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In fiction, style is the manner,^{[citation needed]} that is the codified gestures,^[1] in which the author tells the story. Along with plot, character, theme, and setting, style is considered one of the fundamental components of fiction.^[2]

Components of style[link]

Style in fiction includes the use of various literary techniques.

Fiction-writing modes[link]

Fiction is a form of narrative, one of the four rhetorical modes of discourse. Fiction-writing also has distinct forms of expression, or modes, each with its own purposes and conventions. Agent and author Evan Marshall identifies five fiction-writing modes: action, summary, dialogue, feelings/thoughts, and background (Marshall 1998, pp. 143–165). Author and writing-instructor Jessica Page Morrell lists six delivery modes for fiction-writing: action, exposition, description, dialogue, summary, and transition (Morrell 2006, p. 127). Author Peter Selgin refers to methods, including action, dialogue, thoughts, summary, scene, and description (Selgin 2007, p. 38). Currently, there is no consensus within the writing community regarding the number and composition of fiction-writing modes and their uses.

Narrator[link]

The narrator is the teller of the story, the orator, doing the mouthwork, or its in-print equivalent. A writer is faced with many choices regarding the narrator of a story: first-person narrative, third-person narrative, unreliable narrator, stream-of-consciousness writing. A narrator may be either obtrusive or unobtrusive, depending on the author's intended relationship between himself, the narrator, the point-of-view character, and the reader.

Point of View[link]

Point of view is from whose consciousness the reader hears, sees, and feels the story.

Allegory[link]

Allegory is a work of fiction in which the symbols, characters, and events come to represent, in somewhat point-by-point fashion, a different metaphysical, political, or social situation.

Symbolism[link]

Symbolism refers to any object or person which represents something else.

Tone[link]

Tone refers to the attitude that a story creates toward its subject matter. Tone may be formal, informal, intimate, solemn, somber, playful, serious, ironic, condescending, or many other possible attitudes. Tone is sometimes referred to as the mood that the author establishes within the story.

Imagery[link]

Imagery is used in fiction to refer to descriptive language that evokes sensory experience. Imagery may be in many forms, such as metaphors and similes.

Punctuation[link]

Punctuation is everything in written language other than the actual letters or numbers, including punctuation marks, inter-word spaces, and indentation.^[3]

Word choice[link]

Diction, in its original, primary meaning, refers to the writer's or the speaker's distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression. Literary diction analysis reveals how a passage establishes tone and characterization; for example, a preponderance of verbs relating physical movement suggests an active character, while a preponderance of verbs relating states of mind portrays an introspective character.

Grammar[link]

In linguistics, grammar refers to the logical and structural rules that govern the composition of sentences, phrases, and words in any given natural language. Grammar also refers to the study of such rules. This field includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics.

Imagination[link]

Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability to form mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses.^{[citation needed]}

Cohesion[link]

Cohesion is the grammatical and lexical relationship within a text or sentence. Cohesion can be defined as the links that hold a text together and give it meaning.

Suspension of disbelief[link]

Suspension of disbelief is the reader's temporary acceptance of story elements as believable, regardless of how implausible they may seem in real life.

Voice[link]

In grammar, the voice (also called diathesis) of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments (subject, object, etc.). When the subject is the agent or actor of the verb, the verb is in the active voice. When the subject is the patient, target or undergoer of the action, it is said to be in the passive voice.

Show, don't tell[link]

Show, don't tell is an admonition to fiction writers to write in a manner that allows the reader to experience the story through a character's action, words, thoughts, senses, and feelings rather than through the narrator's exposition, summarization, and description.

See also[link]

• Fiction
• Creative nonfiction
• Fiction-writing modes
• Show, don't tell
• Narrative

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Marshall, Evan (1998). The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. pp. 143–165. ISBN 1-58297-062-9. 
• Obstfeld, Raymond (2002). Fiction First Aid: Instant Remedies for Novels, Stories and Scripts. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. ISBN 1-58297-117-X. 
• Morrell, Jessica Page (2006). Between the Lines: Master the Subtle Elements of Fiction Writing. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-58297-393-7. 
• Selgin, Peter (2007). By Cunning & Craft: Sound Advice and Practical Wisdom for fiction writers. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-58297-491-0. 

