Maybe you’re not good with dialogue. Maybe many of your paragraphs start with the same sentence construction. Maybe you forget to give your characters thoughts or emotions.

Perhaps you skip one or two of the sense elements—maybe you skip the sense elements altogether and your characters never see or touch or smell or hear or taste anything. And that means your readers don’t either.

Maybe your weakness is the lack of setting detail or the absence of character habits or quirks. Do your characters pass through scenes without touching anything, floating on air so they don’t crush the gravel underfoot or don’t slide across a newly waxed floor? Do they never pick up physical objects to be used or even fiddled with?

Maybe you’re not visual so you don’t give characters sights to focus on—no colors, no unusual shapes, no arresting anomalies in their story world.

But do consider sights. And colors. And sounds and atmosphere and character emotions.

Consider every element you could possibly add to a story. No, not every story needs an abundance of every story element, but each story needs multiple elements to bring richness and depth.

Make a list of your weaknesses; know what to look for. Learn the places in your stories where you tend to leave out details or dialogue. Learn your favorite sentence constructions and look for ways to vary them for impact.

If you’ve been told your stories are flat or barren, you can fix your next story so it’s neither flat nor barren. If you forget to add a necessary story element, you can always add it in.

Prepare yourself to rewrite at least one draft for the sole purpose of filling in your story gaps, no matter what their source.

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A writer and I were speaking of this not too long ago. We both admitted that since we don’t pay attention to visual details in our own lives, we tend to not include them in our characters’ lives.

But our characters are not us and they need to be a part of their setting. Either they are very comfortable with it—interacting with the buildings and rooms and objects surrounding them—or they are unfamiliar with a new setting in which they find themselves and are alert to every object they see, every sound they hear.

Setting should mean something to the characters and thus to the story. The location of your story scenes should have an impact on that story and on the characters that move through it. Setting should also contribute to tone and to the mood of a scene.

Readers should know where you’ve placed your characters. Give them enough—not overmuch unless that’s done to serve the story—enough to let them picture your characters making their way through your story world.

Setting is not the only detail a writer might forget or ignore or be ignorant of. A writer could just as easily forget to convey the thoughts of a viewpoint character, either through a reporting of those thoughts or through actions or facial expressions based on those thoughts.

A writer could easily overlook secondary characters in a scene with multiple characters, forget them so thoroughly that the reader wonders why they were there in the first place.

Each writer will have his own weaknesses. But those weaknesses don’t need to remain in a finished manuscript. A writer can use one rewrite or editing pass to fold in the element that he always omits in his first or second draft.

If characters never eat, never hear music playing, or never notice the color of anything, use one of your read-thrus to add food, the hint of a song or two, the color of objects, a sunset, a bruise, or even the rosy flush of a lover’s skin.

Should the mention of animals or children be a natural for your plot? Add them in, blending and weaving so it seems they’ve been there all along.

Think about layering and variety so you don’t always have a character responding in the same way to your additions. If a character should notice music, let once instance be to notice a song on the radio, another a nightclub singer, and another a child practicing scales in a distant room.

Give your character a different reaction to each mention of music—the fact that a character is noticing the music at all reveals his interest to the reader.

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While you’ll have your own list of elements you forget or overlook, one that will change over your writing career, I’ve included one to get you started. Don’t limit yourself to these items. Instead, use them as a springboard to other story elements or items you might have forgotten or ignored.

I’ve arranged the list by general topics, but many of the items could be found on multiple lists.

For setting and background—

Sight, scent, sound, taste, touch

Color—visual color as well as emotional color

Setting description

Background characters going about their normal business

Background events that don’t direct story events but add to atmosphere

For characters—

Dialogue

Character thoughts

Character emotions

Character reactions

Character interaction with setting and with the props of a setting

Character habits and quirks

Character motivation

Character goals

Conflict

Humor

Annoyances

For plot—

Highs and lows

A climax

A resolution

Fast-paced scenes

Slow-paced scenes

Moments for readers to catch their breaths

Surprises

Hooks at the ends and beginnings of chapters

Events worth following

Cause and effect

For mechanics/technical issues—

Variety in sentence construction

Variety in word choice

Word choices that fit characters

Variety in punctuation

Variety in scene and chapter length

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Weaknesses won’t always remain weaknesses, especially if you go back and layer in what you’ve omitted for a couple of manuscripts. Because you’ll have thought about the issues and reworked them a couple of times, you’ll start including, in your first draft, what had once been absent. Until you do, make a point of adding those elements in a structured way, not leaving their eventual conclusion to chance.

