What is the difference between a topic and a main idea? Determining the text, topic, main thought, idea. Keywords are the most important, supporting, meaning-forming, those on which the fabric of the text rests. As a rule, the keyword is repeated more than once in different versions

Target:

• continue the formation of the concept of connected text based on comparative analysis text and set of sentences;
• develop analytical and creative thinking, the ability to highlight the main thing, generalize, develop imagination, Creative skills;
• instill responsibility and a conscientious attitude towards the work performed.

Tasks: bring children to the conclusion that the sentences in the text are united by a common theme and are interconnected in meaning, that in the text you can always find the main idea or the main experience of the author, that you can always choose a title for the text.

Equipment: posters with texts, texts and assignments for individual work, illustrations, M. L. Kalenchuk, O. V. Malakhovskaya, N. A. Churakova "Russian language. Textbook for grade 3."

Lesson type: learning new material.

Teaching methods: verbal, explanatory-illustrated, partially search.

Interdisciplinary connections: literary reading, visual arts.

During the classes

1. Organizational moment.

On new lesson
The loud school bell started.
Are you guys ready to write?
Quickly guess and compose?

Guys, let's start the Russian language lesson.

What do you expect from him?

I am sure that your expectations will be met if you are attentive, organized, and friendly. We also need a supply of good mood to work. Let's smile at each other. I am sure that your smiles will bring you the joy of communicating with each other. I wish you success and creative success.

2. Goal setting and motivation for learning.

Today our Russian language lesson will be a lesson in creativity. And as usual, your friend and assistant Misha will work with us during the lesson. He again has new questions, the answers to which we will look for together with him.

3. Updating of basic knowledge.

Guys, first of all, Misha asks me to remind him what speech is? What is speech needed for? What suggestions are there for intonation and purpose of utterance?

Let's complete the first creative task. Based on the illustration, make sentences and determine their type.

4. Report the topic of the lesson.

But to find out the topic of the lesson, you need to decipher the recording.

• 20, 6, 12, 19,20
• 6, 4, 16
• 20, 6, 14,1
• 16,19,15,16,3,15,1,33
• 14,29,19,13,30

Yes, today in the lesson you will learn to determine the main idea of ​​the text, select headings and, finally, become the authors of short stories yourself.

So, let's begin. We need to figure out what we call text. Read the two entries. Which of them can be called text? Explain your point of view.

(Texts are given in the textbook).

1) On clear autumn days, the hedgehog prepares a winter bed for itself. He drags fragrant dry leaves and soft forest moss into a hole under an old stump. When winter comes, a deep snowdrift will cover his hole. Under the snow, like under a thick fluffy blanket, I feel warm. The hedgehog will sleep all winter. No one will find his mink, no one will disturb him until spring!

2) In autumn, hedgehogs have little prey. Sasha and Masha were given a cute hedgehog. The hedgehog spends more than six months in hibernation. One day our cat saw a hedgehog. Hedgehogs are mammals from the order of insectivores. The hedgehog hunts at night.

And I already know which entry is text! - said Misha. - I just can’t explain it!

Guys, can you explain? Let's reason together.

Can we say that both entries are on the same topic?

In which entry are all sentences connected in meaning?

What is the purpose of the first entry, what is the main idea in it? Tell me in your own words.

Can you determine the main idea of ​​the second entry?

Which record can have multiple titles? Come up with two. Let one name correspond to the topic, and the other express the main idea.

Dynamic pause.

Game "Seasons". Four paper caps are used for the game: Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn. Come up with words that correspond to this time of year.

Complete each statement with the correct word: topic, experience, meaning, thought and write it down in your notebook.

All sentences in the text are written in one: (they are united by a common:).

All sentences in the text are related by:

In the text you can always find the main thing: or the main thing: the author.

Now, guys, can you scientifically explain why record 1 is text and record 2 is not?

What conditions are not met in entry 2?

What else distinguishing feature does the text have?

5. Physical exercise.

Once - they stood up and stretched.
Two - bent, straightened up.
Three - three claps of your hands,
Three nods of the head.
Four means wider hands.
Five - wave your arms.
Six - sit down quietly at your desk.

6. Consolidation of the studied material.

But we did not complete the most important task of the lesson. After all, we have a lesson in creativity. You and I must create our own texts. But before we start creating our own texts, let’s strengthen the ability to determine the topic and main idea of ​​the text. Each of you has a piece of paper on the table with texts and three tasks.