Further reading[link]

• Bickham, Jack M. (1993). Scene & Structure. Writer's Digest Books. pp. 12–22, 50–58. ISBN 0-89879-551-6. 
• Browne & King (2004). Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself into Print. New York: Harper Resource. pp. 12, 117. ISBN 0-06-054569-0. 
• Card, Orson Scott (1988). Character & Viewpoint. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. ISBN 0-89879-307-6. 
• Edgerton, Les (2003). Finding Your Voice: How to Put Personality in Your Writing. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. ISBN 1-58297-174-9. 
• Kress, Nancy (August 2003). Writer's Digest: p. 38 
• Yagoda, Ben (2004). The Sound on the Page: Great Writers Talk About Style and Voice in Writing. New York: HarperResource. ISBN 0-06-093822-6. 

Look up style in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Style may refer to:

• Style (fiction), an aspect of literary composition
• Style (visual arts), in art and painting, either the aesthetic values followed in choosing what to paint (and how) or to the physical techniques employed
• Architectural style
• Design, the process of creating something
• Fashion, a prevailing mode of expression, e.g., clothing
• Format, various terms that refer to the style of different things
• Genre, a loose set of criteria for a category or composition
• Human physical appearance
• Hairstyle

Style, in specific fields, may also refer to:

• In typeface, one of the three traditional design features along with size and weight
• Style (botany), a stalk structure in female flower parts
• Style (manner of address), titles or honorifics, including Chinese courtesy names

Music[link]

• Music genre, music that shares a certain "basic musical language"
• "Style" (Orbital song), a 1999 single by Orbital
• Style (song), a 2003 single by Mis-Teeq
• "Style" (2007 song), from the Tamil film Sivaji: The Boss
• Style (Cameo album), an album by Cameo released in 1983
• Style (Namie Amuro album), an album by Namie Amuro released in 2003
• Style (Luna Sea album), an album by Luna Sea released in 1996
• Styles P, one third of the group The LOX or one fourth of the supergroup, D-Block
• Style (Swedish band), Swedish 80s band, famous for songs like "Telefon" and "Dover-Calais"
• "Style", a song from the movie Robin and the 7 Hoods
• "Style", a song and single by Kana Nishino

Film and television[link]

• Style (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal
• Style (2004 film), a Burmese film
• Style (2006 film), a Telugu film starring Lawrence Raghavendra and Prabhu Deva Sundaram
• Style Network, an NBCUniversal-owned cable and satellite television network
• Style with Elsa Klensch, a CNN fashion series hosted by Elsa Klensch from 1980 to 2000
• Style (TV series), a 2009 Korean television series
• The pairing of Stan and Kyle from the series South Park, which is often referred to as "Style."

Literature, linguistics, and rhetoric[link]

• The Mysterious Affair at Styles, a novel by Agatha Christie
• Style guide in writing
• Style (sociolinguistics), variation in language use to which social meanings are attributed
• Stylistics (linguistics),the study and interpretation of texts from a linguistic perspective.
• Style, a 1998 fashion book by Elsa Klensch
• Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, a 1990 writing guide by Joseph M. Williams
• Style: An Anti-Textbook, a 1974 monograph by Richard A. Lanham
• Style, a book by Sir Walter Raleigh
• "Style", a pseudonym of author Neil Strauss
• Style (magazine), a South African women's magazine that was published between the 1980s and 2006

Other uses[link]

• Aeros Style, a Ukrainian paragider
• Cascading Style Sheets, in web design
• Style, the part of a sundial's gnomon which casts the shadow
• VIP Style Awards, an annual awards ceremony named after VIP magazine
• STYLE = Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya & Egypt (5 countries of Arab Spring)

See also[link]

• Stile, a step used for crossing a fence
• Stylus, a writing instrument

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

An illustration from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, depicting the fictional protagonist, Alice, playing a fantastical game of croquet.

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical, cinematic or musical work. Fiction contrasts with non-fiction, which deals exclusively with factual (or, at least, assumed factual) events, descriptions, observations, etc. (e.g., biographies, histories).

Types of fiction[link]

Realistic fiction[link]

Realistic fiction, although untrue, could actually happen. Some events, people, and places may even be real. This is termed "faction".

It can be possible that in the future imagined events could physically happen. For example, Jules Verne's novel From The Earth To The Moon, which at that time was just a product of his rich imagination, was proven possible in 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon, and the team returned safely to Earth.

Realistic fiction strives to make the reader feel as if they're reading something that is actually happening—something that though not real, is described in a believable way that helps the reader make a picture as if it were an actual event. This can also confuse the reader into making the reader thinking it's non-fiction.