Of course, stories can have too much of any element as well as a lack. But that’s an issue for another article.

For now, concentrate on what’s lacking from the early drafts of your manuscripts and use rewrites to add in elements where there’s a lack. Be thorough, but not heavy-handed—unless a heavy hand suits the story.

Fill in the blanks in your manuscripts without feeling as if you’re a bad writer for having to do so. Every writer has to rewrite; rewriting is where idea takes on flesh and becomes more than words on paper.

Tackle your rewrites with purpose. Put knowledge of your own weaknesses to work and create good story.

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A style sheet is simply a statement and a reflection of the style standards and practices of a publisher of newspapers, books, or magazines.

One publishing house may adhere to recommendations from the Chicago Manual of Style and a newspaper may follow the Associated Press’s guide. But both may have special rules and recommendations for specific instances, in-house rules that they recommend for their writers.

Depending on the publisher, some items from a style sheet might be absolute rules and some might be strong recommendations. A writer or editor might be able to make a case for a usage contrary to the publisher’s recommendation or accepted practice. The writer or editor can always ask or challenge a standard practice.

These recommendations, both in-house and not, make up the publisher’s style guide or style sheet.

Style sheets inform writers and editors about spelling, punctuation, and capitalization practices so a manuscript can be consistent within itself as well as match the style of the publication.

Yet writers and editors don’t have to rely solely on a publisher’s style guide. Instead, they can put together their own style sheet for their manuscripts.

If you’re a plotter, you may have written a detailed spreadsheet listing scene layout, plot threads, and character traits, physical description, and history. But even plotters can benefit from a style sheet.

A style sheet can help writers and editors maintain consistency and help them reduce errors in story details.

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How to set up a style sheet
Since I edit from hard copy, I create a style sheet on a sheet of paper rather than using a spreadsheet on the computer. (I do, however, copy the details to a spreadsheet when I share them with clients.) Use whatever method, paper or computer, that works for you.

If you use the paper method, simply draw a horizontal line across the center of one side of the paper (think landscape view rather than portrait). Then draw three vertical lines from top to bottom to divide the page into eight boxes.

Flip the paper over. Draw another horizontal line across the page, yet do it a little higher than center on this side (you’ll need more room in the boxes at the bottom of the page). Divide the top section into three or four boxes. The bottom section may have two or three or four different-sized boxes. (The setup is virtually the same for a spreadsheet done on the computer.)

Mark the eight boxes on the first page and those on the top of the second page with groups of letters in alphabetical order. Put A/B or A/B/C at the top of the first box, C/D or D/E/F in the second box and so on until you’ve covered all the letters and used all the boxes. 

You’ll be entering words based on their first letters into these boxes.

Why? To keep track of odd spellings or words that you make up. To list titles or place names used in the manuscript. To keep up with oddities of any kind from the manuscript. To create a reference document so that anyone working on the manuscript can see exactly how words should be spelled or capped or hyphenated or abbreviated.

Title columns at the bottom of page two with Characters, Punctuation, Numbers, and Miscellaneous. The column for characters may require the most space; you might not need a separate column for numbers. If you’ve got another column option, feel free to include it.

What to include
Include any item or topic for which the writer or editor must make a decision. Remember that the style sheet is an aid for consistency. A writer might use it as a reminder for herself as she writes and edits or she might pass it on to her copy editor at a publishing house. An editor might use her own style sheet to show a writer what choices she made while editing.

Use a style sheet to—

~  List character names in the character column with the first spelling you find for each and the page number of the first use of each name. If there are different spellings, note the differences and the page number of the first usage of each different spelling.

~  List punctuation rules—serial comma or no serial comma, em dash rather than parentheses, and so on, whatever you’ve decided you’ll use for the manuscript.

~  Spell out the rules for using numerals and words for numbers. Will it be numerals for all numbers greater than nine or will your cut-off be ninety-nine?

~  Note if which is acceptable in place of that for American English restrictive clauses.

~  Note whether a mix of British English and American English spellings is acceptable or if it’s necessary to choose one style.

