UNIT 4: Pre-Production skills

Chapter 1-Story as a self-content world.

2:- Story as a Subjective Experience
Chapter 3:- Content of a Story Chapter
4:- Techniques of Story Telling Chapter
5:- Genres of Stories

Chapter 1-Story as a self-content world.

Q1)Define Fiction
Literature that is a work of the imagination and is not necessarily based on
fact. Literature in the form of prose, especially novels, that describes
imaginary events and people.
Fiction, by definition, is literature in the form of prose, especially short
stories and novels, which describes imaginary events and people. It also
means invention or fabrication as opposed to fact, or a belief or statement
that is false, but that is often held to be true because it is expedient to do so.
There are various terms related to “fiction” like figment, fabrication,
falsehood and deception.
Write your own Egs?????
Q2) What are different types of Stories. (Mindmap with pictures)
Fables
Short stories.
Novels
Myths
Legends
Folklores
Folktales
Novels
Novellas

Q3) what are Different functions of a story? With examples [Write

your own Examples]
The story functions at various levels.
 Entertains
 Educates / gives a moral
 Illustrates – we tend to visualize the setting in which the story is set
 Exercises our brains – we tend to think of what is coming up next, or what
will Birbal do next or how will it end
 Expands our knowledge and vocabulary
Provide two relevant examples in detail for each point.

Chapter 2:-Story as a subjective experience

Q4]Define how stories are open to interpretation -Subjective [HOTS}

Q5]What is a haiku?
HAIKU Haiku is a form of short poems from Japan, that has got popularity all
across the world now. With the translations of haiku into various languages
and an understanding of their essence, this form is being practiced in various
languages of the world.
IN THIS SOLID MIST
WHAT ARE THOSE PEOPLE SHOUTING
BETWEEN BOAT AND HILL?
Write 4 haikus, 2 of which should be original ? [Creative
assignment]

Chapter 3:- Content of a Story

What are the CONTENTS OF A STORY
Q6) What are the various features that comprise the content of a
story? Take a story and and explain?
A story has the following features that comprise the content of the story.
 Plot, Characters, setting & Props, Theme, conflict & climax & resolution

The Five Essential Elements Of A Story A story has five basic but important
elements.
These five components are: the characters, the setting, the plot, the conflict,
and the resolution. These essential elements keep the story running
smoothly and allow the action to develop in a logical way that the reader can
follow.
What is Theme?
Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and therefore have their
appeal. They are usually implied and reveal themselves in our reading of the
story.
PLOT The plot is the actual story around which the entire book is based. A
plot should have a very clear beginning, middle, and end—with all the
necessary descriptions and suspense, called exposition—so that the reader
can make sense of the action and follow along from start to finish.
The story – is a narrative of events arranged in their time sequence – A plot
is also a narrative if events, the emphasis falling on causality. ‘The king died
and the queen died’ is a story. ‘The king died and the queen died of grief’, is
a plot. Curiosity, memory, intelligence are the three important aspects of a
plot. Plot creates mystery keeping the curiosity alive. It forms the reference
points of memory within the narrative. And thus intelligently guides the
perception of the reader. Plot also proceeds by composing and editing the
time and space in a story. For, plot- construction is nothing else but giving a
story a definite structure in time and space.

CHARACTERS The characters are the individuals that the story is about. The
author should introduce the characters in the story with enough information
that the reader can visualize each person. This is achieved by providing
detailed descriptions of a character’s physical attributes and personality
traits. Every story should have a main character. The main character
determines the way the plot will develop and is usually who will solve the
problem the story centers upon. However, the other characters are also very
important because they supply additional details, explanations, or actions.
All characters should stay true to the author’s descriptions throughout the
story so that the reader can understand and believe the action that is taking
place—and perhaps even predict which character may do what next.
Round and Flat Characters:

1. Round Characters

 Definition: Characters who are complex, multifaceted, and

exhibit a range of emotions, motivations, and traits.
 Example: Hamlet from Shakespeare's play "Hamlet" is a round
character. He displays conflicting emotions, wrestles with moral
dilemmas, and undergoes significant internal struggles
throughout the story.

2. Flat Characters

 Definition: Characters who lack depth and are often defined by

one or two traits or characteristics.
  Example: The witches in Shakespeare's "Macbeth" are flat
characters. They serve primarily as agents of fate and evil, with
little exploration of their personalities or motivations beyond
their prophetic role.

Dynamic and Static Characters:

1. Dynamic Characters

 Definition: Characters who undergo significant internal change,

growth, or development throughout the course of a story.
 Example: Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas
Carol" is a dynamic character. He begins as a miserly and selfish
man but transforms into a compassionate and generous
individual after experiencing supernatural visits.