A river flowed through the village. She was cheerful and talkative. People decided to train the river to work. After all, she can help milk cows, plow the land, water gardens, saw logs, and grind grain.

2. Choose words for the topic.

The theme is "Shop".

3. (The task is basic and creative in nature).

Come up with a coherent story on the topic “A book is my best friend.”

Children experiencing difficulties can be given individual support words (read, learn, adventure, fairy tales, interesting, pleasure, I advise).

Birds were circling over the lake. Some sat down on the water to rest. They should fly further north. Others have chosen this place for nesting. The air hummed with the whistling of wings and bird voices.

2. Choose words for the topic.

Theme "School".

3. Come up with a coherent story on the topic “The Beauty of the Autumn Forest.”

(After completing the task, the texts are read out. Students name the ones that are more successful in their opinion, taking into account the correspondence to the topic and main idea, the exact use of words, the connection of sentences, the figurativeness of the language.)

7. Lesson summary. Reflection.

What is the topic of the text?

What is the main idea of ​​the text?

How does the topic of a text differ from its main idea?

What should the title of the text reflect?

What can you say about the work of your classmates?

What can you say about your personal contribution to the overall work?

Now let's create our own picture. Let's return the leaves to the tree branches. Evaluate your work in class. Green leaf - “I know”, yellow - “I doubt”, red - “I don’t know”.

8. Homework. Draw an illustration for your texts.

Any analysis literary work begins with defining its theme and idea. There is a close semantic and logical connection between them, thanks to which a literary text is perceived as an integral unity of form and content. Correct Understanding values literary terms subject And idea allows you to determine how accurately the author was able to realize his creative concept and whether his book is worth the reader’s attention.

Definition

Subject of a literary work is a semantic definition of its content, reflecting the author’s vision of the depicted phenomenon, event, character or other artistic reality.

Idea- the intention of a writer pursuing a specific goal in creating artistic images, using the principles of plot construction and achieving the compositional integrity of a literary text.

Comparison

Figuratively speaking, a theme can be considered any reason that prompted the writer to take up the pen and transfer the perception of the surrounding reality reflected in artistic images onto a blank sheet of paper. You can write about anything; another question: for what purpose, what task should I set myself?

The goal and task determine the idea, the disclosure of which constitutes the essence of an aesthetically valuable and socially significant literary work.

Among the variety of literary topics, several main directions can be identified that serve as guidelines for flight creative imagination writer. These are historical, social, everyday, adventure, detective, psychological, moral and ethical, lyrical, philosophical themes. The list goes on. It will include both original author's notes and literary diaries, and stylistically refined extracts from archival documents.

The theme, felt by the writer, acquires spiritual content, an idea, without which the book page will remain just a coherent text. The idea can be reflected in a historical analysis of problems important to society, in the depiction of complex psychological moments on which human destiny depends, or simply in the creation of a lyrical sketch that awakens a sense of beauty in the reader.

The idea is the deep content of the work. Theme is a motive that allows you to realize a creative idea within a specific, precisely defined context.

Conclusions website

1. The theme determines the actual and semantic content of the work.
2. The idea reflects the tasks and goals of the writer, which he strives to achieve while working on a literary text.
3. The theme has formative functions: it can be revealed in small literary genres or be developed into a major epic work.
4. The idea is the main content core of a literary text. It corresponds to the conceptual level of organization of the work as an aesthetically significant whole.

In Russian tests, you often find tasks like “Read the text. Determine its topic.” It would seem that it couldn’t be simpler, but for some reason it is precisely on such elementary questions that many graduates “stumble” when passing the Unified State Exam and even university students.

Definition

In order to understand how to determine the topic of a text, you first need to figure out what it is. Definitions from textbooks, as a rule, are formulated too abstrusely, but everything is extremely simple.

Let's try to practice. Think about how you can summarize the topics famous works? Here are some examples:

• L. N. Tolstoy, "Anna Karenina"- a love story between a married noblewoman and a young officer Vronsky.
• G. Troepolsky, "White Bim Black ear" — life through the eyes of a dog that has lost its loving owner.
• M. A. Bulgakov, " dog's heart" — experience in transplanting a human pituitary gland into a dog and its consequences.
• A. Green, "Scarlet Sails"- the life of the girl Assol, living in anticipation of the prince, who, according to the prediction, should sail to her on a ship with scarlet sails.
• A. Dumas, "The Three Musketeers"- the adventures of the three musketeers and d'Artagnan, who arrived in Paris to join the ranks of the elite royal guard.