Non-realistic fiction[link]

Non-realistic fiction is that in which the story's events could not happen in real life, because they are supernatural, or involve an alternate form of history of mankind other than that recorded, or need impossible technology. A good deal of fiction books are like this, e.g. Alice In Wonderland, Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings.

However, even fantastic literature is bidimensional: it is situated between the poles of realism and the marvelous or mythic. Geographical details, character descriptions etc. create a rhetoric of realism, which “invites the reader to ignore the text's artifice, to suspend one's disbelief, exercise poetic faith and thereby indulge in the narrative's imaginative world.” The bidimensionality appears within the story as astonishment or frightening. According to G.W. Young and G. Wolfe, fictional realities outside the text are evoked, and the reader's previous conceptions of reality are exposed as incomplete. Hence, “by fiction is one able to gain even fuller constructs of what constitutes reality”. On the other hand, the infinite fictional possibilities signal the impossibility of fully knowing reality. There is no criterion to measure constructs of reality − in the last resort they are “entirely fictional”.^[1]

Semi-Fiction[link]

Semi-Fiction is fiction implementing a great deal of non-fiction,^[2] for example: a fictional depiction "based on a true story", or a fictionalized account, or a reconstructed biography.

Often, even when the author claims the story is true, there may be significant additions and subtractions from the true story to make it more suitable for storytelling.

Elements of fiction[link]

Even among writing instructors and bestselling authors, there is little consensus regarding the number and composition of the fundamental elements of fiction. For example:

• "Fiction has three main elements: plotting, character, and place or setting." (Morrell 2006, p. 151)
• "A charged image evokes all the other elements of your story—theme, character, conflict, setting, style, and so on." (Writer's Digest Handbook of Novel Writing 1992, p. 160)
• "For writers, the spices you add to make your plot your own include characters, setting, and dialogue." (Bell 2004, p. 16)
• "Contained within the framework of a story are the major story elements: characters, action, and conflict." (Evanovich 2006, p. 83)
• " . . . I think point of view is one of the most fundamental elements of the fiction-writing craft . . . ." (Selgin 2007, p. 41)

As stated by Janet Evanovich, "Effective writing requires an understanding of the fundamental elements of storytelling, such as point of view, dialogue, and setting." (Evanovich 2006, p. 39) The debate continues as to the number and composition of the fundamental elements of fiction.^{[citation needed]}

Plot[link]

Plot, is what the character(s) did, said, and thought. It is the Action Proper given unity by the Enveloping Action, the Universal Action, the Archetypal Action. As Aristotle said, What gives a story unity is not as the masses believe that it is about one person but that it is about one action. Plot, or storyline, is often listed as one of the fundamental elements of fiction. It is the rendering and ordering of the events and actions of a story. On a micro level, plot consists of action and reaction, also referred to as stimulus and response. On a macro level, plot has a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Plot is often depicted as an arc with a zig-zag line to represent the rise and fall of action. Plot also has a mid-level structure: scene and summary. A scene is a unit of drama–where the action occurs. Then, after a transition of some sort, comes the summary–an emotional reaction and regrouping, an aftermath. For a delightful tongue-in-cheek comment on plot, see Katherine Anne Porter's "No Plot, My Dear, No Story" in The Occasional Writings and Collected Essays of Katherine Anne Porter, Seymour Lawrence, 1970.

[edit] Exposition

Exposition refers to a fiction story's initial setup, where, variably, setting is established, characters are introduced, and conflict is initiated. For example:

It was a dark and stormy night. The young widow glared at the shadowy man dripping on her kitchen floor. "I told you my husband's not home," she said.

He smiled a rictus smile and shut the door behind him. "Tell me something I don't know."

[edit] Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is a technique used by authors to provide clues so the reader can predict what might occur later in the story. An author drops subtle hints about plot developments to come later in the story. It prepares the reader for later action and subsequent images so that the reader or spectator is not jarred and verisimilitude is maintained even in science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, and other genres that might otherwise test credulity. If such preparation is recognized as such by the reader or spectator, it may be ineffective and artificial.

[edit] Rising action

The Rising action, in the narrative of a work of fiction, follows the exposition and leads up to the climax. The rising action's purpose is usually to build suspense all the way up the climactic finish. The rising action should not be confused with the middle of the story, but is the action right before the climax. The material beyond the climax is known as the falling action.