2. Static Characters

 Definition: Characters who remain unchanged or exhibit minimal

growth or development over the course of a story.
 Example: Sherlock Holmes in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective
stories is a static character. He maintains his brilliant deductive
abilities and aloof demeanor without significant alteration across
the series.

Stock and Foil Characters:

1. Stock Characters

 Definition: Characters who embody stereotypical traits or

characteristics commonly found in a particular genre or type of
story.
 Example: The "damsel in distress" or the "wise old mentor" are
examples of stock characters often seen in fairy tales or
adventure stories. They serve predictable roles without much
individual depth or development.

2. Foil Characters

 Definition: Characters who are juxtaposed with another character

to highlight their contrasting traits, thereby emphasizing certain
qualities or themes.
 Example: In "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby
and Tom Buchanan serve as foils to each other. Gatsby
represents the idealistic pursuit of the American Dream, while
Tom embodies its corruption and materialism. Their differences
illuminate the novel's exploration of wealth, class, and morality.
SETTING The setting is the location of the action. An author should describe
the environment or surroundings of the story in such detail that the reader
feels that he or she can picture the scene. Unusual settings (such as a
fantasy world) can be interesting, but everyday settings can help a reader to
better visualize the story and feel connected to the plot!
CONFLICT Every story has a conflict to solve. The plot is centered on this
conflict and the ways in which the characters attempt to resolve the
problem. INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CONFLICT

In fiction, ‘internal conflict’ refers to a character’s internal struggle. A

character might struggle with an emotional problem such as fear of intimacy
or abandonment, for example. Internal conflict is important for
characterization, since flaws and internal struggles make characters more
lifelike and sympathetic.

External conflict, on the other hand, refers to the conflicts between a

character and external forces. This type of conflict can be between one
character and another or a group (or between groups of characters). It can
also be between a character and more abstract forces. For example, a bleak
and hostile environment in a post-apocalyptic novel.

CLIMAX :-When the story’s action becomes most exciting, right before the
resolution, it is called the climax. In a story, the climax follows the rising
action and precedes the falling action. It is the highest point of emotional
intensity and the moment when the action of the story turns toward the
conclusion.
[Diagram given in class Rising action, falling action]
RESOLUTION The solution to the problem is the way the action is resolved.
In a work of literature, the resolution is the part of the story's plot where
the main problem is resolved or worked out. The resolution occurs after
the falling action and is typically where the story ends

List the Greek Tragedy Elements:

1. Catharsis

 Definition: Emotional purification or cleansing experienced by the

audience through the tragic events of the play.
 Example: In "Oedipus Rex," the audience experiences catharsis
as they witness Oedipus's downfall and his realization of the
truth about his identity.
Catharsis

Catharsis and cathartic both trace to the Greek word kathairein, meaning
“to cleanse, purge.” Catharsis entered English as a medical term having to
do with purging the body—and especially the bowels—of unwanted
material. The adjective cathartic entered English with a meaning
descriptive of such a physically cleansing purge. It didn’t take long for
people to start using these words figuratively in reference to emotional
release and spiritual cleansing.


2. Hamartia

Definition: Tragic flaw or error in judgment that leads to the downfall of the
protagonist.

Hamartia, also called tragic flaw, (hamartia from Greek hamartanein, “to
err”), inherent defect or shortcoming in the hero of a tragedy, who is in other
respects a superior being favoured by fortune.


 Example: In "Macbeth," Macbeth's ambition and his willingness

to commit murder to achieve power serve as his hamartia,
ultimately leading to his tragic demise.

3. Hubris

 Definition: Excessive pride or arrogance, often leading the

protagonist to disregard warnings or divine law.
 Example: In "Antigone," Creon's hubris is evident in his refusal to
listen to the advice of others, leading to the tragic consequences
for his family.

HUBRIS:- Hubris is extreme pride and arrogance shown by

a character, which ultimately brings about his downfall.

Hubris is a typical flaw in the personality of a character who enjoys a

powerful position; as a result of which, he overestimates his
capabilities to such an extent that he loses contact with reality. A
character suffering from hubris tries to cross normal human limits, and
violates moral codes. Examples of hubris are found in major characters
of tragic plays.

4. Anagnorisis

 Definition: Moment of recognition or realization experienced by

the protagonist, often regarding their true identity or situation.
 Anagnorisis is a moment in a play or other work when a character
makes a critical discovery. Anagnorisis originally meant recognition in
its Greek context, not only of a person but also of what that person
stood for.


 Example: In "Othello," Othello experiences anagnorisis when he

realizes the truth about Iago's manipulation and Desdemona's
innocence, but it comes too late to prevent tragedy.

5. Peripeteia

 Definition: Reversal of fortune, typically from good to bad,

experienced by the protagonist.
 Example: In "Romeo and Juliet," the peripeteia occurs when
Romeo mistakenly believes Juliet is dead, leading him to commit
suicide, ultimately resulting in both their tragic deaths.