As you can see, if you at least know approximately what is being discussed in a book or article, there will be no problems with how to determine the topic of the text. In addition, often the answer is right in the title (for example, "War and Peace", "Three Comrades", "Romeo and Juliet", "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer").

Topic, idea, problem: what's the difference?

But now we have come to the most difficult moment. Even a child intuitively understands how to determine the topic of a text, then where does the confusion come from? The fact is that in literature there are also the concepts of “main idea” and “problem of the text”, which are very similar in meaning. Moreover, in Everyday life we often use them interchangeably.

How to stop confusing these concepts? Let’s forget the long and confusing formulations from textbooks and try to understand the meaning of these terms.

In fact, remembering the difference between the topic, main idea, and problem of a text is quite easy. For convenience, we have presented the main points in the form of a table.

	Subject	Idea (main idea)	Problem
The essence	What is described in the text (events, people, phenomena, etc.)	The author's goals and personal opinion are what he is trying to lead the reader to.	The global issue that the author discusses
What questions does it answer?	What is the story about?	How do I feel at this moment?	About which large-scale problems Does the text make you think?
	Who is the main character?	What should a good person do in this case?	Why did the heroes end up in this situation?
	Where and when do the events take place?	What conclusions should be drawn from this situation?	What does modern society need to pay attention to?
Peculiarities	“Report” about the events of the work, a description of the place, characters, their thoughts and feelings	The writer’s personal opinion, his attitude towards characters and events	There are at least two sides to the coin, and every opinion deserves a right to exist
	Does not contain subjective assessments	May contain good/bad, right/wrong ratings	Not tied to the plot and characters, touches on global conflicts - religious, political, social
	Lists the facts - who did what and why	Demonstrates the author's position regarding the problem of the text - what is the reason, how does it affect society, etc.	Expressed in the form of a question
Examples	Walk around St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg is a city where the pages of ancient novels come to life, and every street has its own history	Why do you need to learn to notice the beauty around you?
	Rescue a homeless puppy	Taking care of his little brothers, a person shows his best qualities - the ability to empathize, kindness and responsibility.	Who is to blame for the fact that there are so many homeless animals on the streets?
	The importance of proper nutrition	For human health, it is important that the diet contains foods from all groups - meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, dairy products and grains	Is it possible in modern world lead healthy image life?

"Eternal" themes

People always write about what is happening around them, so each historical period has its own characteristic themes. So, now few people will undertake to describe the events October revolution or the hardships of serf life.

However, speaking about how to determine the main theme of the text, it should be noted that there are so-called “eternal” themes - those in which readers will always recognize their experiences and problems:

• love, the emergence of tender feelings and the bitterness of parting;
• fathers and sons (a clash of values ​​and views of different generations);
• the confrontation between good and evil;
• friendship and betrayal;
• growing up and personality development - how life circumstances change character and views.

These themes can be traced in one way or another in almost all literary texts. Therefore, when performing an analysis, think about what universal human values ​​and problems the author addresses.

How to determine the topic of a text in 5 minutes

1. Re-read the title. It may contain hints that will help you understand what the text will be about. This is especially true for short stories and articles in which the author gets straight to the point. However, remember that titles can be associative, metaphorical or paradoxical.

2. Study the text. Mentally identify the main semantic blocks for yourself and determine how they are connected to each other (in time, logically, etc.). For convenience, you can sketch out a small plan.

3. Write down key sentences. In each paragraph, highlight the phrase that contains the maximum useful information necessary for understanding the material.

4. Cut back. Now your task is to “throw out” everything unnecessary from these sentences. Artistic techniques, additional details, complex turns of phrase, actions. As a result, only the main keywords and phrases should remain.

5. Distribute phrases by importance. To determine the main topic of the text, you need to write them down in a column in descending order of importance. That is, first of all, we write those words and phrases, without which it is impossible to understand what is said in the text.

6. Formulate a topic. We take as a basis the keywords that we collected at the previous stage. Unlike the idea, the topic should be extremely concise. Do not stretch it to a full sentence - ideally, try to fit it into 5-6 words (for example, “How to learn to forgive” or “ Healing power classical music").

