Prose fiction is identifiable by its narrative structure: it tells a story with characters, settings, and events. The text is written in continuous prose paragraphs.
It uses past tense narration (usually), dialogue (often), and descriptive language that creates a fictional world. The source attribution typically names a novel or short story collection.
Distinguishing Prose Fiction From Prose Non-Fiction
Both prose fiction and prose non-fiction use continuous paragraphs and may feature vivid description, but fiction invents its characters and events while non-fiction draws from real experience.
In practice, the source attribution resolves any ambiguity: a passage from a named novel is fiction. A passage from a memoir or essay collection is non-fiction.
Some texts blur the boundary (autofiction, fictionalised memoir), but the exam will provide enough context for you to identify the form. Focus on how the text works rather than debating its category.
Note
You do not need to know the novel or story the extract comes from.
The exam tests your ability to analyse the passage itself, not your knowledge of the full text.
Active recall
Name three features that identify this literary form.
Which feature provides the strongest evidence for identification?
How would you distinguish it from a related literary form?
