| A | B |
|---|
| atmosphere | the mood or feeling that runs through a literary work |
| characterization | the personality of a character and method by which the author reveals that personality |
| character motivation | a feeling, idea, or goal that causes a character to act a certain way |
| climax | the turning point in a short story, novel, or play |
| external conflict | a problem between a character and an outside force, such as nature, fate, or another person |
| internal conflict | a problem within a character's mind |
| dialogue | conversation between two characters in a literary work |
| episode | a self-contained incident within a short story |
| flashback | a scene or incident that breaks the normal time order of the plot to show an event that happened earlier |
| foreshadowing | the use of clues by a writer to prepare the reader for future developments |
| inference | a conclusion that can be drawn from the available information |
| irony | a difference between the way things seem to be an the way they actually are; when the opposite of what you expect to happen actually happens |
| narrator | the person who tells the story |
| first person narrator | a character in the work who tells the story as he/she experiences it |
| third person narrator | is an outside observer - not a character in the story - who describes the thoughts and experiences of the characters |
| plot | the sequence of events in a short story, novel, or play |
| resolution | the part of the plot that presents the final outcome |
| setting | the time and place in which a short story, novel, or play occurs |
| short story | a brief account in prose of fictional events |
| suspense | the reader's interest in the outcome of the literary work |
| theme | the underlying meaning, the central idea of a literary work |
| title | the name of a literary work |
