Outline of fiction

Last updated October 23, 2025

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fiction:

Fiction – narrative which is made up by the author. Literary work, it also includes theatrical, cinematic, documental, and musical work. In contrast to this is non-fiction, which deals exclusively in factual events (for example, biographies, histories). Semi-fiction or a fictionalization is fiction implementing a great deal of non-fiction;^[1] for example, a fictional description based on a true story.

What type of thing is fiction?

Product of imagination – Fiction forms pure imagination in the reader, partially because these novels are fabricated from creativity and are not pure truth; when the reader reads a passage from a novel they connect the words to images and visualize the event or situation being read in their imagination, hence the word.
Source of entertainment – This type of entertainment is usually pursued to escape reality and imagine their own.
Genre – any category of literature or other forms of art or culture; for example, music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria.
Opposite of non-fiction – non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact.

Elements of fiction

Character

Fictional character – person in a narrative work of arts (such as a novel, play, television series or film).
- Protagonist – main character around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve.
- Antagonist – character, group of characters, or an institution, who oppose the main character.

Plot

Plot – events that make up a story, particularly: as they relate to one another in a pattern or in a sequence; as they relate to each other through cause and effect; how the reader views the story; or simply by coincidence.
- Subplot – secondary strand of the plot that is a supporting side story for any story or the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance. Subplots often involve supporting characters, those besides the protagonist or antagonist.
- Story arc – extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and films with each episode following a narrative arc. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes.
- Narrative structure – structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener, or viewer. The narrative text structures are the plot and the setting.
- Monomyth – the hero's journey; it is the common template of a broad category of tales that involve a hero going on an adventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, and then comes home changed or transformed.

Setting

Theme

Style

Types of fiction

Literary fiction

Literary fiction – type of fiction that focuses more on analyzing the human condition than on plot

Genre fiction

Genre fiction – plot-driven fiction

Genres based on age of reader

Genres based on subject matter

Mystery fiction
- Detective fiction
Fantasy fiction – genre of fiction that uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting.
Science fiction – genre of fiction dealing with the impact of imagined innovations in science or technology, often in a futuristic setting.^[2]^[3]^[4] Exploring the consequences of such innovations is the traditional purpose of science fiction, making it a "literature of ideas".^[5]
Pornography
Erotica – works of art, including literature, photography, film, sculpture and painting, that deal substantively with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing descriptions.

Genres based on the length of the work

Flash fiction - A work of fewer than 2,000 words. (1,000 by some definitions) (around 5 pages)
Short story - A work of at least 2,000 words but under 7,500 words (between about 10 and 40 pages).
Novella - A work of at least 17,500 words but under 50,000 words (90-170 pages).^[6] The boundary between a long short story and a novella is vague.^[7]
Novel - A work of 50,000 words or more (about 170+ pages).
Epic - A long poem.

Other genres

Fictional elements

Uses of fiction

Narrative technique

Narrative technique – any of several specific methods the creator of a narrative uses to convey what they want — in other words, a strategy used in the making of a narrative to relay information to the audience and, particularly, to "develop" the narrative, usually in order to make it more complete, complicated, or interesting.

Authors of fiction

Fantasy fiction authors

Piers Anthony – Xanth
Julian May – Saga of Pliocene Exile, Galactic Milieu Series
J. R. R. Tolkien – The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings
C. S. Lewis – The Chronicles of Narnia
Brand Sanderson – Cosmere

Horror fiction authors

References

↑ Whiteman, G.; Phillips, N. (13 December 2006). "The Role of Narrative Fiction and Semi-Fiction in Organizational Studies". ERIM Report Series Research in Management. ISSN 1566-5283. SSRN 981296.
↑ "Science fiction - Definition and More". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
↑ "Definition of science fiction noun". Cambridge Dictionary Online. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
↑ "science fiction definition". Dictionary - MSN Encarta. Archived from the original on 21 June 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
↑ Marg Gilks; Paula Fleming & Moira Allen (2003). "Science Fiction: The Literature of Ideas". WritingWorld.com.
↑ Milhorn, H. Thomas. (2006). Writing Genre Fiction: A Guide to the Craft . Universal Publishers: Boca Raton. pp. 3-4.
↑ J. A. Cuddon, The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms (1992). London:Penguin Books, 1999, p. 600.

External links

The dictionary definition of fiction at Wiktionary

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[1] Whiteman, G.; Phillips, N. (13 December 2006). "The Role of Narrative Fiction and Semi-Fiction in Organizational Studies". ERIM Report Series Research in Management. ISSN 1566-5283. SSRN 981296.

[2] "Science fiction - Definition and More". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 17 July 2010.

[3] "Definition of science fiction noun". Cambridge Dictionary Online. Retrieved 17 July 2010.

[4] "science fiction definition". Dictionary - MSN Encarta. Archived from the original on 21 June 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2010.

[5] Marg Gilks; Paula Fleming & Moira Allen (2003). "Science Fiction: The Literature of Ideas". WritingWorld.com.

[6] Milhorn, H. Thomas. (2006). Writing Genre Fiction: A Guide to the Craft . Universal Publishers: Boca Raton. pp. 3-4.

[7] J. A. Cuddon, The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms (1992). London:Penguin Books, 1999, p. 600.

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Outline of fiction

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