Terms Related to Plot and Theme

Fiction –

a created series of characters and events that has not actually happened

Fictionalize –

to create a fiction from an actual event

Storytelling –

the communication of a series of events which may take different forms such as anecdotes, myths, fables, tall tales, legends and fairy tales.

Plot –

the sequence of events in the main action in a piece of literature

Subplot –  

the sequence of events in a subordinate storyline in piece of literature

Action –

the events that occur in the piece of literature

Arrangement of events –

how the events are structured in a plot; may be chronological, start in the middle of things (in medias res), or as flashbacks

Chronological order –

the presentation of events in the order they occurred in time

In medias res –

Latin expression meaning “in the middle of things”; an arrangement of events where the story starts somewhere in the middle of the action and then goes forward giving information about what happened before through narration, dialogue, or flashbacks.

Flashbacks –

a technique used to show events that previous occurred by interrupting the present action and going back to previous events; generally used when a story starts in medias res (in the middle of things) such as where a scene opens during a trial and then some of the previous action leading up to the trial is told.

Foreshadowing –

a literary device that gives a hint as to what is going to occur

Exposition –

a part of the fiction (or or drama or poem) which introduces the characters, settings, and conflict

Protagonist –

the main character, not necessarily the “good” character

Antagonist –

the forces against the protagonist; could be another character, a force of nature, or an organization, or other entity or situation which creates opposition to protagonist.

Conflict –

the friction between the goals of the protagonist (the main character – doesn’t have to be the “good” character) and the forces against the protagonist, called the antagonist

Tension –

the result of the friction between the protagonist and antagonist

Suspense –

the emotional reaction to the conflict in anticipation of future action, climax, and resolution

Rising action –

the building of conflict and suspense prior to the climax

Climax –  

the highest point of conflict; the point at which the action begins to fall to resolution (denouement)

Falling action –

the action following the climax ending in resolution (denouement)

Resolution (denouement) –

the end; the result of the conflict, sometimes left for the reader to interpret

Deus ex machina –

a plot contrivance to unexpectedly save a character from a seemingly inescapable, problematic situation often associated with a divine intervention; first used in Ancient Greek and Roman theatre where mechanical devices were used, such as a pulley to lower a god or goddess onto the set to take the character back into the heavens.

Epiphany –

the sudden insight a character has about him or herself, another character, or the situation

Subject –

the person, object, or topic of focus in literature

Cliché –

a worn-out phrase purporting to tell some general truth which no longer has meaning because of his overuse

Moral –

a lesson learned as a result of actions that occurred in a story

Theme –

the central idea in a story

Title –

what a story is called; often includes symbolism or irony

Ironic title –

a title which contains irony often helping to reveal theme

Symbolic title –

a title which contains a symbol often helping to reveal theme

Initiation theme –

a theme about being initiated into something new

Carpe diem –

“seize the day”; sometimes, a theme in a fiction or poem

Terms Related to Types of Fiction

Prose –

a style of writing generally used in a variety of settings for communication and record keeping and characterized by non-poetic elements; follows standard grammar and other conventions of writing.

Biography –

a factual story written about a person by another person

Autobiography –

a factual story written by a person on his or her own life

History –

the actual events

Narrative –

a story or poem about a sequence of event

Travel narrative –

a narrative about a journey usually written by the person about his or her own journey

Capture narrative –

a journal kept by a person who was captured and held against his or her will and forced to live in another culture; generally associated with stories white people have written about being captured and living with the Indians in early American history.

Anecdotes –

short, amusing, true events about a person that relate a bigger truth about life than the specific incident

Parables –

a short tale used for teaching a lesson

Fables –

a short tale used for teaching a lesson which uses animals, objects, or nature

Beast fable –

a fable that has animals with human qualities as characters

Folk tales –

stories or legends that are about or from a culture or group of people (folk)

Fairy tales –

stories that include supernatural creatures such as fairies or magicians

Epic –

a narrative that involves conflict on a broad scale with humans of special stature or ability fighting a battle or having an adventure whose outcome will impact the world beyond the participants; often includes gods

Myth –

a traditional story which explains the world and existence of humans usually as part of a cluster of such stories and which is a reflection of a religious belief system.