[edit] Climax

In a work of fiction, the climax often resembles that of the classical comedy, occurring near the end of the text or performance, after the rising action and before the falling action. It is the moment of greatest danger for the protagonist(s) and usually consists of a seemingly inevitable prospect of failure–it surprises you to the point that gets you excited to see what is to come in the end.

A climax often includes three elements. The most important element is that the protagonist experiences a change. The main character discovers something about himself or herself, and another unknown character. The last element is revealing the theme itself.

[edit] Falling action

The Falling action is the part of a story, usually found in tragedies and short stories, following the climax and showing the effects of the climax. It leads up to the denouement (or catastrophe).^[3] Where the story is settling down and you start to get the climax and where it might be resolved.

[edit] Resolution

Resolution occurs after the climax, where the conflict is resolved. It may contain a moment of final suspense, during which the final outcome of the conflict is in doubt.

[edit] Conflict

Conflict is a necessary element of fictional literature. As Brooks and Warren said in Understanding Fiction and as many others have noted, no conflict, no story. Often it is difficult for readers to discern conflict in sophisticated fiction but its locus is always focused on the protagonist. In order for the story to engage the reader or spectator, the conflict can usually be discerned as immediate, urgent, and insoluble. Furthermore, the conflict that is one between good and evil depends upon whether the reader or spectator prefers good or evil and is thus a slight story at best. It is defined as the problem in any piece of literature and is often classified according to the nature of the protagonist or antagonist, as follows:

Types of conflict[link]

There are five basic types of conflict. In ancient cultures Person vs. Fate often constitute the conflict of the story; however, so many people today believe they are in charge of their own destiny that few stories of this ilk can be found. In modern times, Person vs. Machine, also known as Person vs. Technology, has become another one.^[4]

Person vs. self[link]

Person vs. Self is the theme in literature that places a character against their own will, confusion, or fears. Person vs. Self can also be where a character tries to find out who they are or comes to a realization or a change in character. Although the struggle is internal, the character can be influenced by external forces. The struggle of the human being to come to a decision is the basis of Person vs. Self. Examples include the titular character of Beowulf. More recently, the Academy Award winning movie A Beautiful Mind has been posited as an application of Person vs. Self. Faulkner in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech noted that the great stories are those of the human heart in conflict with itself. With that in mind the other conflicts enumerated here can fade into the background as part of the setting rather than the conflict-in-itself of any given story. A simple, ready example may be Jack London's "To Build a Fire" wherein we can see that the conflict is not Man vs. Nature but Man vs. His Own Nature.

Person vs. person[link]

Person vs. Person is a theme in literature in which the main character's conflict with another person is the focus of the story. An example is the hero's conflicts with the central villain of a work, which may play a large role in the plot and contribute to the development of both characters. There are usually several confrontations before the climax is reached. The conflict is external. An example is the conflict between Judah and Messala in Ben-Hur, as would be the conflict between a bully and his victim.

Person vs. society[link]

Person vs. Society is a theme in fiction in which a main character's, or group of main characters', main source of conflict is social traditions or concepts. In this sense, the two parties are: a) the protagonist(s); b) the society of which the protagonist(s) are included. Society itself is often looked at as a single character, just as an opposing party would be looked at in a Person vs. Person conflict. This can also be one protagonist against a group or society of antagonists or society led by some antagonistic force. Examples in literature would include the short story "The Ones that Walk away from Omelas" by Ursula Le Guin or the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.

Person vs. nature[link]

Person vs. Nature is the theme in literature that places a character against forces of nature. Many disaster films focus on this theme, which is predominant within many survival stories. It is also strong in stories about struggling for survival in remote locales, such as Gary Paulson's Hatchet or Jack London's short story "To Build a Fire".

Person vs. supernatural[link]

Person vs. Supernatural is a theme in literature that places a character against supernatural forces. When an entity is in conflict with him-, her-, or itself, the conflict is categorized as internal, otherwise, it is external. Such stories are often seen in Freudian Criticism as representations of id vs. superego. Bram Stoker's Dracula is a good example of this, as well as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Christabel by Samuel Coleridge. It is also very common in comic books.

Person vs. machine/technology[link]

Person vs. Machine/Technology places a character against robot forces with "artificial intelligence". I, Robot (the film) and the Terminator series are good examples of this conflict.

