| A | B |
|---|
| Fiction | Works not meant to be taken as factual: adventure stories, mysteries, myths, short stories, etc. |
| Drama | Plays consisting of one or more acts |
| Poetry | Includes lyric poems such as sonnets, odes, and haiku, and narrative poems such as ballads and epics |
| Genre | A specific type of writing or literature characterized by a particular style, form, and content. |
| Characterization | Development of characters through descriptions, dialogue, interior monologue, and action |
| Interior monologue | Internal, unspoken thoughts |
| Dialogue | Conversations among characters |
| Character traits | Personal qualities of a character (i.e., kind, goal-driven, selfish, honest) |
| Direct characterization | Description of a character by a speaker or narrator |
| Indirect characterization | A character's words, thoughts, or actions—the reader must draw conclusions. |
| Setting | When and where a narrative takes place, including the historical period and social or political atmosphere. |
| Structure | Organizational strategy: in fiction, examples are epistolary novel, frame narrative, and in medias res |
| Epistolary novel | Written in the form of letters, journal entries, or emails |
| Frame narrative | A story is told within the story. |
| In medias res | Story begins with a significant moment "in the middle of things" or even the climax of the story. Earlier parts of the story are filled in later. |
| Flashback | The story returns to an earlier moment/time. |
| Conflict | A struggle between opposing forces, an unanswered question or problem that must be solved. |
| External conflict | Conflict between a character and an outside force—another person, nature, society, or machine, for example. |
| Internal conflict | Conflict within a character—mixed feelings, personal struggles, difficult choice |
| Point of view | The perspective from which the story is told—First, Second, Third person, Omniscient |
| First person point of view | Events told by a character in the story, in his or her own words, using "I." |
| Second person point of view | Narrator addresses reader directly using "you," as if the reader is being shoved into the character's consciousness. |
| Third-person limited | Narrator tells the events from the perspective on one character, using "he" or "she." We see into only that character's thoughts. |
| Third-person omniscient | An all-knowing narrator not only tells what happens, but delves into the thoughts of more than one character. |
| Perspective | How a character sees or feels about something. Characters' perspectives differ. |