~  Show how contractions will be used, if they’ll be used. Might all characters except for one use contractions? Are any contractions unacceptable?

~  Spell out uses of quotation marks and/or italics, especially for unusual words or for emphasis or for words used as words.

~  List acceptable dialogue tags other than said or asked, if there are any. Or list unacceptable dialogue tags.

~  List any limits on curse words, either by word or use by specific characters.

~  Show correct spelling of unusual or made-up words.

~  List abbreviations. List words that are always capped.

~  List hyphenated words or unusual compound words.

~  List oddities in grammar or punctuation, especially anything outside standard usage. If the writer wants a knowingly different usage, be sure to include a note about that unusual usage.

~  List foreign words.

~  Note anything unusual that the writer or copy editor should know about, anything that would enhance consistency if followed throughout the story or that would challenge the suspension of disbelief if not followed.

Most of these suggestions are geared toward a fiction manuscript, but you can also include notes for non-fiction works. For example, spell out the procedures for labeling graphs or images, explain layout, include standards for headings and titles, and make clear how scientific notation and definitions will be written.

Make a note in the style sheet for the unusual or use the style sheet to tell the writer about grammar, punctuation, or spelling rules he might not know. For example—

Write words for numbers and symbols in dialogue rather than using numerals and the symbols themselves.

Use ellipsis for dialogue that trails off, em dash for dialogue that’s cut off.

Use a comma to separate names in dialogue from the rest of the dialogue when a character is being addressed.

“I warned you, Syd. Now it’s too late.”

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A style sheet is easy to fill out. Easy to forget to fill out as well, unfortunately. But it can be highly useful for both writers and editors, especially as a writing project nears completion.

Writers, you might not want to start your style sheet until after you’ve written the first draft. Working on one before that point might get in the way of your creativity. Of course, if keeping up with the details helps you as you write, by all means begin the style sheet with your first page.

Do consider adding a style sheet to your writing tasks. Don’t feel that you must start it early in the project.

If you’re a freelance editor, there’s no consideration about it; prepare a style sheet for your clients. Show them how consistency can be worked into their manuscripts.

Give them one more tool for writing better fiction.

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There are so many, many areas to a piece of long fiction, how can you be sure you’ve checked each, weighed the value of each, polished each?

And if you change one area, how do you remind yourself to re-check those other areas that you already looked at?

And. . . where do you even start this checking and polishing, this editing?

It’s likely that you easily catch problems and errors in the areas where you’re strongest as a writer or editor—if you nail character goals and motivation, you might want to start your edit there. Or, you may look to your own problem areas first, assuming you’ll need to spend more time in those areas. So if punctuation is a weak spot, that may be where you begin your edits.

You probably look at big-picture issues first and work toward the fine details. That makes sense since changes in big-picture items will change a lot of the fine details. Yet, if you can’t stand to read a manuscript with typos and weak word choices, don’t feel that you can’t change them as you edit and rewrite. That is, if editing the detail stuff along the way helps you, then do it. But don’t forget to systematically check those details again after you’ve made major changes.

Changes in any area, but especially in large-picture or story-wide issues, will necessitate change throughout the manuscript. Be ready to evaluate the manuscript again after making large-picture changes. Make sure changes—both items added in and items taken out—are carried through the story.

I don’t intend to lay out some standard, absolute path for editing; as writers approach their craft in a manner that works for them, so should editors. Do what works for you and your organizational patterns and for your writers and their projects.

Yet, don’t merely wing it, guessing your way through your edits.

Know the items to look for and know how to address problem areas. Think ahead—anticipate how changes in one element or scene or plot thread will change elements and scenes and plot threads later in the story.

Be flexible. Realize that one story or one writer’s style may require an approach different from any you’ve undertaken before. Don’t lock yourself into an inflexible checklist—be aware that each story has its own needs. You may find a unique dilemma that will require a fix you haven’t tried before.

Stories are similar in makeup, yet no two will require the same edit.

And remember that you may have to work backwards. If you find something that needs attention at the end of the story, you’ll probably have to change multiple areas earlier in the story to bring about that needed change.

Allow yourself to think beyond one-step fixes—you may need to layer your corrections in order to fix or change a problem area. A weak character may need a new personality quirk, may need to lose part of his history, and may need a different character for his best friend.

Be bold in your prescriptions. On the flip side, don’t overlook the simple.

