Fiction vs. Nonfiction: Key Features, Points of View and Literary Terms in English

Fiction and Nonfiction

Fiction is a form of writing that tells a story about made-up characters and events. Fiction always has the same features:

• People or animals called characters
• A group of events called the plot
• A time and place called the setting
• Someone called the narrator who tells the story
• A message or idea about life called a theme
• A point of view

Point of View

First person point of view means that the narrator is part of the story. This narrator uses the word I to tell what happened.

Third person point of view means that the narrator is not part of the story. This narrator uses the words he and she to tell what happened.

Examples of Fiction

• Novel: long, with many chapters
• Novella: shorter than a novel but longer than a short story
• Short story: brief enough to be read in one sitting

Nonfiction

Nonfiction is writing that gives information or states the author's opinion about a subject. Nonfiction is about real people, events or ideas.

Nonfiction gives information from the author's perspective, or the way the author sees things. The author's attitudes or feelings about the topic is called the tone.

Nonfiction is written to do the following:

• Explain
• Persuade
• Inform
• Entertain

Examples of Nonfiction

• Biography: the story of a person's life told by someone else
• Autobiography: the story of the author's own life
• Letter: a written message from one person to another to share information, thoughts or feelings
• Journal or diary: a written record of daily events and of the writer's thoughts and feelings
• Essay: a brief written work that tells the author's opinion
• Informational text: a written work that gives information, such as textbooks, applications and instruction manuals
• Speech: a written work meant to be spoken to an audience

Literary Analysis

Plot

The plot is the arrangement of events in a story. The plot includes the following elements:

• Exposition: introduction of the setting, characters and basic situation
• Conflict: the story's central problem
• Climax: the high point of the story, when the story's outcome becomes clear
• Rising action: events that follow the climax
• Resolution: the final outcome

Vocabulary

Words Related to Fiction

• Fantasy: an idea or a belief that is not based on facts
• Fiction: a story or book about imaginary people and events
• Realistic: based on what is actually possible rather than on how a person might like things to be
• True: based on facts
• Unbelievable: hard to believe because it does not seem probable

Words Related to Research and Decisions

• Decision: a choice or judgment that a person makes after discussion or thought
• Determine: to find out the facts about something
• Fact: a piece of information known to be true
• Opinion: a person's belief about something
• Prove: to show that something is true by using facts and information
• Confirm: to show that something is definitely true by getting more proof
• Evidence: a fact, an object or a sign that makes you believe something is true
• Investigate: to try to find out more about a subject
• Study: to find out more about a subject
• Test: to examine something in order to get information