Lesson Two
The World of Fiction is divided into stories that could be real, but aren't, and stories that are easily identified as not true. The "could be real but aren't" category of fiction books are referred to as, rightfully so, Realistic Fiction. Though most are not likely to fall in this category, some science fiction books could be Realistic Fiction, however, most fall under non-realistic fiction which we will get to. A lot of survival stories could fall into this category plus anything that is more a story of someone's life. For instance, if you were to make a story about somebody getting lost in the woods and surviving by themselves, this would still be fiction but would fall under realistic fiction as there is a possibility of it happening. However, as sad as it is to point out, books like Harry Potter, since they deal with magic, would not fall under realistic fiction.
Non-Realistic vs Realistic Fiction
Non-realistic fiction is the opposite of realistic fiction - that's kind of obvious, but it's good to say it - and it covers books that are, well, not realistic. For instance, Fantasy stories would qualify as such. These books, if you think about it, serve a unique purpose. They help grow a person's imagination. The authors present new worlds and new ideas that we find fascinating to read about. They might also spike someone's interest and inspire them to write their own books about the subject. Non-realistic fiction books are stories like Harry Potter. Basically, anything that sounds like something that could truly happen like stories made up about families and stories made up about different traveling adventures to name a few examples are labeled as Realistic fiction while stories that do not mix well with the real world, like some of our fantasy books, fall under non-realistic fiction.
Characters
Every book has characters in it of course. First of all, you have the main characters that the book centers around. You see these characters grow throughout the story and their personality changes as the stories progress. The entire storyline mostly follows these characters and the book is primarily about their adventures. The main character is referred to as the protagonist.
Then, we have secondary characters, also called changing or dynamic characters. These people come in every so often and are developed a bit throughout the story. We see these character's personalities change throughout the story. These characters are recurring and you see them quite a bit throughout the story, but not as much as the main characters of course. Think Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter. We saw her quite a bit throughout the books, but she wasn't the main character and she wasn't especially focused on.
Static characters (also sometimes called flat characters) do not change too much throughout a story. Their personality stays the same and their role is to develop a story and add some bits and pieces to it.
After that, we have the confidante character(s). These characters are the people/animals that the protagonist can depend on. For instance, in Harry Potter, these characters would be Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. They support the character. The protagonist trusts the confidante and you see them a lot throughout the story.
Next, we have the foil character. This character helps us to understand the main character better by bringing out the good qualities of the protagonist. This character usually does not get along with the protagonist but helps us to understand them by providing a contrasting personality. For instance, Draco Malfoy would be an example of a foil character in Harry Potter.
The stock characters are stereotypical characters who come and go in stories. They usually have very normal personalities and do not have much of an impact on the story in general. However, they are not background characters that no one remembers as they are usually easily identifiable in the story. Professor Flitwick would be an example of a stock character as he is not developed a lot and does not have an enormous role in the storyline, but still comes in quite a bit and is a remembered character.
Then, we have the round characters. Round characters constantly change in the story and leave the reader guessing at how they will act in any particular scene. This character comes in a lot throughout the story and is developed upon a ton.
The last type of character would be the tertiary characters. These characters we only see about one to two times and they are mentioned very briefly. These characters are more used to set the scene. For instance, when someone mentions a clown standing in the corner, it helps to set the scene so the reader knows what was going on and the type of people around. If a book mentioned a guard standing by the door, the reader knows that wherever the character is, it's a high-security place. The guard and the clown would be tertiary characters. They are there to set the scene and are not developed upon.
Writing styles
Everyone's writing style is unique to themselves. There are four different writing styles that are commonly referred to.
Expository writing is writing that is meant to explain something and inform people of different things. For instance, the writing style right now is expository.
The second kind of writing is descriptive writing. This kind of writing is meant to describe something - to paint a picture of a scene, to give a reader insight into a character's personality, to describe a certain mood.
The third kind is referred to as Persuasive writing. Persuasive writing is writing to convince your readers of something and make a point. In other words, you are trying to get the reader to think about an issue in the same way that you do and make them see your point of an argument.
The fourth, and last, kind is narrative writing. This kind of writing is supposed to tell a story from someone's perspective. It's the basis of a story: the plot, suspense, different events that take place - it's the story itself.
With that information, please head on over to assignment two.