Rely on experience, but be open to the unexpected.

Know the rules, yet allow your writer (and yourself) freedom and flexibility.

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I’d like to look at areas you’ll want to consider as you edit. Many will be the same kinds of areas writers consider as they create. The emphasis, however, may be a bit different.

Writers must make sure they include fascinating characters and plots that keep a reader’s attention. Editors (and writers who self-edit) will check for fascinating characters and plots as well. They may also consider what additional characters would mean for the story or what a sub-plot could add.

Writers are often concerned with the story in their heads and with getting that story to the page. Editors are often concerned with the elements of the story that are not yet on the page—they look to see what’s missing. Editors also focus on weeding out distractions from the core story—characters who don’t fit, settings that don’t work, dialogue that adds nothing, sub-plots that dilute the main plot, and digressions and rabbit trails and non-productive elements that either neuter the power of the story or actually detract from it.

Editing can be art, but there are standards and practices and even tips and tricks you can bring to your edits to ensure you’ve been complete in your evaluation.

You may have your specialties, as most people do in the tasks that they perform often. But no one wants to overlook other important elements simply because they focus on certain other elements.

Perhaps you tend to focus on the big picture and story-wide issues. Wouldn’t you like tips for checking out the details?

And if you’re a stickler for details, wouldn’t you like a refresher on how to consider the big-picture items?

Let’s consider areas that editors do look at and should look at, and simply put them in lists with a bit of explanation. This way you’ll know areas you’ll want to cover in an edit.

You may find that you take every area mentioned here into account each time you edit. You may find some areas that you’ve never considered. Or, you may find that some areas are not those you think an editor should be concerned with.

I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing what other editors consider important. If you’ve got something to add to this list, please share.

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I’m simply going to split the elements into big-picture areas and fine-detail areas. I realize there will be overlap and I’m sure we wouldn’t all arrange the areas in the same way. I’m using this method since I think about story in this manner, with story-wide issues that affect the whole manuscript and fine details that can be edited without necessarily making changes to the full story.

Yet, as I said, there may be overlap. Some fine-detail issues can have great impact on the story as a whole.

Big-picture areas

Plot

 ~  Questions to ask—

Is it interesting and engrossing

Is there enough to sustain the story through the final page

Are there too many sub-plots, not enough sub-plots

Are major plot issues resolved

Is plot introduced in an engaging way

Does the story make sense

Are there hooks; are they logical; are they related to the rest of the plot

Is plot engaging, inevitable, believable

Is the plot full enough or does it feel thin

Is the premise right for the story that’s been written

Has reader expectation been whetted and then satisfied

Is there a focus or is the plot scattered

Does the story start in the right place

 ~  Steps to take/what plot should do—

Weed out coincidence

Maintain forward movement

Include surprises

Move logically from point to point

Resolve plot threads

Root out author intrusion

Whether you consider the opening event or the protagonist’s acceptance of his call to action the inciting incident, make sure you have both

Make sure the ending is sufficient in terms of length and depth for the story

Make sure the ending is inevitable

Make sure the ending doesn’t drag; make it satisfy the reader

Make sure the black moment and climax are strong enough for the story

Use back story sparingly and blend it so it doesn’t stop story momentum

Character

 ~  Questions to ask—

Are lead characters interesting enough for the story

Do lead characters have sufficient motivation to move through the plot

Is the antagonist strong enough, a good complement to the protagonist

Do characters have strengths and weaknesses

Are character goals clear

Are characters well-rounded

Are all featured characters vital to the plot

Is character motivation appropriate for the story that developed from it

 ~  Steps to take/what character should do—

Make sure there are enough characters to carry the plot

Make sure there are no unnecessary characters

Give the main character secondary characters to support him

Give the main character characters strong enough to challenge him

Fit characters to genre and era

Give characters appropriate and sufficient habits, quirks, favorite words, speech patterns, dreams, goals and motivations, and hot buttons that other characters can push

