Short Fiction II

What characters choose to do, especially under pressure, shows what they really value. You learn to infer values and beliefs from actions and decisions instead of relying only on what the narrator tells you.

The protagonist is the main character; the antagonist is whatever opposes them, which can be another character, society, nature, or the protagonist's own inner struggle. A foil is a character whose differences highlight another character's traits.

Setting can create a mood, the feeling a reader gets, and can echo or contrast with what a character is feeling. You learn to connect details of place, weather and surroundings to a character's situation.

Many stories follow familiar patterns, like a journey, a test or a loss of innocence, and many build meaning through contrasts between characters, places or ideas. You learn to spot these patterns and contrasts and explain what conflict of values they reveal. The exam won't ask you to label archetypes.

Narrative distance is how close the narrator is to the events and characters: in time (looking back years later, or telling it as it happens), in place, or in feeling. Some narrators stay cool and far away; others move right inside a character's head. Stream of consciousness goes furthest, following a character's thoughts as they flow, with all their jumps and loops.

Tone is a narrator's or speaker's attitude toward a subject, and you find it in word choice and details. You learn to name tones precisely (more exact than "happy" or "sad") and point to the words that create them.

A strong body paragraph opens with a topic sentence tied to the thesis, then develops it with evidence and commentary. Transitions, repeated key words, clear pronouns and parallel structure hold each paragraph, and the whole essay, together.