Character[link]

Characterization is often listed as one of the fundamental elements of fiction. A character is a participant in the story, and is usually a person, but may be any personal identity, or entity whose existence originates from a fictional work or performance.

Characters may be of several types:

• Point-of-view character: The character from whose perspective (theme) the audience experiences the story. This is the character that represents the point of view the audience empathizes, or at the very least, sympathies with. Therefore this is the "Main" Character.
• Protagonist: The driver of the action of the story and therefore responsible for achieving the story's Objective Story Goal (the surface journey). In western storytelling tradition the Protagonist is usually the main character.
• Static character: A character who does not significantly change during the course of a story.
• Dynamic character: A character who undergoes character development during the course of a story.
• Foil: The character that contrasts to the protagonist in a way that illuminates their personality or characteristic.
• Supporting character: A character that plays a part in the plot, but is not major
• Minor character: A character in a bit/cameo part.

Methods of developing characters[link]

• Appearance explains or describes the character's outward appearance so the readers can picture them, and identify them relative to other characters.
• Dialogue is what characters say and how they say it.
• Action is what characters do and how they do it.
• Reaction of others is how other characters see and treat a main character.

[edit] Symbolism

Symbolism is the applied use of symbols: iconic representations that carry particular conventional meanings.

The term "symbolism" is limited to use in contrast to "representationalism"; defining the general directions of a linear spectrum – where in all symbolic concepts can be viewed in relation, and where changes in context may imply systemic changes to individual and collective definitions of symbols. "Symbolism" may refer to a way of choosing representative symbols in line with abstract rather than literal properties, allowing for the broader interpretation of a carried meaning than more literal concept-representations allow. A religion can be described as a language of concepts related to human spirituality. Symbolism hence is an important aspect of most religions.

The interpretation of abstract symbols has had an important role in religion and psychoanalysis. As envisioned by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, symbols are not the creations of mind, but rather are distinct capacities within the mind to hold a distinct piece of information. In the mind, the symbol can find free association with any number of other symbols, can be organized in any number of ways, and can hold the connected meanings between symbols as symbols in themselves. Jung and Freud diverged on the issue of common cognitive symbol systems and whether they could exist only within the individual mind or among other minds; whether any cognitive symbolism was defined by innate symbolism or by the influence of the environment around them.

[edit] Metaphor

Metaphor (from the Greek language: Meaning "transfer") is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects. It is a figure of speech that compares two or more things not using like or as. In the simplest case, this takes the form: "The [first subject] is a [second subject]." More generally, a metaphor is a rhetorical trope that describes a first subject as being or equal to a second object in some way. Thus, the first subject can be economically described because implicit and explicit attributes from the second subject are used to enhance the description of the first. This device is known for usage in literature, especially in poetry, where with few words, emotions and associations from one context are associated with objects and entities in a different context. A simpler definition is the comparison of two unrelated things without using the words "like" or "as".

The term derives from Greek μεταφορά (metaphora), or "transference",^[5] from μεταφέρω (metaphero) "to carry over, to transfer"^[6] and that from μετά (meta), "between"^[7] + φέρω (phero), "to bear, to carry".^[8]

Types of plots[link]

[edit] Chronological order

All of the events occur in the text in the order they happen. There may be references to events from the past or future, however the events are written in time order. There are no flashbacks or flash-forwards.

[edit] Flashback

In history, film, television and other media, a flashback (also called analepsis) is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened prior to the story's primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory. Character origin flashbacks specifically refers to flashbacks dealing with key events early in a character's development (Clark Kent discovering he could fly, for example, or the Elric brothers' attempt to bring back their mother). The television show Lost is particularly well known for extensive use of flashbacks in almost every episode. In the opposite direction, a flashforward (or prolepsis) reveals events that occur in the future. The technique is used to create suspense in a story, or develop a character. In literature, internal analepsis is a flashback to an earlier point in the narrative; external analepsis is a flashback to before the narrative started.

