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As a branch of literature, fiction is concerned with works in which the details of the story are created by the imagination of the writer instead of being taken from fact. Usually written in a prose format, these works are most commonly in the form of novels or short stories.
Fiction has four basic elements:
Point of view - the vantage point from which the story is told. These viewpoints include:
- the omniscient, in which the author uses the voice of a narrator who has knowledge of everything that happens within the story;
- first person, where the author uses one person's point of view, normally the main character, to tell the story;
- and third person, in which the story is told through the viewpoint of a number of characters and often switches from one vantage point to another as the author reveals the character's thoughts and feelings.
The third person point of view is the most widely used in modern fiction, although the other two can be used effectively by skilled writers.
Plot - the incidents and events that move the story forward to its conclusion.
Characters - the people within the story. The characters establish relationships, create or resolve conflict and offer differing points of view regarding the events within the story.
Setting - the environment or surroundings in which the story takes place. Settings can vary from an entire universe, to a single room - to the limits of a single character's mind.
As one of the main forms of fiction, the short story is a brief fictional narrative, usually meant to be read in one sitting. Short stories normally feature a limited cast of characters who are involved in a single action or purpose and the story seeks to stir a single emotional response from the reader. The short story is the oldest form of prose fiction and likely originated with the simple sharing of accounts and experiences. The short story has taken many forms over its long history, including fairy tales, folklore, spiritual parables, fables and legends.
In modern times, Edgar Allen Poe is given credit for formally defining this type of literary fiction. His short stories brought the form to a wide audience as he was published in many periodicals and newspapers in the 1800s. Nathaniel Hawthorne is also regarded as one of the American masters of the short story - he used themes that had previously been passed down through generations in the form of folktales to symbolize moral problems and issues of his day. Modern short stories are less influenced by the symbolism of the past. Instead, these stories may explore the consciousness of an individual or simply offer pure, escapist fantasy.
The novel is a fictional form in which characters and situations are developed through the framework of a plot. The word novel comes from the Latin word novellus, meaning new. The wider scope of the novel allows the author to create many characters, which can be more deeply developed than those of the short story. Novels typically have several interconnecting story lines, which can create greater and more varied conflicts. The novel is meant to stir multiple and complex emotional reactions within the reader.
Long fictional narratives were developed in India and Egypt in ancient times, but the writing that many scholars consider the first real novel is The Tale of Genji, an account of court life written by a Japanese noblewoman named Murasaki Shikibu in Japan's Heian period, during the reign of Empress Akiko (988-1074).
Like the short story, early Western literary novels focused much of their themes on moral issues and problems. In the 18th century, writers turned their pens toward the depiction of modern society. These works began to focus on the people living under the pressures of their societies or trying to escape from them. The authors used their novels as a way to criticize society and its conventions.
The term "genre fiction" refers to commercial types of fiction - opposed to literary fiction - which follow a certain theme or format. Types of genre fiction include romances, westerns, science fiction or fantasies, mysteries and thrillers. These forms of writing, especially the erotic and romance genres - with their less-than-literary themes, have been popular with readers since the earliest prose fiction was penned.
