising action in a work of fiction builds suspense and
leads to the climax.
16
[edit]Climax
Main article: Climax (narrative)
The high point, a moment most intense, a turning point, a
major culmination of events. The climax isn't always the first
important scene in a story. In many stories, it is the last
sentence.
[edit]Falling action
Main article: Falling action
The falling action is the part of a story following the climax
and shows the effects of the climax. It leads up to
the dénouement (or catastrophe).[3]
[edit]Dénouement (Resolution)
Main article: Dénouement
Etymologically, the French word dénouement is derived from
the Old French word denoer, "to untie", and from nodus, Latin
for "knot". In fiction, a dénouement consists of a series of
events that follow the climax, and thus serves as the
conclusion of the story. Conflicts are resolved, creating
normality for the characters and a sense of catharsis, or
release of tension and anxiety, for the reader. Simply put,
dénouement is the unraveling or untying of the complexities
of a plot. Be aware that not all stories have a resolution.
[edit]Plot devices
Main article: Plot device
A plot device is a literary technique used by authors to create
a desired effect in storytelling.
[edit]Plot outlines

17
A plot outline is a prose telling of a story to be turned into
a screenplay. Sometimes called a one page (one page
synopsis, about 1 - 3 pages). It is generally longer and more
detailed than a standard synopsis (1 - 2 paragraphs), but
shorter and less detailed than a treatment or a step outline.
There are different ways to do these outlines and they vary in
length.
In comics, an outline—often pluralised as outlines--refers to a
stage in the development where the story has been broken
down very loosely in a style similar to storyboarding in film
development.
The pencils will be very loose (i.e., the sketch rough), the
main aim being to lay out the flow of panels across a page,
ensure the story successfully builds suspense and to work out
points of view, camera angles and character positions within
panels. This can also be referred to as a plot outline or
a layout.
[edit]Notes

1. ^ Polking, 1990, p.328-9.

2. ^ Obstfeld, 2002, p.1,65,115,171.

3. ^ Greenville College (2006). Plot A: The Pattern of the Action

[edit]References
 Obstfeld, Raymond (2002). Fiction First Aid: Instant
Remedies for Novels, Stories and Scripts. Cincinnati, OH:
Writer's Digest Books. ISBN 158297117x.
 Polking, K (1990). Writing A to Z. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's
Digest Books. ISBN 0898794358.

18
Character (arts)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article or section has multiple
issues. Please help improve the
article or discuss these issues on
the talk page.
 It contains too much jargon and
may need simplification or further
explanation. Tagged since August 2009.
 Its neutrality is disputed. Tagged
since August 2009.

 Its factual
accuracy is disputed. Tagged since
August 2009.

A character is the representation of a person in

a narrative or dramatic work of art (such as a novel, play,
or film).[1] Derived from the ancient
Greek word kharaktêr (χαρακτήρ) through its Latin
transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this
sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely
used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749.[2] From this,
the sense of "a part played by an actor"
developed.[3] Character, particularly when enacted by an
actor in the theatre or cinema, involves "the illusion of being
a human person."[4] Since the end of the 18th century, the
phrase "in character" has been used to describe an
effective impersonation by an actor.[3] Since the 19th century,
the art of creating characters, as practised by actors or
writers, has been called characterisation.[5]
A character who stands as a representative of a
particular class or group of people is known as a type.[6] Types
19
include both stock characters and those that are more
fully individualised.[6]The characters in Henrik Ibsen's Hedda
Gabler (1891) and August Strindberg's Miss Julie (1888), for
example, are representative of specific positions in the social
relations of class andgender, such that the conflicts between
the characters reveal ideological conflicts.[7]
The study of a character requires an analysis of its relations
with all of the other characters in the work.[8] The individual
status of a character is defined through the network of
oppositions (proairetic, pragmatic, linguistic, proxemic ) that
it forms with the other characters.[9] The relation between
characters and the action of the story shifts historically,
often miming shifts in society and its ideas about
human individuality, self-determination, and the social
order.[10]
Contents
[hide] [hide]

• 1 Classical analysis of
character
• 2 See also
• 3 References
• 4 Sources

[edit]Classical analysis of character

Further information: Poetics (Aristotle)

This section may stray from the

topic of the article. Please
help improve this section or discuss this
issue on the talk page.
In the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory, Poetics (c.
335 BCE), the Greek philosopher Aristotle deduces that
20
character (ethos) is one of six qualitative parts
of Athenian tragedy and one of the three objects that
it represents (1450a12).[11]. Aristotle defines the six
qualitative elements of tragedy as ""[12] (1450a10); the three
objects are plot (mythos), character (ethos), and reasoning
(dianoia). He understands character not to denote a fictional
person, but the quality of the person acting in the story and
reacting to its situations (1450a5);[13] ethos - or, equivalently,
its plural ethe - is not a matter of individuality or of intention,
but of "generic qualities."[14] He defines character as
"Character is that which reveals choice [prohairesis], shows
what sort of thing a man chooses or avoids in circumstances
where the choice is not obvious, so those speeches convey
no character in which there is nothing whatever which the
speaker chooses or avoids" (1450b8)/ It is possible, therefore,
to have tragedies that do not contain "character" in
Aristotle's sense of the word, since character makes
the ethical dispositions of those performing the action of the
story clear.[15] Aristotle argues for the primacy
of plot (mythos) over character (ethos).[16] He writes:

“
The most important of these is the arrangement of
the incidents, for tragedy is not a representation of
men but of a piece of action, of life, of happiness
and unhappiness, which come under the head of
action, and the end aimed at is the representation
not of qualities of character but of some action;
and while character makes men what they are, it's
their actions and experiences that make them
happy or the opposite. They do not therefore act to
represent character, but character-study is
included for the sake of the action." [17] ”
21
In the Tractatus coislinianus (which may or may not be by
Aristotle), comedy is defined as involving three types of
characters: the buffoon (bômolochus), the ironist (eirôn) and
the imposteror boaster (alazôn).[18] All three are central
to Aristophanes' "Old comedy."[19]
Character was used to define dramatic genre; this is attested
in the works of the Roman playwright Plautus,[20] who was
almost certainly working from Greek sources.
His Amphitryonbegins with a prologue that discusses the
play's genre—since the play contains kings and gods, the
speaker Mercury claims, it can't be a comedy and must be
a tragicomedy.[21] Like much Roman comedy, it is probably
translated from an earlier Greek original, most commonly
held to be Philemon's Long Night, or Rhinthon's Amphitryon,
both now lost.[22].

22
Setting (literature)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Setting (fiction))

For other meanings, see setting.

In fiction, setting includes the time, location,
circumstances, and characters, everything in which
a story takes place, and provides the
main backdrop and mood for a story. Setting has been
referred to as story world [1] or milieu to include
a context (especially society) beyond the immediate
surroundings of the story. Elements of setting may
include culture, historical period, geography, and hour.
Along with plot, character, theme, and style, setting is
considered one of the fundamental components
of fiction.[2]
Contents
[hide] [hide]

• 1 Role of
setting
• 2 Types of
setting
• 3 See also
• 4 Footnotes
• 5 Reference
s

[edit]Role of setting
Setting may take a key role in plot, as in man vs. nature or
man vs. society stories. In some stories the setting

23
becomes a character itself. [3] In such roles setting may be
considered aplot device or literary device.
[edit]Types of setting
Settings may take various forms:
 Alternate history
 Campaign setting
 Constructed world
 Dystopia
 Fantasy world
 Fictional country
 Fictional location
 Fictional universe
 Future history
 Imaginary world
 Mythical place
 Parallel universe
 Planets in science fiction
 Simulated reality
 Virtual reality
 Utopia
[edit]See also
 Index of fictional places
 List of fictional universes
[edit]Footnotes

1. ^ Truby, 2007, p. 145

2. ^ Obstfeld, 2002, p. 1, 65, 115, 171.

3. ^ Rozelle, 2005, p. 2.
24
 [edit]References
 Obstfeld, Raymond (2002). Fiction First Aid: Instant
Remedies for Novels, Stories and Scripts. Cincinnati,
OH: Writer's Digest Books. ISBN 158297117x.
 Rozelle, Ron (2005). Write Great Fiction: Description &
Setting. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. ISBN
158297327x.
 Truby, John (2007). Anatomy of a Story: 22 Steps to
Becoming a Master Storyteller. New York, NY: Faber and
Faber, Inc. ISBN 9780865479517

Theme (literature)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A broad idea, message, or lesson that is conveyed by a work.
The message may be about life, society, or human nature.
Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and may
be implied rather than stated explicitly. Along
with plot, character, setting, and style, theme is considered
one of the fundamental components of fiction.[1]
Contents
[hide] [hide]

• 1 Classic themes
• 2 Techniques
○ 2.1 Leitwortst
il
○ 2.2 Thematic
patterning
• 3 See also
• 4 External links
25
 • 5 Footnotes
• 6 References

[edit]Classic themes
Themes differ from culture to culture, but some themes
appear in many cultures, sometimes arising from their roots
in the oral traditions, including mythology.
[edit]Techniques
Various techniques may be used to express themes.
[edit]Leitwortstil
Leitwortstil is the purposeful repetition of words in a literary
piece that usually expresses a motif or theme important to
the story. This device dates back to the One Thousand and
One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights, which
connects several tales together in a story cycle. The
storytellers of the tales relied on this technique "to shape the
constituent members of their story cycles into a coherent
whole."[2]
This technique is also used frequently in classical Hebrew
narratives.[3]
[edit]Thematic patterning
Thematic patterning is "the distribution of recurrent thematic
concepts and moralistic motifs among the various incidents
and frames of a story. Thematic patterning may be arranged
so as to emphasize the unifying argument or salient idea
which disparate events and disparate frames have in
common". This technique also dates back to the One
Thousand and One Nights.[4]

26
27