[edit] Setting

Setting, the location and time of a story, is often listed as one of the fundamental elements of fiction. Sometimes setting is referred to as milieu, to include a context (such as society) beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. In some cases, setting becomes a character itself and can set the tone of a story. (Rozelle 2005, p. 2)

[edit] Theme

Theme, a conceptual distillation of the story, is often listed as one of the fundamental elements of fiction. It is the central idea or insight serving as a unifying element, creating cohesion and is an answer to the question, 'What did you learn from the piece of fiction?' In some cases a story's theme is a prominent element and somewhat unmistakable. (Morrell 2006, p. 263)

[edit] Style

Style is not so much what is written, but how it is written and interpreted. Style in fiction refers to language conventions used to construct the story or article. A fiction writer may manipulate diction, sentence structure, phrasing, dialogue, and other aspects of language to create style or mood. The communicative effect created by the author's style is sometimes referred to as the story's voice. Every writer has his or her own unique style, or voice (Provost 1988, p. 8). Style is sometimes listed as one of the fundamental elements of fiction.

Writer Philip Roth defined the "sensuous aspects of fiction" as "tone, mood, voice, and, among other things, the juxtaposition of the narrative events themselves".^[9]

Categories[link]

Types of prose fiction:

• 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. (5–25 pages)
• Novelette: A work of at least 7,500 words but under 17,500 words. (25–60 pages)
• Novella: A work of at least 17,500 words but under 50,000 words. (60–170 pages)
• Novel: A work of 50,000 words or more. (about 170+ pages)
• Epic: A work of 200,000 words or more. (about 680+ pages)^{[n 1][n 2]}

Forms of fiction[link]

Traditionally, fiction includes novels, short stories, fables, fairy tales, plays, poetry, but it now also encompasses films, comic books, and video games.

The Internet has had a major impact on the distribution of fiction, calling into question the feasibility of copyright as a means to ensure royalties are paid to copyright holders. Also, digital libraries such as Project Gutenberg 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. The Internet is also used for the development of blog fiction, where a story is delivered through a blog either as flash fiction or serialblog, and collaborative fiction, where a story is written sequentially by different authors, or the entire text can be revised by anyone using a wiki.

Uses of fiction[link]

Although fiction may be viewed as a form of entertainment, it has other uses. Fiction has been used for instructional purposes, such as fictional examples used in school textbooks. It may be used in propaganda and advertising. Although they are not necessarily targeted at children, fables offer an explicit moral goal.

A whole branch of literature crossing entertainment and science speculation is science fiction. A less common similar cross is the philosophical fiction hybridizing fiction and philosophy, thereby often crossing the border towards propaganda fiction. These kinds of fictions constitute thought experiments exploring consequences of certain technologies or philosophies.

See also[link]

Main list: Outline of fiction

• Fictional character
• Fiction writing
  • Fan fiction
  • Mary Sue
• Pseudohistory
• Writing style
• Non-fiction
• Paranoid fiction
• History of fiction
• Creative nonfiction

Notes[link]

Footnotes[link]

Citations[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Fiction on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	Quotations from Wikiquote

Dick Dale
Dick Dale performing at the Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 28, 2005.
Background information
Also known as	Richard Anthony Monsour
Born	(1937-05-04) May 4, 1937 (age 75) Boston, Massachusetts
Genres	Surf rock, rock and roll, instrumental rock
Occupations	Musician, guitarist
Instruments	Guitar, vocals
Years active	1959—present
Labels	Capitol, GNP Crescendo, Deltone
Associated acts	Del-Tones
Website	www.dickdale.com
Notable instruments
Dick Dale Stratocaster Fender Showman

Dick Dale (born Richard Anthony Monsour on May 4, 1937) is an American surf rock guitarist, known as The King of the Surf Guitar. He experimented with reverberation and made use of custom made Fender amplifiers, including the first-ever 100-watt guitar amplifier.^[1]

Early life[link]

Dale was born in South Boston, Massachusetts and lived in nearby Quincy until the eleventh grade. He is of Lebanese, Polish and Belarusian descent (however, his father was not born in Lebanon).^[2] He and his family moved to Orange County, California in 1954. He learned to surf and became interested in music.^[3] He soon learned to play the drums, the ukulele, the trumpet, and finally the guitar.^[4]

Career[link]

Among his early musical influences was his uncle. Dale is often credited as one of the first electric guitarists to employ fast playing scales in his playing. Dale himself was a surfer and wanted his music to reflect the sounds he heard in his mind while surfing. While he is primarily known for introducing the use of guitar reverb that would give the guitar a "wet" sound, which has since become a staple of surf music, it was Dale's staccato picking that was his trademark. Since Dale is left-handed, he was initially forced to play a right-handed model but then went to a left handed model. ^[5] However, he did so without restringing the guitar, leading him to effectively play the guitar upside-down (while Hendrix would restring his guitar), and he often played by reaching over the fretboard rather than wrapping his fingers up from underneath. Dale is also noted for playing his percussive, heavy bending style while using what are, for most guitarists, extremely heavy gauge string sets (16p, 18p, 20p. 38w, 48w, 58w;^[6] guitar string manufacturers do not make string sets for standard tuned electric guitars heavier than 13 to 56).