SUBJECT- Subject, main content of reasoning, presentation, creativity. (S. Ozhegov. Dictionary of the Russian language, 1990.)
SUBJECT(Greek Thema) - 1) The subject of presentation, depiction, research, discussion; 2) statement of the problem, which predetermines the selection of life material and the nature of the artistic narrative; 3) subject linguistic utterance(…). (Dictionary foreign words, 1984.)

Already these two definitions can confuse the reader: in the first, the word “topic” is equated in meaning to the term “content,” while content work of art immeasurably wider than the topic, the topic is one of the aspects of the content; the second makes no distinction between the concepts of topic and problem, and although topic and problem are philosophically related, they are not the same thing, and you will soon understand the difference.

The following definition of the topic, accepted in literary criticism, is preferable:

SUBJECT- this is a life phenomenon that has become the subject of artistic consideration in a work. The range of such life phenomena is SUBJECT literary work. All the phenomena of the world and human life constitute the artist's sphere of interests: love, friendship, hatred, betrayal, beauty, ugliness, justice, lawlessness, home, family, happiness, deprivation, despair, loneliness, struggle with the world and oneself, solitude, talent and mediocrity, joys of life, money , relationships in society, death and birth, secrets and mysteries of the world, etc. and so on. - these are the words that name life phenomena that become themes in art.

The artist’s task is to creatively study a life phenomenon from sides that are interesting to the author, that is express the topic artistically. Naturally, this can only be done posing a question(or several questions) to the phenomenon under consideration. This question that the artist asks, using the figurative means available to him, is problem literary work.

So,
PROBLEM is a question that does not have a clear solution or involves many equivalent solutions. The problem differs from the ambiguity of possible solutions tasks. The set of such questions is called PROBLEMATICS.

The more complex the phenomenon of interest to the author (that is, the more complex the chosen subject), the more questions ( problems) it will cause, and the more difficult these issues will be to resolve, that is, the deeper and more serious it will be problems literary work.

The topic and problem are historically dependent phenomena. Different eras dictate to artists different topics and problems. For example, the author of the ancient Russian poem of the 12th century “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” was worried about the topic of princely strife, and he asked questions: how to force the Russian princes to stop caring only about personal gain and to be at enmity with each other, how to unite the disparate forces of the weakening Kyiv state? The 18th century invited Trediakovsky, Lomonosov and Derzhavin to think about scientific and cultural transformations in the state, about what an ideal ruler should be, and raised in literature the problems of civic duty and equality of all citizens, without exception, before the law. Romantic writers were interested in the mysteries of life and death, penetrated into dark corners human soul, solved the problems of human dependence on fate and unsolved demonic forces, the interaction of a talented and extraordinary person with a soulless and mundane society of ordinary people.

The 19th century, with its focus on the literature of critical realism, turned artists to new themes and forced them to think about new problems:

• Through the efforts of Pushkin and Gogol, the “little” man entered literature, and the question arose about his place in society and relationships with “big” people;
• The women's issue became the most important, and with it the so-called public "women's issue"; A. Ostrovsky and L. Tolstoy paid a lot of attention to this topic;
• the theme of home and family acquired a new meaning, and L. Tolstoy studied the nature of the connection between upbringing and a person’s ability to be happy;
• the unsuccessful peasant reform and further social upheavals aroused keen interest in the peasantry, and the theme of peasant life and fate, discovered by Nekrasov, became leading in literature, and with it the question: what will be the fate of the Russian peasantry and all of great Russia?
• tragic events of history and public sentiment brought to life the theme of nihilism and opened up new facets in the theme of individualism, which received further development Dostoevsky, Turgenev and Tolstoy in attempts to resolve the questions: how to warn the younger generation from the tragic mistakes of radicalism and aggressive hatred? How to reconcile generations of “fathers” and “sons” in a turbulent and bloody world? How do we understand the relationship between good and evil today and what is meant by both? How can you avoid losing yourself in your quest to be different from others?
• Chernyshevsky turns to the topic of public good and asks: “What should be done?” so that a person in Russian society can honestly earn a comfortable life and thereby increase public wealth? How to “equip” Russia for a prosperous life? Etc.

Note! The problem is question, and it should be formulated primarily in interrogative form , especially if formulating problems is the task of your essay or other work on literature.

Sometimes in art, a real breakthrough is precisely the question posed by the author - a new one, previously unknown to society, but now burning and vitally important. Many works are created to pose a problem.

