| A | B |
|---|
| Short story | narrative prose story; usually under 10,000 words |
| theme | main idea; main point; the message |
| characterization | the way the author develops a character |
| setting | the time and place of the story |
| plot | pattern of events, incidents or situations of a story |
| conflict | struggle between two opposing forces |
| mood | the emotional atmosphere created in a story |
| tone | another word for mood, but really the feeling of the piece of literature |
| action | series of connected events that form the plot |
| rising action | all the events in the plot which lead up to the climax |
| climax | high point of action - point where the conflict is resolved |
| denouement | falling action; final unraveling; solution of the plot |
| fiction | an imaginary creation of an author's mind; make believe |
| pseudonym | ficticious name; pen name |
| irony | when the opposite of the expected happens to twist the plot of the story |
| narrator | person telling the story; 1st person, 3nd person or omniscient narrator |
| realism | a detailed presentation of everyday experiences or subjects as if they had been caught by a camera to make them real |
| local color | the characteristic appearance, mannerisms; speech, dress, of a place or period |
| protagonist | the main character in a story |
| antagonist | character opposing the protagonist |
| flashback | going from the present time and events in a story to a time and events in the past and treating this past as if it were the present |
| foreshadowing | a hint or clue of what may happen later in the story |