CHAPTER-4 TECHNIQUES OF STORY TELLING

Q1) Discuss three different point of views in narration?

the perspective of the narrator, the reader is concerned with the relationship
between the person telling the story (the narrator) and the agents referred
to by the story teller (the characters).

Modes of Narration

There are six key terms used in the study of narrative view
point: first-person, second-person, third-person, third-person objective,
third-person limited, and third-person omniscient. Each term refers to a
specific mode of narration defined by two things: the distance of the narrator
from the story (the pronoun case) and how much the narrator reveals about
the thoughts and feelings of the characters (narrative access). Let’s take a
closer look at each term.

First-Person Narration
In this mode, the narrator is usually the protagonist or central character in
the story. But even if this character is not the protagonist, he or she is
directly involved in the events of the story and is telling the tale “first hand.”
First-person narration is easy to identify, because the narrator will be telling
the story from “I’s” perspective. Readers should watch for the narrator’s use
of first-person pronouns- “I, me, my, our, us, we, myself, and ourselves,” as
these will usually indicate that the passage is narrated from first-person
perspective. Remember, with this skill readers are trying to identify the
perspective of the narrator; therefore, one must ignore the dialogue of
characters (indicated by “quotation marks”) and solely focus on
narration, otherwise one is not analyzing the narrator’s point of
view.
Second-Person Narration
In this mode of narration “you” are the agent, such as in this example: you
walked down the stairs. As it is generally awkward for a story to be narrated
from “your” perspective, this mode of narration is not used very often in
narratives and stories. There are some exceptions, however, and second-
person perspective is the primary mode of narration forchoose your own
adventure books and similarly styled writings. More frequently,directions
and instructions and usually narrated from second-person
perspective. In most cases, directions will be written in short imperative
sentences, where the implied subject is “you.” But even when “you” is not
explicitly stated, it is understood that “you” are the subject of directions and
instructions.
Third-Person Narration
With this mode of narration, the narrator tells the story of another person or
group of people. The narrator may be far removed from or not involved in
the story, or he or she may be a supporting character supplying narration for
a hero. Frequent use of “he, she, them, they, him, her, his, her, and their”
by the narrator may indicate that a passage is narrated from third-person
perspective. There are three distinct modes of third-person
narration: objective, limited, and omniscient. Which mode the narrator
is using is determined by a single variable- how much the narrator accesses
the thoughts, feelings, and internal workings of the characters and shares
them with the reader through narration. Characters’ feelings and
motivations can be inferred and understood through their behavior and
dialogue in each of the three modes of third-person narration; however, in
determining which mode the narrator is operating, readers should be
concerned with finding instances where the narrator explicitly reveals a
character’s thoughts or feelings.
Omniscient:
In this mode of narration, the narrator grants readers the most access to
characters’ thoughts and feelings. With third-person omniscient
narration, the narration will reveal more than one characters’
internal workings. The base word omni means “all,” and scient means
“knowing,” so omniscient roughly translates to “all knowing.” In this case
the etymology is accurate, because in omniscient narration, the narrator is
all knowing.

Chapter 5:-Genres of a story

Definition of Fable
The word fable is derived from the Latin word fibula, which means “a story,”
and a derivative of the word fari, which means “to speak.” Fable is a literary
device that can be defined as a concise and brief story intended to provide
a moral lesson at the end.
In literature, it is described as a didactic lesson given through some sort of
animal story. In prose and verse, a fable is described through
plants, animals, forces, of nature, and inanimate objects by giving them
human attributes wherein they demonstrate a moral lesson at the end.

Features of a Fable

 A fable is intended to provide a moral story.

 Fables often use animals as the main characters. They are presented
with anthropomorphic characteristics, such as the ability to speak and
to reason.
 Fables personify the animal characters.
 They are fiction in the sense that they did not really happen
 They are meant to entertain
 They are poetic, with double or allegorical significance
 They are moral tales, usually with animal characters
 Fables are short, and they usually have no more than two or three
characters
Example] Aesop is probably the most notable author of famous examples of
fable. Aesopian fables put emphasis on the social communications of human
beings, and hence the morals he draws deal with realities of life. In this
excerpt, Aesop gives a moral lesson that flatterers must not be trusted.

Function of Fable
The purpose of writing fables is to convey a moral lesson and message.
Fables also give readers a chance to laugh at the follies of human beings,
and they can be employed for the objective of satire and criticism. They are
very helpful in teaching children good lessons based on examples. However,
in literature, fables are used for didactic purposes at a much broader level.

Q!] What’s a MYTH?

THE MYTH The main character in myths are usually gods or supernatural
heroes. As sacred stories, myths are often endorsed by rulers and priests
and closely linked to religion. In the society in which it is told, a myth is
usually regarded as a true account of the remote past. Myths generally take
place in a primordial age, when the world had not yet achieved its current
form. They explain how the world gained its current form and how customs,
institutions, and taboos were established.