So,
IDEA(Greek Idea, concept, representation) - in literature: the main idea of ​​a work of art, the method proposed by the author for solving the problems he poses. A set of ideas, a system of author’s thoughts about the world and man, embodied in artistic images is called IDEAL CONTENT a work of art.

Thus, the scheme semantic relations between a topic, a problem and an idea can be represented as follows:

When you interpret a literary work, you look for hidden (in other words) scientific language, implicit) meanings, analyze the thoughts expressed explicitly and subtly by the author, you are studying ideological content works. While working on task 8 of your previous work (analysis of a fragment of M. Gorky’s story “Chelkash”), you were specifically concerned with issues of its ideological content.

When completing assignments on the topic “Content of a literary work: Author’s position,” pay attention to the contact statement.

You have been given a goal: to learn to understand a critical (educational, scientific) text and to correctly and accurately present its content; learn to use analytical language when presenting such a text.

You must learn to solve the following problems:

• highlight main idea the entire text, determine its topic;
• highlight the essence of individual statements of the author and their logical connection;
• convey the author’s thoughts not as “one’s own,” but through indirect speech(“The author believes that...”);
• expand your lexicon concepts and terms.

Source text: With all his creativity, Pushkin, of course, is a rebel. He certainly understands that Pugachev, Stenka Razin, and Dubrovsky are right. He, of course, would have been, if he could, on December 14 at Senate Square together with your friends and like-minded people. (G. Volkov)

Variant of the completed task: According to the firm conviction of the critic, in his work Pushkin is a rebel. The scientist believes that Pushkin, understanding the rightness of Pugachev, Stenka Razin, Dubrovsky, would definitely have been, if he could, on December 14 on Senate Square along with like-minded people.

Hello author! When analyzing any work of art, a critic/reviewer, and simply an attentive reader, starts from four basic literary concepts. The author relies on them when creating his work of art, unless of course he is a standard graphomaniac who simply writes whatever comes to mind. You can write rubbish, stereotyped or more or less original without understanding these terms. But a text worthy of the reader’s attention is quite difficult. So, let's go over each of them. I'll try not to load it.

Translated from Greek, the theme is what is the basis. In other words, the theme is the subject of the author’s depiction, those phenomena and events to which the author wants to draw the reader’s attention.

Examples:

The theme of love, its emergence and development, and possibly its ending.
Theme of fathers and sons.
The theme of the confrontation between good and evil.
Theme of betrayal.
The theme of friendship.
Theme of character development.
Theme of space exploration.

Topics change depending on the era in which a person lives, but some topics that concern humanity from era to era remain relevant - they are called “eternal themes.” Above I listed 6 “eternal themes”, but the last, seventh – “the theme of space exploration” – became relevant for humanity not so long ago. However, apparently, it will also become an “eternal topic.”

1. The author sits down to write a novel and writes everything that comes to mind, without thinking about any themes of literary works.
2. The author is going to write, say, a science fiction novel and starts from the genre. He doesn't care about the topic, he doesn't think about it at all.
3. The author coldly chooses a topic for his novel, scrupulously studies and thinks through it.
4. The author is concerned about some topic, questions about it do not allow him to sleep peacefully at night, and during the day he mentally returns to this topic every now and then.

The result will be 4 different novels.

1. 95% (the percentages are approximate, they are given for a better understanding and nothing more) - this will be an ordinary graphomaniac, slag, a meaningless chain of events, with logical errors, cranberries, blunders where someone attacked someone, although there were no there is no reason for that, someone fell in love with someone, although the reader does not understand at all what he/she found in her/him, someone quarreled with someone for no apparent reason (In fact, of course it’s clear - so it was necessary for the author in order to continue to sculpt his writing without hindrance)))), etc. and so on. There are a majority of such novels, but they are rarely published, because few people can handle them even in a small volume. The Runet is littered with such novels, I think you have seen them more than once.

2. This is the so-called “streaming literature”; it is published quite often. Read and forget. For one time. It'll go well with beer. Such novels can captivate if the author has a good imagination, but they do not touch or excite. A certain man went somewhere, found something, then became powerful, etc. A certain young lady fell in love with a handsome man, from the very beginning it was clear that in chapter five or six there would be sex, and in the finale they would get married. A certain “nerd” became the chosen one and went to distribute carrots and sticks right and left to all those whom he did not like and liked. And so on. In general, all sorts of... stuff. There are plenty of such novels both on the Internet and on bookshelves, and most likely, while you were reading this paragraph, you remembered a couple or three, or maybe a dozen or more.

