The document provides an overview of essential literary concepts, focusing on character types, plot structure, point of view, setting, and theme. It defines various character roles, such as protagonist and antagonist, and describes plot elements including exposition, climax, and resolution. Additionally, it explains the significance of point of view in storytelling and the importance of establishing a clear setting and theme.

1. Welcome
to
21st
Century
Literature Class!

2. CHARACTER
A character is a person,
animal, being, creature,
or thing in a story.
Writers use characters
to perform the actions
and speak dialogue,
moving the story along
a plot line.

3. TYPES OF CHARACTER
Characters Based on Roles
PROTAGONIST
The protagonist is the character who
is central to the story. Though often
the good guy, the protagonist can
also be the bad guy (or the anti-hero)
in the story.

4. ANTAGONIST
 The antagonist, often termed
as the villain of the story, is the
character whom the
protagonist must confront and
defy for victory.

5. CHARACTERS BASED ON PERSONALITIES
Flat characters have few but easily
recognizable traits that make them
stereotypical characters.
FLAT

6. ROUND
A round character is someone who has
more facets to her/his personality than a
flat character.

7. STATIC
A static character's personality does
not change throughout the piece of
work, and save for the initial
introduction, there is not much to
learn about such a character.

8. DYNAMIC
 A dynamic character is someone
whose personality changes through
the course of writing, due to a change
in the situation or the plot.

9. CONFIDANTE
 The confidant is someone the main
character confides in, and it is through
these confessions that the personality of
the main character is revealed.

10. FOIL
 The foil is someone who is
used as a contrasting
character to enhance the
personality of another
character.

11. PLOT
 the major events that move the
action in a narrative. It is the
sequence of major events in a
story, usually in a cause-effect
relation.

12. PLOT STRUCTURE
Is the arrangement of events in a narrative
work.
 Exposition
 Rising Action
 Climax
 Falling action
 denouement

13. Exposition
•This is your book’s introduction, where you
introduce your characters, establish the setting,
and begin to introduce the primary conflict of
your story.
Rising Action
•The rising action normally begins with an inciting
incident, or a moment that sets your story into
action. As it progresses, you’ll have multiple
moments of conflict that escalate and create
tension as the story moves toward the climax.

14. Climax
• The climax is the peak of tension, plot, and character in your story.
It’s the moment that your reader has been waiting for—so make it
exciting!
Falling Action
• Now that you’ve reached the peak of your story, it’s time to start
moving toward a more satisfying conclusion. This is the time to start
resolving conflicts and subplots so your story doesn’t feel rushed in
the last few chapters. This is also where any conflicts that arose as a
result of the climax can start being resolved.
Resolution/Denouement
• Finally, the resolution is the end of your story where you can ti e up
the final loose ends and bring your story to its happy or tragic ending.

15. POINT OF VIEW
Point of view is the writer’s way of
deciding who is telling the story to
whom. Establishing a clear point of view is
important because it dictates how your reader
interprets characters, events, and other
important details.

16. First-person point of view
I, me/my, we, us, or our
Second-person point of view
Second-person point of view uses the
pronoun you.

17. Third-person point of view
In third-person point of view, the
narrator has the ability to know
everything.
You’ll see the
pronouns he/his, she/her, they/them/their,
and it/its in third-person point of view.

18. THIRD-PERSON OMNISCIENT
 third-person omniscient point of
view is a method of storytelling in
which the narrator knows the
thoughts and feelings of all of
the characters in the story.

19. THIRD-PERSON LIMITED OMNISCIENT
The third person limited point of view
is where the narrator tells the story
from the perspective of a single
protagonist, referring to them by
name or using a third person
pronoun such as they/she/he.

20. SETTING
Your setting is where, when, and to
some degree how your story takes
place. It’s also your character’s
relationship with the world around
them.

21. THEME
Theme(s) -- The central and
dominating idea (or ideas) in a
literary work. The term also
indicates a message or moral
implicit in any work of art.