Short Story Terms

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Character

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The traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.

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Protagonist

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The main character is in a story.

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Antagonist

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Is the major character or force that opposes the protagonist

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Narrator

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Is the person or voice telling the story.

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Characterization

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The character is revealed through the author’s/ narrator’s comments.

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Indirect characterization

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Character traits are revealed through what the character says, does, thinks, and how he reacts. The reader is left to infer from these details what the character is like.

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Direct characterization

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Character traits are revealed through the author’s or narrator’s direct comments.

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Round character

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is realistic character having several sides to his / her nature.

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Flat character

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This is a limited character, usually a minor character who has only one apparent quality.

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Static character

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This is a character who does not change in the course of the story.

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Dynamic character

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This character, often the protagonist, undergoes a significant, lasting change, usually in his or her outlook on life.

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Stereotype/Stock Character

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A character that follows a fixed pattern.

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Character foil

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A foil is another character in a story who contrasts with the main character, usually to highlight one of their attributes

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Story within a story

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is just that, a story within a story

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Frame story

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a narrative providing the framework for connecting a series of otherwise unrelated stories.

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Point Of view

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The perspective in which the story is told.

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1st person narrative

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Features the protagonist telling his or her own story directly to the reader using the first person (“I, me, my, we, us, our”) pronouns. This point of view tells us what the main character thinks and feels from a vantage “inside” the story and the protagonist him or herself.

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3rd person limited omniscient

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This refers to the main character as “he” or “she”, and shows us only what one character thinks and feels, but from the perspective of someone “outside” the story.

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3rd person omniscient

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This narrator reveals the minds of several or all characters, knowing and telling all rom an all-seeing, God-like perspective “outside” the story.

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3rd person objective

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The narrator is similar to a television camera in that he/she only reports what is seen and heard without entering the minds of characters or presenting the author’s ideas and observations.

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Irony

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Is a literary device which reveals concealed or contradictory meaning. There are three forms.

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Situational Irony

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This occurs when a set of circumstances turn out differently form what was expected or considered appropriate.

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Dramatic Irony

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This irony occurs when the authors shares with the reader information not known by a character. As a result, the reader becomes aware that a character’s actions may be inappropriate for the actual circumstances, that what is to come is the reverse of what a character expects, or that a character has unknowingly made a comment which anticipates the outcome.

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Verbal irony

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This occurs when a contrast is evident between what a character says and what that character actually means. Usually the opposite is stated for emphasis.

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Surprise ending

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This is the sudden twist in the direction of a story, producing a conclusion which surprises the reader and often the story’s characters as well.

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Indeterminate ending

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A story ending in which there is no clear outcome or result.

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Resolution

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Is the solving of all the conflicts in the story

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Theme

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Is the central idea of the story, usually implied rather than directly stated.

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Plot

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-- The plot is how the author arranges events to develop his basic idea. It is the sequence of events in a story or play. The plot is a planned, logical series of events having a beginning, middle, and end.

Introduction/Exposition - The beginning of the story where the characters and the setting is revealed.

Rising Action - This is where the events in the story become complicated and the conflict in the story is revealed (events between the introduction and climax).

Climax - This is the highest point of interest and the turning point of the story. The reader wonders what will happen next; will the conflict be resolved or not?

Falling action - The events and complications begin to resolve themselves. The reader knows what has happened next and if the conflict was resolved or not (events between climax and denouement).

Denouement - This is the final outcome or untangling of events in the story.

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Conflict

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It is the opposition of forces which ties one incident to another and makes the plot move.

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The two types of conflict are...

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There are two types of conflict:

External - A struggle with a force outside one's self.

Internal - A struggle within one's self; a person must make some decision, overcome pain, quiet their temper, resist an urge, etc.

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The 4 kinds of conflict are...

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1) Person vs. Person (physical) - The leading character struggles with his physical strength against other men,

2) Person vs. Nature - The leading character struggles against forces of nature, or animals.

3) Person vs. Society (social) - The leading character struggles against ideas, practices, or customs of other people.

4) Person vs. Himself/Herself (psychological) - The leading character struggles with himself/herself; with his/her own soul, ideas of right or wrong, physical limitations, choices, etc.

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Setting

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The time and location in which a story takes place is called the setting.

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Flashback

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A flashback is a narrative technique that allows a writer to present past

events during current events, in order to provide background for the current narration.

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Foreshadowing

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refers to the use of indicative words/phrases and hints that set the stage for a story to unfold and give the reader a hint of something that is going to happen without revealing the story or spoiling the suspense.

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Genre terms

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satire, farce, autobiography, etc.