3. These are the so-called “crafts” High Quality. The author is a pro and skillfully guides the reader from chapter to chapter, and the ending surprises. However, the author does not write about what sincerely concerns him, but he studies the moods and tastes of readers and writes in such a way that the reader finds it interesting. Such literature is much less common in the second category. I won’t name the authors here, but you’re probably familiar with some good crafts. These are fascinating detective stories and exciting fantasy and beautiful love stories. After reading such a novel, the reader is often satisfied and wants to continue to get acquainted with the novels of his favorite author. They are rarely reread because the plot is already familiar and understandable. But if you fall in love with the characters, then re-reading is quite possible, and reading the author’s new books is more than likely (if he has them, of course).

4. And this category is rare. Novels, after reading which people walk around for several minutes, or even hours, dazed, impressed, and often think about what they have written. They may cry. They may laugh. These are novels that shake the imagination, that help to cope with life's difficulties, to rethink this or that. Almost all classic literature- exactly like that. These are novels that people put on a bookshelf so that after some time they can reread and rethink what they have read. Novels that influence people. Novels that are remembered. This is Literature with a capital L.

Naturally, I am not saying that choosing and elaborating a topic is enough to write a strong novel. Moreover, I will say frankly - it is not enough. But in any case, I think it’s clear how important the theme is in a literary work.

The idea of ​​a literary work is inextricably linked with its theme, and the example of the novel’s influence on the reader that I described above in paragraph 4 is unrealistic if the author paid attention only to the theme and forgot to think about the idea. However, if the author is concerned about the topic, then the idea, as a rule, is comprehended and worked through with the same attention.

What is this - the idea of ​​a literary work?

The idea is the main idea of ​​the work. It reflects the author’s attitude to the topic of his work. It is in this display artistic means and therein lies the difference between the idea of ​​a work of art and a scientific idea.

"Gustave Flaubert vividly expressed his ideal of a writer, noting that, like the Almighty, a writer in his book should be nowhere and everywhere, invisible and omnipresent. There are several most important works fiction, in which the presence of the author is unobtrusive to the extent that Flaubert wanted it, although he himself failed to achieve his ideal in Madame Bovary. But even in works where the author is ideally unobtrusive, he is nevertheless dispersed throughout the book and his absence turns into a kind of radiant presence. As the French say, “il brille par son absence” (“it shines by its absence”)” © Vladimir Nabokov, “Lectures on Foreign Literature.”

If the author accepts the reality described in the work, then such an ideological assessment is called an ideological statement.
If the author condemns the reality described in the work, then such an ideological assessment is called ideological negation.

The ratio of ideological affirmation and ideological negation in each work is different.

It is important not to go to extremes, and this is very, very difficult. An author who forgets about the idea at the moment of emphasis on artistry will lose the idea, and an author who forgets about artistry, because he is completely absorbed in the idea, will write journalism. This is neither good nor bad for the reader, because it is a matter of the reader’s taste to choose how to treat it, but fiction is just that, fiction and just that, literature.

Examples:

Two different authors describe the NEP period in their novels. However, after reading the novel by the first author, the reader is filled with indignation, condemns the events described and concludes that this period was terrible. And after reading the novel by the second author, the reader would be delighted and would draw conclusions that the New Economic Policy is a wonderful period in history and would regret that he does not live in this period. Of course, in this example I am exaggerating, because a clumsy expression of an idea is a sign of a weak novel, a poster novel, a popular novel - which can cause rejection in the reader, who will consider that the author is imposing his opinion on him. But I’m exaggerating in this example for better understanding.

Two different authors have written stories about adultery. The first author condemns adultery, the second understands the reasons for its occurrence, and main character, that being married, she fell in love with another man - justifies. And the reader is imbued with either the author’s ideological negation or his ideological affirmation.

Without an idea, literature is waste paper. Because describing events and phenomena for the sake of describing events and phenomena is not only boring reading, but also simply stupid. “Well, what did the author mean by this?” - a dissatisfied reader will ask and shrug his shoulders and throw the book into the trash. It's junk because...

There are two main ways to present an idea in a work.

The first is through artistic means, very unobtrusively, in the form of an aftertaste.
The second - through the mouth of a character-reasoner or in direct author's text. Head-on. In this case, the idea is called a trend.

