Good Fiction Writing

Kat Fritter

F Period

3/30/12

Good fiction writing contains four elements; point of view, characterization, setting, and a story arc. These four things bring together the piece and give it depth and make it interesting. Without these elements, the story will be uninteresting, lack details to pull the reader in, and over all the piece of writing would not be good at all. You need these elements to create a good piece of fiction.

Point of view is the view from which the story was written. There is first person point of view, which is where the story is written from your point of view, and you use I. There is second person point of view, in which you use he/she. Finally, there is third person point of view, in which you use names of other people, and the narrator is a separate person. In first and second point of view, sometime the narrator is a person involved in the story. In "Hills Like White Elephants", the story is written in third person and the narrator is just an onlooker. The author didn't use names either, and just used terms like "man" or "woman". In "Fires", the narrator is the main character. In this story, it could be fudged a little, and you don't know if the narrator edited some things or left events out.

Characterization is the dialogue, behavior, and relationships of the characters. Characterization defines the characters as people and gives them depth and personalities. In the story "Miss Temptation" one of the main characters Susanna is stereotyped by another. She is given different personalities by everyone who looks at her and her true nature isn't shown until the end of the story. The relationship between her and the other main character is strained until he learns about her true personality.

Setting is also very important. It gives the reader something to rely on and they can picture a place in their head. Sometimes it can remind them of a place they know and then they can relate to the story more. Then it will be more intriguing. Giving a lot of detail to the setting is very important, it can show more about the characters and gives them more depth too.

A story arc is the most important part of a story. It shows the rise and fall of the action, and without barriers and reversals and the climax and solution, a story would have no meaning.