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| fiction | Story writing that is the product of the author's imagination, an invention rather than actual history or fact. Its principal goal is entertainment or diversion, but it may also instruct, uplift, or persuade. |
| short story | A fictional story, ranging in length from 500 to 15,000 words, often, though certainly not always, limited to a very few characters, a single setting, and a single incident. |
| plot | The sequence of incidents or events of which a story is composed. It basically focuses on what happened. |
| basic situation | Also known as exposition, the immediate or gradual revelation to the audience of the setting, relationship between characters, and other background information needed for understanding the plot. |
| narrative hook | The point in the story that hooks reader interest by revealing a conflict that the characters must resolve. |
| conflict | The struggle between opposing forces. A clash of actions, ideas, desires, or wills. |
| external conflict | A character struggles with an outside force, or antagonist, such as another character, society, nature, technology, or fate. |
| internal conflict | A character struggles against some element in his or her own nature. |
| suspense | A state of anxious anticipation, expectation, or uncertainty regarding the outcome of events. Often stimulated by the author's use of foreshadowing and complication, suspense creates tension, and maintains interest by leading readers to ask "What will happen?" or, if the story is a familiar one, "When will it happen?" |
| foreshadowing | An author plants clues early in the story that hint at what will come later. |
| rising action | Also known as complication, the part of the plot that sets the conflict into motion toward the climax and turning point as the characters take action to resolve the conflict, but meet with problems or complications, further heightening the suspense. |
| climax | The point in the story of highest interest, whereat the reader makes the greatest emotional response. It usually coincides with the turning point, but not always. |
| turning point | Also known as the crisis, a term used to describe that point in the plot when the protagonist's situation changes for the better or the worse; that incident during which the action begins its movement toward a final resolution, when the rising action peaks, and turns to falling action. |
| falling action | Also known as resolution, the conflict is finally resolved, all questions are answered, loose ends are tied up, and an accounting is given of what happens to the main characters. In modern stories, the resolution is very brief-- as some don't even have one. |
| escape sotry | A story written purely for entertainment, with little or no attempt to provide insights into the true nature of human life or behavior. |
| interpretive story | A story that is written not only for entertainment, but also to broaden, sharper, and deepen the reader's awareness of life. It can give the reader a greater understanding of the nature and conditions of human existence and what it means to be a human being. |
| allusion | A writer's outside reference to history, mythology, scripture, literature, popular, or contemporary culture in an attempt to provide a comparison that can enhance reader understanding. |
| theme | The controlling idea or central insight to a work of literature. It is the unifying generalization about life stated or implied in the story. It is always a statement and must be expressed in at least one sentence. It is not a synonym for moral, but, instead, is a revelation of some truth about human behavior or life. |
| direct characterization | A technique a writer uses to reveal a character by telling the reader exactly what the character is like. |
| indirect characterization | A technique for revealing a character where the writer "shows" the reader a character, but leaves it to the reader to exercise judgment on what the character is like. This can be achieved through "showing" the character's physical appearance, actions, thoughts, and speech; also through other characters' reactions, and speech about the character. Finally, throughout the influence the setting has over the character. |
| motivation | The psychological and moral impulses and external circumstances that cause a character to act, think, or feel a certain way. Showing what motivates the actions of a character helps to make the character believable and their actions satisfying, even inevitable. |
| protagonist | Also known as the hero, this is the character who struggles to overcome he conflict. The hero is usually an admirable figure. An exception is the antihero, an inept or otherwise ridiculous character who is presented sympathetically. The plot follows what happens to the hero and is determined by the hero's characteristics and choices as well as by circumstance. |
| antagonist | Usually, the character who stands in direct opposition to or in conflict with the central character. In some instances, the antagonist may be a group of people, some force in nature, or some aspect of the central character's personality or psyche. |
| dynamic character | A character who changes in an important way during the course of a story. The change usually results from the conflict and is often the reader's best clue to the story's meaning. |
| static character | A character who does not change significantly during the course of a story. |
| flat character | A two-dimensional character lacking the depth or complexity of a real person, one who is built around a single dominant trait or quality and who represents a typical class of persons or type of behavior. |
| round character | A character portrayed in detail as a complex, multifaceted personality. |
| symbol | A literary symbol is something that means more than what it is; an object, person, situation, or action that in addition to its literal meaning suggests other meanings as well. |
| coming of age | A coming of age story explores the growth of a character to a new level of maturity and adult understanding. It can be a loss of innocence, or a new found sense of responsibility, individuality, or identity. |
