Conventions of Prose Fiction

In a novel or short story, (a)   point of view is told from the perspective of one of the characters (either major or minor) in the text.

(a)   point of view is the perspective of a narrator outside the action of the story who knows what the characters think and feel and why they behave as they do.

(a)   point of view is the perspective of a narrator outside the action of the story who is limited to revealing the thoughts and feelings of a single character.

(a)   point of view is often called ‘the fly on the wall’ perspective. This narrator observes and describes but does not judge or offer insight into characters or situations within the text.

A writer's strategic choice to create a naive or unreliable narrator (who cannot be fully trusted by the reader) is typically accomplished through which narrative perspective?

• Objective

• Third person limited

• Third person omniscient

• First person

The ‘tone’ that we associate with any speaker can be used to describe the narrative ____ of any fiction text, which can range from engaged to detached, from biased to objective, about the events of the story that is told.

• Point of view

• Voice

• Dialogue

• Rhetoric

________ characterization relies on the narrator’s descriptions and judgments about a specific character.

• Direct

• Indirect

• Objective

• Subjective

________ characterization relies on a character’s actions and dialogue, as well as descriptions and judgments about them as given by other characters.

• Direct

• Indirect

• Objective

• Subjective

_______ characters change within the text, whereas _____ characters do not change, although the reader’s perception of such a character can change over time.

• Dynamic, static

• Static, dynamic

• Main, supporting

• Interesting, boring

Novels are developed in such a way that they may have more than one plot. These subplots have a number of functions, which include... (select all correct responses)

• deepening suspense

• explicitly stating the theme

• serving as ironic contrast to the main plot

• developing character