Understanding Genres of Fiction

1. Creative Nonfiction
UNDERSTANDING
CONVENTIONS OF
TRADITIONAL GENRES
Fiction and Drama
in

2. Creative Nonfiction
Objectives:
• Identify dominant literary conventions of fiction and
drama, namely, character, plot, setting, and theme
• Compare and contrast how the conventions of fiction
and drama are used and utilized
• Analyze and interpret the themes and techniques used
in particular texts
• Peer-edit each other’s draft based on the clarity of
idea, and choice and use of element
• Revise the written piece using the literary conventions
of fiction and drama

3. Creative Nonfiction
Elements of Fiction and Drama
• the sequence of events happening in a story
Plot
Setting • the place and time where and when an event happens
Characters • the persons who inhabit a story
Theme • the central idea or overall message that the story conveys

4. Creative Nonfiction
In all stories great and small, there are
people (characters) in a place
(setting) dealing with a problem or
conflict (plot) that leads to a new
understanding about life (theme).

5. Creative Nonfiction
Fiction vs. Drama
generally classified as
short story or novel
brief artistic prose
that centers on a
single main incident
to produce a single
dominant impression
extensive prose
narrative that
contains chapter and
interludes
generally classified
into acts or major
divisions
• one-act play – one
unit of time, place
and action
• three-act play –
showcases longer
exposition of the
theme and conflict

6. Creative Nonfiction
Fiction vs. Drama
either told from the
perspective of the
narrator, main or
supporting character,
an observer, or from
an omniscient all-
knowing being
has no apparent point
of view because the
dialogue between the
characters is what
moves the action of
the play
what viewers hear in a
performance and what
actors utter in a
dramatic play

7. Creative Nonfiction
Narrative Devices in Fiction and Drama
• guide or hint at what is to happen next in the story
foreshadowing
irony
• when words that are uttered are completely the opposite of
what they actually mean
flashback
• the use of past event to help readers better understand what
happens in the present
conflict
• provides and showcases the opposing objectives of the
protagonists and antagonists
deus ex machina • an element in the plot used to solve the problem