| setting | The time and place of a narrative story. The physical aspects of setting include time of day or year, or other particulars of the environment such as location, topography, and the placement of objects. The intangibles of setting include lifestyle and the predominant social, political, spiritual, and moral atmosphere. In other words, the attitudes and values of the people in the place. Conflict: The setting can provide and explain the conflict; Character: Places where people live can reveal a great deal about their character; setting can be used in stories to tell about the people who live in it; Mood: The setting can affect the overall feel of a story; authors can create a mood through setting specific details or images when describing a time and place. Mood:it is also known as atmosphere, it is the general feeling or emotional climate established in a work of literature. Atmosphere is usually produced by careful describtion of setting. Careful writers are conscious of the connotations of the words they use to describe setting and to create atmosphere. Words used to describe atmosphere include: dreary, uneasy, gloomy, melacholy, mysterious, isolated, free, hopeful, tense, negative, and positive. |
| imagery | Language that appeals to the senses |
| denotation | The dictionary meaning(s) of a word. |
| connotation | The overtone or overtones meaning of a word. A word acquires these connotations by its past history and associations, and by the way and circumstances in which it has been used. |
| narrator | The teller of a story. |
| point of view | Also known as the narrative perspective, the vantage point, or stance, from which a story is told. In other words, who tells the story, and, therefore, how the story gets told. |
| first person | The author disappears into one of the characters, who tells the story in the first person. It can be a major or minor character, a protagonist or observer. Beware of the unreliable narrator who is unable or unwilling to report some aspect or their entire story very accurately. |
| omniscient | The story is told by the author using the third person, and his or her knowledge is unlimited. He knows all. He can tell us as much or as little as he pleases. |
| limited omniscient | The story is told in the third person, but from the viewpoint of one character in the story. The author never leaves this character's side and looks at the events of the story through his eyes and mind. The author knows everything about this character- even more than he knows himself. The character can be a major or minor character. |
| objective | the author disappears into a kind of roving sound camera. This camera can go anywhere but can record only what is seen and heard. It cannot comment, interpret, or enter a character's mind. With this point of view the reader is placed in the position of a spectator at a movie or play. |
| satire | The kind of writing that ridicules something-- a person, a group of people, humanity at large, an attitude or failing, a social institution-- in order to reveal a weakness and inspire change. It is different from comedy because comedy aims simply to amuse. Horatian satire- is gentle, amused, mildly corrective. Juvenalian satire- is harsh, biting, bitter, full of moral indignation and contempt. |
| hyperbole | Obvious, extravagant exaggeration or overstatement, not intended to be taken literally, but used figuratively to create humor or emphasis. |
| understatement | A type of verbal irony in which something is purposely represented as being far less important than it actually is. |
| irony | In its broadest sense, the recognition of the incongruity, or difference, between reality (what is) and appearance (what seems to be). |
| verbal irony | A figure of speech in which there is a contrast between what is said and what is actually meant. Sarcasm is verbal irony that is harsh and heavy-handed. |
| situational irony | The contrast between what is intended or expected and what actually occurs. |
| dramatic irony | When the reader or the audience knows something important in a story or drama that a character does not know. |
| pun | A play on the multiple meanings of a word, or on two words that sound alike but have different meanings. |
| thesis | Main, central, controlling idea of an essay or work of nonfiction |
| digression | Part of story that turns aside from the main topic to a less related or unrelated topic |
| simile | A more indirect comparison between two seemingly unlike things, using the connecting words like, as , resembles, etc... The comparison is used to make the unfamiliar more familiar and to provide a reader with a more immediate sense of experience. |
| metaphor | Is a direct comparison between two seemingly unlike things. The comparison is used to make the unfamiliar more familiar and to provide a reader with a more immediate sense of experience. |
| anthropomorphism | When writers describe animals as if they had human motives, emotions, and characteristics |
| subjective | being personal, revealing feelings |
| objective | Screen out private feelings and focus on facts. Reporter is fair, that he or she does not let personal bias or prejudice get in the way of presenting the truth. |
| reports | Hard facts, verifiable. Ex. This paper is white. |
| inferences | Is a statement about the unknown based on the known. Ex.He is afraid of dogs. based on- he runs away |
| judgements | Statements of approval or disapproval; of occurances, persons, objects, or opinions. Ex. Strawberry icecream is the best. |
| tone | A writers attitude toward an audience, subject, or character. |
| parallelism | Use of a series of words, phrases, or sentences that have similar grammatical form. The repitition creates a rhythm and a dramatic force that emphasizes a point. |
| anaphora | Repitition of a word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences. |
| propaganda | the deliberate and systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist. |
| name-calling | Giving an idea a bad label; is used to make us reject and condemn the idea without examining the evidence. |
| glittering generalities | opposite of name-calling; associating something with a virtue word (a word used to make us accept or approve a thing without examining the evidence). |
| bandwagon | to appeal to people's desire to be part of a group; an attempt to conveince someone to do something because everyone else is. |
| card stacking | persuader gives accurate information but only on one side of the story. |
| testimonial | a famous living person endorses a person, thing, or idea- and the person is not clearly qualified to make an endorsement. |
| transfer | associating a positive characterisitc os some symbol or a famous person of the past with another thing, person, or idea that is being endorsed. |
| plain folks | speaker attempts to convince that he and his ideas are good because tehy are "of the poeple" the "plain folks". Associating a product, candidate, or belief with average ordinary people. |