THERE ARE MANY THEORIES ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF MYTHS

 One theory claims that myths are distorted accounts of real historical
events. According to this theory, storytellers repeatedly elaborated upon
historical accounts until the figures in those a accounts gained the status of
gods.
 Some theories propose that myths began as allegories for natural
phenomena e.g. Apollo represents fire etc.
 Some thinkers believe that myths resulted from the personification of
inanimate objects and forces. According to these thinkers, the ancients
worshipped natural phenomena such as fire and air, gradually coming to
describe them as gods.
 According to the myth-ritual theory, the existence of myth is tied to ritual.
This theory says, people begin performing rituals for some reason that is not
related to myth; later, after they have forgotten the original reason for a
ritual, they try to account for the ritual by inventing a myth and claiming that
the ritual commemorates the events described in that myth Functions of
myth One of the foremost functions of myth is to establish models for
behavior. The figures described in myth are often the result of circumstances
which may have a moral interpretation. They are worthy role models of
human beings because they embody certain combinations of human and
animal trails. For example, the Centaur is part man, part beast. The upper
body, being human is a symbol of rationality. The lower body, being of a
horse is a symbol of animal instinct. The Centaur thus represents the
uniquely human psychological challenge of animal instinct in relation to the
rational mind. This example shows that myths are not only valuable due to
cultural assumption (or ‘spirituality’), but because they portray a set of
symbols which can be interpreted morally. It is not necessary to introduce
divine experience to explain these symbols, since a symbol is by definition a
depiction of an idea in physical form. (bird = power, horse = beast, tree =
knowledge).
Q4) functions of mythology?
Joseph Campbell’s “Four Functions of Myth” From Pathways to Bliss
(Novato, CA: New World Library), pp 6-10.
1. …the first function of mythology [is] to evoke in the individual a sense of
grateful, affirmative awe before the monstrous mystery that is existence
2. The second function of mythology is to present an image of the cosmos,
an image of the universe round about, that will maintain and elicit this
experience of awe. [or] …to present an image of the cosmos that will
maintain your sense of mystical awe and explain everything that you come
into contact with in the universe around you.
3. The third function of a mythological order is to validate and maintain a
certain sociological system: a shared set of rights and wrongs, proprieties or
improprieties, on which your particular social unit depends for its existence.
4. …the fourth function of myth is psychological. That myth must carry the
individual through the stages of his life, from birth through maturity through
senility to death. The mythology must do so in accords with the social order
of his group, the cosmos as understood by his group, and the monstrous
mystery.
The second and third functions have been taken over in our world by secular
orders. Our cosmology is in the hands of science. The first law of science is
that the truth has not been found. The laws of science are working
hypotheses. The scientist knows that at any moment facts may be found that
make the present theory obsolete; this is happening now constantly. It's
amusing. In a religious tradition, the older the doctrine, the truer it is held to
be. In the scientific tradition, on the other hand, a paper written ten years
ago is already out of date. There's a continuous movement onward. So
there's no law, no Rock of Ages on which you can rest. There's nothing of the
kind. It's fluid. And we know that rocks are fluid, too, though it takes them a
long time to flow. Nothing lasts. It all changes. In the social realm, again, we
don't regard our laws as being divinely ordained. You still hear it from time to
time, as in the current abortion problem: God is talking to Senator So-and-so,
or Reverend Thus-and-such. But it doesn't seem to make sense otherwise.
God's law is no longer the justification for the nation's laws. Congress
decides what a decent aim for the social order is and what the institution is
that should bring that aim about. So I would say that in this secular society of
ours, we can no longer really think of the cosmological and sociological
functions as a problem.

What are LEGENDS

A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human
actions perceived or believed both by teller and listeners to have taken place
within human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human
values, and possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude

CHARACTERISTICS OF LEGENDS
- A NARRATIVE of human actions that are believed by the storyteller and the
reader/listener to have taken place in HUMAN history.

- Written in such a way as be at least potentially real/true; includes no

happenings outside of the realm of possibility.

- Legends have a specific SETTING: a time, and a place. They often include
beliefs and ideas of a culture.

- Legends have flexible guidelines, and therefore, can begin with miracles
that are believed to have really happened.

- Legends transform over time. Facts will change or be stretched,

HYPERBOLE will enter the PLOTLINE, and colorful details will remain and/or
get more colorful.

- Legends evolve over the years and are kept fresh, lively and exciting.

- Legends can be prose or poetry. They combine a real event or real person’s
unusual life story with the exaggeration and heroic actions that we associate
with stores of heroes and great national events.

- Legends read like Folk Tales but have a least a bit of historical truth.

- Legends are different than myths because they portray a historical hero
rather than one who is a god or goddess.