Literary Terms

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fiction

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type of writing using make-beleive characters and events

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short story

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a brief work of fiction

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rising action

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sequence of events in a litery work that leads to the climax

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exposition

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writing or speech that explains, informs, or presents info

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inciting incident

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introduces central conflict

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development

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what happens between rising action and the climax

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climax

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in a story or play is the high point of intrest or suspense in a literary work

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falling action

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sequence of events in a literary work that leads to the ending

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resolution

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answer to the problem

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denouement

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any event that happens after the resolution

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conflict

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a struggle between opposing forces

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protagonist

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main character in a literary work

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antagonist

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character or orce in conflict with main character or protagonist

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external conflict

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problem dealing with 2 or more people

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man against man

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character vs. character

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man against society

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character vs. world or community

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man against nature

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character vs. something in nature

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man against supernatural

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character vs. unexplainable

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internal conflict

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problem one deals with him or himself

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man against himself

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character vs. internal conflict

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setting

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where a story takes place

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tone

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the writer's attitude towards the readers and toward the subject

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character

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a person or animal who takes a part in the action of a literary work

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dynamic

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changed by events or by interactions with other characters

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static

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stays essentially the same

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stereotype

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easy to recognize

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characterization

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the act of creating and developing a character

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direct characterization

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when stating or describing a character's traits

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indirect characterization

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when showing a character's personality through his/her actions, thoughts, feelings, words and appearance, or through another character's observations and reactions

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point of view

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perspective, or vantage point, from which a story is told

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narrator

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person who is telling the story

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first person

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directly using I, me, and we

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third person

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using he she it and they

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omniscient

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narrator with an all knowing point of view

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limited

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when the narrator reveals only one character's inner thoughts and is not himself a character in the story

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suspense

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a feeling or growing curiosity or anxious uncertainty about the outcome of the events in a literary work

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theme

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centra idea, concern or purpose in a literary work

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mood

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atmosphere, the feeling created in a reader by a literary work or passage

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foreshadowing

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the use in a literary work, or clues that suggest events that have yet to occur

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flashback

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a section of a literary work that interrupts the sequence of events to relate an event from an earlier time

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dialogue

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conversation btwn. characters

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dialect

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form of a language spoken by peole in a particular region or group

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irony

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general name given to literary techniques that involve surprising, intresting, or amusing, contradictions

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verbal irony

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used to suggest the opposite of their usual meaning

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irony of situation

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an event that occurs that directly contradicts the expectations of the reader or audience

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dramatic irony

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contradiction btwn. what a character thinks and what the reader thinks