Make characters three-dimensional—include thoughts, actions, and reactions

Setting

 ~  Questions to ask—

Is it conveyed sufficiently

Is it appropriate for the story

Would a different setting work better

Is setting used to advance plot, to create tone, to increase tension

Are readers given a clear sense of place and time for each scene

 ~  Steps to take/what setting should do—

Verify details

Make sure setting details are appropriate to story and scene

Make sure setting doesn’t overwhelm action and plot

Include props that characters can handle and use

Dialogue

 ~  Questions to ask—

Does dialogue advance the story

Is dialogue appropriate to character

Is dialogue appropriate to the scene

Does dialogue increase conflict

 ~  Steps to take/what dialogue should do—

Ensure that characters sound sufficiently different

Make sure it is dialogue and not conversation

Use genre-appropriate dialogue tags

Keep adverbs in dialogue tags to a minimum, unless genre allows them

Scenes

Make sure there are a sufficient number of scenes

Make sure individual scenes satisfy and that they are different in terms of action events, character combinations, dialogue patterns, and type of conflict

Give scenes variety in length, format, depth, and pattern

Use a variety of settings for scenes (or play against variety and stick to only a few settings) 

Make sure scenes are in the best order to cause problems for the character and induce tension in the reader

Point of view

 ~  Questions to ask—

Is it the right POV for the story and for the scene; would another be better

Is POV clear

Is POV maintained within scenes

Should POV change with scenes

Who should be the viewpoint character in each scene

 ~  Steps to take/what point of view should do—

Make sure that viewpoint character doesn’t change within scenes (no head-hopping)

Make sure viewpoint character knows only what he could really know

Use a change in POV or viewpoint character to bring story and character closer to the reader or to hold the reader at a distance when necessary

Pace

 ~  Questions to ask—

Does pace vary

Is the pace of each scene appropriate

Does pace influence tone

Does pace increase/decrease tension

Conflict

 ~  Questions to ask—

Is there sufficient conflict in each scene and between characters

Does conflict escalate

 ~  Steps to take/what conflict should do—

Create tension

Make characters and readers uncomfortable

Increase conflict as the story progresses

Ensure conflict between characters and between protagonist and himself and within the antagonist

Balance

 ~  Steps to take/what balance should do—

Ensure balance between elements; make sure no one element overwhelms

Balance character thoughts, dialogue, and actions with setting and description

Balance sections, scenes, chapters, and acts

Fine-detail areas

Spelling, grammar, and punctuation

Each must be checked; never assume they’re correct.

Maintain consistency in all three

Emotion

Be sure you’ve shown character emotions

Make sure you tapped into reader emotion

Go after more than one emotional event; induce more than one emotion per story

Style

Enhance the writer’s style as long as it serves the story

Make sure the style is cohesive

Fact checking

Check dates, technology and inventions, historical events. Anything that can be verified needs to be verified.

Word choices

Delete unintended repetition

Make sure words are character, era, scene, and genre appropriate

Cut out unnecessary words

Understand how humor affects character, scene, tone, and plot, and use humor when appropriate

Use specific verbs

Remove weak phrasing

Take out clichés and the writer’s pet words

Make every sentence and each word count

Sentence construction

Use variety in construction and in sentence length

Rhythm

Ensure variety in rhythm without producing annoying patterns

Consider giving characters unique sentence constructions

Time

Be sure that the passage of time is both clear and possible.

Make sure readers understand the timing of events and scenes

Clarity

Make sure that each section, bit of dialogue, scene, and chapter is clear

Tone

Ensure the tone achieved is what the writer intended and appropriate for the story

General questions and reminders

Has the writer made the reader care about the character and his dilemma?

Is the story entertaining?

Is there enough story to the story?

Is the story different enough to catch a reader’s attention?

Does the story move fast enough?

Does the story catch either the reader’s mind or heart, perhaps both?

Put the elements to work—make each do double or triple duty. Make dialogue advance plot and reveal character and up the conflict level.

Remember the reader—don’t edit in a vacuum.

Remember the writer—she may have ideas of her own.

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This could go on much longer and in more detail. But I hope it gives you a helpful list of the areas to look at when you edit.

May I suggest that you look closest at those areas that don’t appeal to you or that give you problems? Take time to review the elements of fiction that you’re weakest in. Why not strengthen them, help yourself to be an even stronger editor?

If you’re a writer who’s using this list to self-edit, I suggest you take all the time needed to work your way through your edits. Editing, good editing, doesn’t happen in an instant. Don’t be surprised if you spend as many hours on an edit as you do working on one of your drafts. A good edit deserves the time.

And a good book deserves an outstanding edit.

