   #copyright

Fiction

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Literature types

   The Three Graces, here in a painting by Sandro Botticelli, were the
   goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in
   Greek mythology.
   Enlarge
   The Three Graces, here in a painting by Sandro Botticelli, were the
   goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in
   Greek mythology.

   Fiction (from the Latin fingere, "to form, create") is the name given
   to imagined events, people or places and stands in contrast to
   non-fiction, which refers to factual claims and reality.

   Fiction may be represented in media using —novels, short stories,
   fables, fairy tales, films, comics, interactive fiction, cartoons,
   video games, Anime—

   Fictional works may include or reference factual occurrences. 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.,
   Marcel Proust or William Faulkner).

Overview

   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. On the
   other hand fiction is also used to express religion (see Bahá'í Faith
   in fiction and LDS fiction.)

   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.

Elements of fiction

   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 ( ) the way they affect our perception. The term was
   coined in French, narratologie, by Tzvetan Todorov in his 1969
   Grammaire du Décaméron (Prince ). 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 ( theatre, films,
   electronic entertainment, etc.) are not included in the studies' field.
     * antagonist: the character that stands in opposition to the
       protagonist
     * character: a participant in the story, usually a person
     * conflict: a character or problem with which the protagonist must
       contend
     * climax: the story's highest point of tension or drama
     * dialogue: the speech of characters as opposed to that of the
       narrator
     * 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.
     * protagonist: the central character of a story
     * resolution: the plot component in which the result of the conflict
       is revealed
     * scene: a piece of the story showing the action of one event
     * setting: the locale and time of a story that creates mood and
       atmosphere
     * structure: the organization of story elements
     * subplot: a plot that is part of or subordinate to another plot
     * suspension of disbelief: the reader's temporary acceptance of story
       elements as believable, usually necessary for enjoyment
     * theme: a conceptual distillation of the story; what the story is
       about
     * tone: the tone of "voice" that the author uses.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiction"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
