FICTION WRITING: Elements of Story (Video)

Hello people, I’m here to talk to you about elements of story. My name is Seth Perler from SethPerler.com. Check out my website if you like what I’m doing, and share. Thanks.

Elements of story. I’m going to teach you everything you need to know really quickly. I’m going to speak kind of fast, but this is going to be a primer that really helps you with your writing.

Elements of story. First of all, we’re talking about story—generally fiction, not nonfiction, unless you’re doing a biography or something like that. But basically, “elements of a story” refers to fiction writing.

There are five elements of a story: character, setting, theme, plot, and point of view. That’s it. Five elements of story: character, setting, theme, plot, and point of view.

Think about elements like pieces that make up something. Every single story in the world has these five elements. If you know this and internalize it—even pseudo-memorize it—but actually apply it, it will help you with all your story writing for the rest of your life.

You, my friend, are authors of the future. You have big things to write and big stories to tell.

So what are we doing here?

We have characters. Every story has to have characters. Yes—every story. Every one. Every story also has to have a setting, plot, theme, and point of view.

Now let’s break each one down.

Character

When you’re building a character, here’s what I tell people: your character should be exaggerated. They should have exaggerated characteristics.

Think about a favorite book, movie, or TV show that impacted you. The characters usually have exaggerated traits. If they’re smart, they’re very smart. If they’re spiritual, they’re very spiritual. If they’re odd, they’re very odd. If they’re scared, they’re very scared.

So when you’re building a character, exaggerate their most important traits. That helps the reader create clear imagery in their mind from your writing.

The second thing: base characters on real people you know. When I write, I often take someone I know and use their traits as a base. For example, I might take someone named Todd and transfer some of his characteristics onto a fictional character named Anthony.

Even if one is a modern friend and the other is a medieval character, I’m still borrowing traits. This brings authenticity to your writing. So use real people you know as inspiration.

That’s character.

Setting

Next is setting. There are two parts: time and place—when and where.

When building setting, think carefully about time. Many writers forget this and just start writing without deciding if the story is modern, medieval, futuristic, etc. Choose your time period consciously.

Then there’s place. Most stories have multiple settings, but you don’t want too many. Give just enough detail so the reader can build the world in their mind.

Some authors give minimal description, others give very detailed description—both can work. The key is to choose important places intentionally and not overload the story with too many locations.

So: character, setting.

Plot

For plot, I’ll go deeper in another video (“plot mountain”), but for now, think: problem and solution.

Every good plot has a problem. The main character has a problem and must struggle and dig deep to overcome it. This is what humans connect with.

If your character doesn’t overcome anything, the story won’t connect deeply with your audience.

Theme

Theme is the moral or lesson.

A lot of students get stuck here. They think there must be one perfect lesson the reader “figures out.” Don’t think like that.

You can have one theme or many. The reader may interpret it differently anyway. You don’t control that.

Your job is not to force one message. Your job is to ask: what am I trying to teach? What lessons, ideas, or values matter in this story?

Think about what you want to express—not what the reader must extract.

Point of View

Point of view is simply: who is telling the story?

Is it first person (“I”) where the character tells the story? Or third person, where a narrator tells it?

That’s it. Just choose who is telling the story.

So again: character, setting, plot, theme, point of view.

Those are the five elements of story.

I’ll go over plot mountain in another video, and I’ll also talk about audience and purpose. Once you understand those along with the writing process and elements of story, you have a strong foundation for any kind of writing.

I don’t care if you’re in middle school, high school, college, or graduate school—if you understand these pieces and put them together, you can write.

Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not a writer. Writing is an art, and you are the artist. You have stories to tell and things to give.

People don’t realize how powerful they are. You have a lot to give to the world, and your story matters.

Writing is magic.

I hope you have an awesome day. I’ll see you soon. Take care.