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You’ve completed your novel. The story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. And you want to bask, just a moment, of course, in the relief and excitement of a job well done.

However…

The job isn’t done. Yes, the first draft is finished, in all its unwieldy glory. But your job as creator isn’t finished. Certainly, your job as editor and rewriter has not yet begun. And your newest masterpiece is ready for neither the public nor your most enthusiastic admirers.

It really isn’t.

You hoped yours would be different, didn’t you? You hoped you’d do in one draft what takes the rest of us four or six or a dozen.

Not gonna happen. Not even if you’re the slowest writer who edits as she writes, painstakingly correcting and changing and deleting and adding…

Nope.

A novel—a quality work of fiction—requires more than a single pass. More than two.

We need to correct plot errors and logic errors and simple errors in word choice. We must condense on one side and fill out on the other.

We need to tighten threads that jolt readers’ emotions and cut out the thread we introduced on page 27 but forgot to continue through the rest of the story.

We must combine characters who serve only one scene and give extended life to the character whose actions offer motivation for our main character.

We polish and cut and rearrange and fuss and fume and laugh and cry and cut some more and add a side plot and rip out our hero’s monologue that makes us cry but does nothing to advance the main plot.

When we type THE END, we’ve reached a resting point, a place where we can breathe, where we remember we have families and spouses and friends, maybe roses that need pruning and cars that need new tires. We can enjoy the non-fictional world and solve problems for those in our lives who bleed blood rather than ink.

But then…

When we’ve rested. And recharged. And made peace with family and friends…

Then we head back into our fictional world and attack our words and phrases with the ardor and the mental acuity of a general who knows exactly how best to move and position his troops to ensure victory. We check out the surroundings and the people we have to work with and we examine timelines, knowing we must get the right flank into place within a particular time frame.

I won’t say that THE END is just the beginning, because it’s very, very far from that. But it’s often, in terms of time and the work still to be done, even farther from the true end.

Revel in the joy of finishing your manuscript. Celebrate the accomplishment. But take out your red pen with that same joy and take another pass—or ten—through your story. Don’t leave it before it’s truly finished.

Make sure THE END doesn’t act as a stop sign to your enthusiasm or to your true goal. Finish the story. Give your rewrites as much time as they need.

Stop when the story is complete, when you’ve succeeded at the writer’s task of penning the best story you’re capable of writing at this stage of your career.

Then THE END will be

THE END

A few quick tips for self-editing…

• Edit from hard copy. Mistakes, unintended repetition, overused sentence construction can all jump off the page of a hard copy.
• Edit in a location different from where you write. Stimulate the mind with sounds and sights different from those of the writing environment. Stir your mind to look for differences in the room and on the page.
• Be free with your pen or pencil. Cut out long sections that go nowhere or that add nothing to plot or character. Delete pointless repetition. Cut out scenes that slow forward momentum. (You can always add back anything you take out.)
• Remove or change favorite words. We all have words that we repeat in every piece we write. Learn your favorite words and go after them ruthlessly.
• Cut down on adverbs and adjectives. Make your nouns and verbs do heavier duty and get rid of modifiers that bloat the work.
• Ignore the manuscript for a while. If you’re not under deadline, allow the piece to breathe before editing. Go on to another story, read something new, start a project around the house. Get the story out of your head for a while. For weeks if you have the time. If you give it enough time, the bloated phrasing and poor rhythms and plot threads to nowhere will jump out at you when you come back to edit.
• Delete character names. Check for overuse of names, especially in dialogue. The repetition of names can cause a story to drag.
• Check first words of consecutive paragraphs (and sentences). Every paragraph shouldn’t begin with he or she or Elvis.
• Look for unanswered questions. Read the first three to five chapters and make a list of problems your characters face. Then find the places in your manuscript where the problem is solved. If there is no solution, write one. Or get rid of the problem. Also, make sure that the solution is sufficiently satisfying for the level of the problem. You may intend one problem to play a large part in the story, but by the time you get to it, other story elements may have taken over. Adjust problems and solutions so their weights match.
• Read the story once as a reader would, to see if it entertains. If it doesn’t, try to determine where the storytelling went off track and then make corrections.

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Find an expanded version of Self-editing Tips on my video page.

Check out the very detailed Editor’s Checklist for specific editing suggestions for the major elements of fiction.

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