ELEMENTS OF FICTIONLesson Six – Mood and Narrative Perspective

Mood

The “feeling” of a story; its dominant tone or atmosphere.

Most stories have a predominating mood, one that is consistent, however shifts in mood can be used as important story points, or to change the pace (example: comic relief in Romeo and Juliet)

Mood is created by the author’s diction (word choice), descriptions, characterization, and is often strongly influenced by or connected to the setting.

Point of View All stories are told from a “Point of View”, the vantage point

from which the writer is telling their story. There are 4 kinds of POV’s

1st Person: Story told from the perspective of one character in their own words (Uses “I, me, we, etc.”)

2nd Person: Story is told to the reader as if they were the character (Uses “You”)

3rd Person Limited: Story is told from a characters point of view by a narrator whose knowledge is limited to that of the main character. The narrator is not the main character. (Uses “He, she, they, etc.)

3rd Person Omniscient: Story is told by an all knowing narrator who has access to the knowledge and thoughts of any character in the story at any time. The narrator is not the main character. (Uses “He, she, they, etc.)