How To Analyze Literature Reflection

1. One thing that I have learned is how authors control the pace of a story. What I have picked up is that pace is indicated by diction and syntax; for example, diction can prolong the time a reader takes to read by how complex a word is in getting through and syntax can control if the sentences are long or short to regulate time. Symbolism is something I have always been taught, yet I never realized it does not 'mean but suggest, reflect, or remind,' or in my own words, it pulls the reader to some specific idea for consideration. Also, something useful I have learned is that using figures of speech should be avoided when analyzing literature, especially on the AP English test, as you want to be as literal and anal as possible when conveying an idea. 
2. I am still confused about the difference between the author, narrator, and speaker roles of a story, and if a speaker of a poem is closer to an author than a narrator. Also with proving that something is a symbol, you need to provide proof that it is one by searching around the story that backs your theory; however, my question is what if the proof that you are trying to prove is a far fetched interpretation of the text? 
3. A skill that I believe to know the best is setting: for an event, such as a story, there must be a circumstance to which the event must take place--this circumstance is setting. Setting can also be used as literary tactics to convey meaning or set a mood to deliver a reader to perceive a story a certain way.