Fiction
:
Fiction and Fictional redirect here. See Fiction (disambiguation) and Fictional (band)Fiction (from the Latin
fingere, "to form, create") is
storytelling of
imagined events and stands in contrast to
non-fiction, which makes factual claims about
reality.
A large part of the appeal of fiction is its ability to evoke the entire spectrum of human
emotions: to distract our minds, to give us hope in times of despair, to make us laugh, or to let us experience empathy without attachment. Fictional works—
novels,
stories,
fables,
fairy tales,
films,
comics,
interactive fiction,
cartoons,
video games,
Anime—may be partly based on factual occurrences but always contain some imaginary content. The term is also often used synonymously with
literature and more specifically fictional prose. In this sense, fiction refers only to novels or short stories and is often divided into two categories,
popular fiction (e.g.,
science fiction or
mystery fiction) and
literary fiction (e.g.,
Victor Hugo or
William Faulkner).
Fiction is largely perceived as a form of
art and/or
entertainment, although not all fiction is necessarily artistic. Fiction may be created for the purpose of educating, such as fictional examples used in
school textbooks. Fiction is also frequently instrumentalized by
propaganda and
advertising. Fiction may be propagated by parents to their children out of
tradition (e.g.
Santa Claus) or in order to instill certain beliefs and values.
Fables with an explicit moral goal are not necessarily targeted at children, however.Fiction may over time blend with factual accounts and develop into
mythology. Many
atheists perceive
religion as no different from any fictional tale, whereas members of religious groups typically explain their beliefs with
faith and/or historical figures/events; and claim they are fundamentally different from fictional tales (although they may call other religious views fictional). The sociological school of
constructivism argues that every view of reality is fundamentally a construction of the self and that a safe distinction between fact and fiction is impossible, whereas the
philosophy of naturalism holds that reality can be approximated and
truth can be demonstrated through usefulness, allowing the distinction from fiction.
Fiction has often been the target of
censorship or
boycotts, escalating into
book burnings or
bans. Extremist regimes like the
Taliban have been even more prohibitive, restricting all reading to religious texts. There is an ongoing debate regarding sexual content in fiction and whether or not juveniles can be safely exposed to it; opponents of fiction with sexual content typically label it
pornography.
The
Internet has had a massive impact on the distribution of fiction, calling into question the feasibility of
copyright as a means to ensure
royalties are payed to copyright holders. Also
digital libraries such as
Project Gutenberg have come into being which make
public domain texts more readily available. The combination of inexpensive home computers, the Internet and the creativity of its users has also led to new forms of fiction, such as interactive
computer games or computer-generated comics. Countless forums for
fan fiction can be found online, where loyal followers of specific
fictional realms create and distribute derivative stories. Through open writing systems like
wikis, collaboratively written fiction is also becoming possible (see the
Wikifiction initiative).
Fiction is a fundamental part of human
culture, and the ability to create fiction and other artistic works is frequently cited as one of the defining characteristics of
humanity.
;Types of fiction prose
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Epic: A work of 200,000 words or more.
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Novel: A work of 60,000 words or more.
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Novella: A work of at least 17,500 words but under 60,000 words.
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Novelette: A work of at least 7,500 words but under 17,500 words.
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Short story: A work of at least 2,000 words but under 7,500 words.
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Flash fiction: A work of fewer than 2,000 words. (1,000 by some definitions)
Novel
A
novel (from French
nouvelle Italian "novella", "new") is an extended
fictional
narrative in
prose. Until the
eighteenth century, the word referred specifically to
short fictions of
love and intrigue as opposed to
romances, which were
epic-length works about love and
adventure. During the 18th century the novel adopted features of the old romance and became one of the major
literary genres. It is today defined mostly by its ability to become the object of literary criticism demanding
artistic merit, a specific 'literary' style and a deeper meaning than a true story of the same content could claim to have.
Short story
A
short story is a form of short
fictional narrative prose. Short stories tend to be more concise and to the point than longer works of fiction, such as
novellas (in the modern sense of this term) and
novels. Because of their brevity, successful short stories rely on
literary devices such as
character,
plot,
theme,
language, and
insight to a greater extent than long form fiction.
Short stories have their origins in the prose
anecdote, a swiftly-sketched situation that comes rapidly to its point, with parallels in
oral story-telling traditions. With the rise of the comparatively
realistic novel, the short story evolved as a miniature, with some of its first perfectly independent examples in the tales of
E.T.A. Hoffman and
Edgar Allan Poe.
The fiction writer might use the following to create artistic effects in his or her
story:
Narratology is the theory and study of
narrative and
narrative structure and ([
1]) the way they affect our perception. The term was coined in French,
narratologie, by
Tzvetan Todorov in his 1969
Grammaire du Décaméron (Prince [
2]). Its objects of study are all kinds of narrated
texts - both
fiction (
literature,
poetry, etc.) and
non-fiction (
historiography,
academic publishing, etc.), - as well as the dramatic structures, plot devices, characterization, settings, genres, and literary techniques. Usually, the term "narratology" is used in connection with fictional texts, which doesn't imply that non-fictional texts or other forms of fiction (
theater,
films,
electronic entertainment, etc.) are not included in the studies' field.
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antagonist: the character that stands in opposition to the protagonist
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character: a participant in the story, usually a person
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conflict: a character or problem with which the protagonist must contend
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climax: the story's highest point of tension or drama
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dialogue: the speech of characters as opposed to the narrator
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plot: a related series of events revealed in
narrative*
point of view: the perspective of the narrator; usually refers to the voice, first or third person.
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protagonist: the central character of a story
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resolution: the plot component in which the result of the conflict is revealed
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scene: a piece of the story showing the action of one event
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setting: the locale and time of a story that creates mood and atmosphere
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structure: the organization of story elements
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subplot: a plot that is part of or subordinate to another plot
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suspension of disbelief: the reader's temporary acceptance of story elements as believable, usually necessary for enjoyment
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theme: a conceptual distillation of the story; what the story is about
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Archive of fictional things*
Fiction writing*
Asemic Writing
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Pseudohistory*
Most Honored Fiction at the Book Award Annals
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Why We Read Fiction