It’s up to you to choose how to present the idea, but a thoughtful reader will certainly understand whether the author gravitates towards tendentiousness or artistry.

Plot.

The plot is a set of events and relationships between characters in a work, unfolding in time and space. At the same time, events and relationships between characters are not necessarily presented to the reader in a cause-and-effect or time sequence. A simple example for better understanding is a flashback.

Warning: The plot is based on the conflict, and the conflict unfolds thanks to the plot.

No conflict - no plot.

This is very important to understand. Many “stories” and even “novels” on the Internet do not have a plot, as such.

If a character went to a bakery and bought bread there, then came home and ate it with milk, and then watched TV - this is a plotless text. Prose is not poetry and, as a rule, it is not accepted by the reader without a plot.

Why is such a “story” not a story at all?

1. Exposition.
2. The beginning.
3. Development of action.
4. Climax.
5. Denouement.

The author does not have to use all the elements of the plot; in modern literature, authors often do without exposition, for example, but the main rule of fiction is that the plot must be complete.

More details about the plot elements and conflict can be found in another topic.

There is no need to confuse plot with plot. These are different terms with different meanings.
The plot is the content of events in their sequential connection. Causal and temporal.
For a better understanding, I’ll explain: the author conceived the story, in his head the events are arranged in order, first this event happened, then that, this follows from here, and this from here. This is a plot.
And the plot is how the author presented this story to the reader - he kept silent about something, rearranged events somewhere, etc. and so on.
Of course, it happens that the plot and the plot coincide, when the events in the novel are arranged strictly according to the plot, but the plot and the plot are not the same thing.

Composition.

Oh, this composition! A weak point for many novelists, and often for short story writers.

Composition is the construction of all elements of a work in accordance with its purpose, character and content and largely determines its perception.

Difficult, right?

I'll put it more simply.

Composition is the structure of a work of art. The structure of your story or novel.
It's such big house, consisting of various parts. (for men)
This is a soup that contains all sorts of ingredients! (for women)

Every brick, every soup component is an element of the composition, an expressive means.

A character's monologue, a description of the landscape, lyrical digressions and inserted short stories, repetitions and point of view on what is depicted, epigraphs, parts, chapters and much more.

The composition is divided into external and internal.

The external composition (architectonics) is the volumes of a trilogy (for example), parts of a novel, its chapters, paragraphs.

Internal composition includes portraits of characters, descriptions of nature and interiors, point of view or change of points of view, accents, flashbacks and much more, as well as extra-plot components - prologue, inserted short stories, author's digressions and epilogue.

Each author strives to find his own composition, to get closer to his ideal composition for a particular work, however, as a rule, in compositional terms, most texts are rather weak.
Why is this so?
Well, firstly, there are a lot of components, many of which are simply unknown to many authors.
Secondly, it is trivial due to literary illiteracy - thoughtlessly placed accents, overdoing with descriptions to the detriment of dynamics or dialogues, or vice versa - continuous jumping, running, jumping of some cardboard Persians without portraits or continuous dialogue without or with attribution.
Thirdly, due to the inability to cover the volume of the work and isolate the essence. In a number of novels, entire chapters can be thrown out without harming (and often benefiting) the plot. Or in some chapter, a good third of the information is presented that does not play into the plot and characters - for example, the author gets carried away with the description of the car, right down to the description of the pedals and a detailed story about the gearbox. The reader is bored, he scrolls through such descriptions (“Listen, if I need to get acquainted with the structure of this car model, I will read the technical literature!”), and the author believes that “This is very important for understanding the principles of driving Pyotr Nikanorych’s car!” and thereby makes a generally good text dull. By analogy with soup, if you overdo it with salt, for example, the soup will become too salty. This is one of the most common reasons why writers are asked to first practice on small form before taking on novels. However, practice shows that many writers seriously believe that literary activity should begin with a large form, because this is what publishing houses need. I assure you, if you think that to write a readable novel you only need the desire to write it, you are greatly mistaken. You need to learn to write novels. And learning is easier and more efficient - from miniatures and stories. Despite the fact that the story is a different genre, you can perfectly learn internal composition by working in this particular genre.

Composition is a way of embodying the author's idea, and a compositionally weak work is the author's inability to convey the idea to the reader. In other words, if the composition is weak, the reader simply will not understand what the author wanted to say with his novel.

Thank you for attention.

© Dmitry Vishnevsky