His desire to create a certain sound led him to push the limits of equipment:

During a six month period that began July 1, 1961, Dale's performances at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa are credited with the creation of the surf music phenomenon. Dale asked for and gained permission to use the 3,000 person capacity ballroom for surfer dances after overcrowding at a local ice cream parlor, where he performed, caused him to seek other venues.^[8] The Rendezvous ownership and city of Newport Beach only agreed to Dale's request under the condition that alcohol sales would be prohibited and a dress code followed. Dale's events at the ballrooms, called "stomps", quickly became legendary and the ballroom was routinely sold out.^[8] Paul Johnson, guitarist for the contemporary group The Bel-Airs, recalled the electric atmosphere of the shows:

"Let's Go Trippin'" is often regarded as the first surf rock song.^[9] This was followed by more locally released songs, including "Jungle Fever" and "Surf Beat" on his own Deltone label. His first full-length album was Surfers' Choice in 1962. The album was picked up by Capitol Records and distributed nationally, and Dale soon began appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show, and in films where he played his signature single "Misirlou". He later stated, "I still remember the first night we played it ("Misirlou"). I changed the tempo, and just started cranking on that mother. And...it was eerie. The people came rising up off the floor, and they were chanting and stomping. I guess that was the beginning of the surfer's stomp."^[10] His second album was named after his performing nickname, King of the Surf Guitar.

Though surf rock became nationally popular in the United States briefly, the British Invasion began to overtake the American charts in 1964. Though he continued performing live, Dale was soon set back by rectal cancer. In the liner notes of Better Shred Than Dead: The Dick Dale Anthology, the line "Then you'll never hear surf music again" was Hendrix's reaction upon hearing that Dale was battling a possibly terminal case of colon cancer, intended to encourage his comrade to recuperate. Dale, in gratitude to his late friend, later covered "Third Stone from the Sun" as a tribute to Hendrix.^[11] Though he recovered, he retired from music for several years. In 1979, he almost lost a leg after being injured while swimming and a pollution-related infection made the mild injury much worse. As a result, Dale became an environmental activist and soon began performing again. He recorded a new album in 1986 and was nominated for a Grammy. In 1987 he appeared in the movie Back to the Beach, playing surf music and performing "Pipeline" with Stevie Ray Vaughan. In 1993 he recorded a guitar solo on the track "Should Have Known" by Southern California indie band The Pagodas which was released as a vinyl single. The use of "Misirlou" in the 1994 Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction gained him a new audience.

In 1995, he recorded a surf-rock version of Camille Saint-Saëns's "Aquarium" from The Carnival of the Animals for the musical score of the enclosed roller coaster, Space Mountain at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. In 1997, Dale appeared in the campy cult film An American Vampire Story performing a rousing guitar solo on the beach with his son on drums. In 2002, Dale appeared in The True Meaning of Christmas Specials. He played several original songs for the program.

The National Hockey League's Colorado Avalanche use Dale's song "Scalped" as their theme song. The Black Eyed Peas' song "Pump It" (from the 2005 album Monkey Business) heavily samples Dale's "Misirlou". "Misirlou" is also featured in the PlayStation 2/Xbox 360 video game, Guitar Hero II, as well as the Wii video game Rayman Raving Rabbids. In the feature film Space Jam, as Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam shoot out teeth from one of the Monstars, a clip from "Misirlou" is played.

Dale is a 2011 inductee into the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach, California in the Surf Culture category.^[12]

Personal life[link]

Dale said that he never used alcohol nor drugs and discouraged their use by band members and road crew. Health was a priority for him. In 1972, he stopped eating red meat. He studied martial arts for over 30-years.^[7][13] At age 74 he was still putting on physically energetic live shows.^[4][14] In early 2008, he experienced a recurrence of rectal cancer and finished a surgical, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment regimen.^[15] In June, 2009 Dick Dale began a West Coast tour from Southern California to British Columbia, with approximately 20 concert dates. "Forever Came Calling" (or FCC) featured Dale's then-17-year-old son, Jimmy Dale on drums, who opened for him. Dick continued to perform at venues across the U.S. into 2011. He was scheduled to play the Australian One Great Night On Earth festival to raise funds to benefit those affected by the Black Saturday bushfires and other natural disasters.^[16]

Equipment[link]

As well as the Fender amplifiers already mentioned, Dale is associated with the Fender Stratocaster guitar. Fender makes a signature model, the Dick Dale Custom Shop Stratocaster, fitted with "Custom Shop '54" pickups, which are supposed to recreate the sound of the first "Strats". Dick used a reverb unit with the signal split between two Fender Dual Showman amps. As of 2010, Dale continued to play with his original reverb unit and Showman amps dating from the early 1960s. Dale continued his practice of stringing his left-handed guitar upside down. The unique features of this guitar include a toggle switch that bypasses the three position blade switch to activate neck and middle pickups only.

Recordings[link]

Albums[link]

• Surfers' Choice (Deltone 1962)
• King of the Surf Guitar (Capitol 1963)
• Checkered Flag (Capitol 1963)
• Mr. Eliminator (Capitol 1964)
• Summer Surf (Capitol 1964)
• Rock out with Dick Dale and his Del-Tones: Live at Ciro's (Capitol 1965)
• Greatest Hits (GNP Crescendo 1975)
• The Tiger's Loose (Balboa 1983) [live album]
• Tribal Thunder (HighTone 1993)
• Unknown Territory (HighTone 1994)
• Calling Up Spirits (Beggars Banquet 1996)
• Spacial Disorientation (Dick Dale Records / The Orchard 2001)

Singles[link]

• Ooh-Whee Marie (Deltone 1959)
• Stop Teasing (Deltone 1959)
• Jesse Pearl (Deltone 1960)
• Let's Go Trippin' / Del-Tone Rock (Deltone 1961)
• Jungle Fever / Shake-N-Stomp (Deltone 1961)
• Misirlou / Eight 'Til Midnight (Deltone 1962)
• Mr. Peppermint Man / Surf Beat (Capitol 1962)
• Secret Surfin Spot / Surfin' and Swingin' (Capitol 1963)
• The Wedge / Night Rider (Capitol 1963)
• Mr. Eliminator (Capitol 1964)
• Let's Go Trippin' '65 / Watusi Jo (Capitol 1965)
• Let's Go Trippin' / Those Memories Of You (GNP Crescendo 1975)
• "Pipeline" with Stevie Ray Vaughan, nominated for a Grammy

Compilations[link]

• Hot Rod Music on Capitol (Capitol 1963)
• The Big Surfin' Sounds on Capitol (Capitol 1964)
• Golden Summer (United Artists 1976)
• King of the Surf Guitar: The Best of Dick Dale & The Del-Tones (Rhino 1989)
• Cowabunga Surf Box Set (Rhino 1996)
• Rocket Jockey (Rocket Science Games/SegaSoft 1996)
• Better Shred Than Dead: The Dick Dale Anthology (Rhino 1997)
• MOM II Music for our Mother Ocean (Surf Dog Records 1997)
• Guitar Legend: The Very Best of Dick Dale (Shout! Factory 2010)

Soundtracks[link]

• Pulp Fiction Soundtrack (MCA 1994)

Peel Sessions[link]

Dick Dale made four recordings for John Peel's Peel Sessions:

1. March 30, 1995 (Maida Vale 4)
2. July 10, 1995 (3 Mcr.)
3. August 28, 2002 (Maida Vale 4)
4. March 24, 2004 (Maida Vale 4)

Peel later selected Let's Go Trippin' as the theme tune for his BBC Radio 4 series Home Truths.^[17]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Burt, Rob (1986). Surf City, Drag City. Blandford Press. ISBN 0-7137-1890-0 
• Szatmary, David (1987). Rockin' in Time: A Social History of Rock-and-Roll. Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-188790-4 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dick Dale

• Official website
• Interview at Roctober, includes biographical information
• A 1995 interview
• 2004 Interview with Guitar Nine Records
• 2006 Video Interview - Dick talks about his musical origins and offers advice for musicians
• Dick Dale's advice for musicians by Tommy Liberto
• Audio discography
• Dick Dale's Guitar Screams With Pain And Pleasure, National Public Radio, 26 September 2010 mp3
• Dick Dale: Still King of Surf Guitar, National Public Radio, 31 December 2000