Picaresque –

a story about a rogue

Short story –

a fictional story that is shorter than a novel; usually begins near climax; setting is generally limited, and characters are few and less developed than novel; often includes an epiphany (where a character has a flash of insight).

Modern short story –

a short story characterized by an apparent lack of action or conflict and/or without resolution

Short-short story –

a short story from a paragraph to a page or so in length; less than 1500 words; includes flash fiction and micro fiction; also called sudden fiction

Flash fiction –

a type of short story less than 1000 words

Micro fiction –

a type of short-short story ranging from a few words to a paragraph of less than 250 words

Sudden fiction –

a type of short story of less than 1500 words; another way of referring to the short-short story

Novel –

a longer piece of fiction characterized by more plot and character development than a short story

Novella –

a piece of fiction shorter than a novel and longer than a short story; usually thought of as a short novel

Metafiction –

writings about fiction

Stream-of-consciousness –

a style of writing meant to convey written-down thoughts

Fantasy –

a fiction which includes some aspect or situation that does not fall into the understood rules of physics, scientific possibility, or reality

Science fiction –

a type of fantasy that includes unreal scientific technology or events

Horror fiction –

a type of fiction that includes an event or events that are very frightening and which may include fantasy or science fiction

Crime fiction –

a type of fiction whose plot revolves around solving a crime

Romance –

as a literary genre, romance fiction began in the Middle Ages and involved high adventure of noble heroes often with super-human qualities pursuing a righteous quest, included some supernatural aspect, and did not necessarily involve a love situation. The modern usage or the term is a fiction which includes a romantic element.

Pastoral romance –

a romance which focuses on the pleasures of the simple, rural life

Chivalric romance –

a romance popular from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance involving the romantic exploits of chivalric heroes, men who abided by the Code of Chivalry.

Pop fiction –

a type of fiction with exciting or thrilling plots designed for popular audiences characterized by suspenseful plots, usually flat characters, and focus on a swift-moving action.

Terms Related to Character

Caricatures –

a character presented with an exaggeration of prominent features

Character –

a person in a piece of literature

Dynamic character –

a character that changes during the story

Static –

a character that does not change during the story

Flat character –

a character described with only one or two personality traits; a superficial character

Round character – 

a character whose personality is multi-dimensional; a complicated character

Motivation –

the reasons a character takes or does not take action

Foil –

a character created as a contrast to another character as a way of focusing attention on the traits of that other character such as a character taking an unethical approach in order to focus attention on another character taking the ethical approach.

Sidekick –

a character subordinate to another character; often used for comic relief

Stock characters –

stereotyped characters such as the good doctor, the determined detective, the kindly old neighbor lady

Tragic hero –

a character of elevated status who is a good person but for a tragic flaw which brings about his or her downfall

Tragic flaw – 

an undesirable personality trait that results in the fall of an otherwise good person

Hubris –

arrogance; an attribute where a character (or a person) has an exaggerated sense of him or herself or his or her importance

Dialogue –

a conversation between or among characters

Monologue –

a long speech-like expression by one character where the other present characters are silent; used more commonly in plays than fiction; a dramatic monologue is a particularly emotional expression

Asides –

where a character makes a comment to the audience which is supposedly not heard by the other characters; used in drama

Soliloquy –

where a character shares his or her feelings or thoughts with the audience where no other character can hear them.

Terms Related to Fiction - Point of View and Irony

Point of view –

the perspective from which an author tells a story

Narrator –

the person through whose perspective, knowledge, and voice a story is told

Speaker –

the narrator of a poem

Persona –

the personality a narrator assumes; a mask used in Ancient Greek theater by the actors playing a particular role

First-person narrator (first-person point of view) – 

a story told from the viewpoint of the author of the story as a character in the story using the word "I" to tell the story; may be omniscient (all knowing) or limited (knows only information from that character’s perspective).

Second person narrator (second person point of view) –

a story told in second person (you); may be from the perspective of a character in the story who knows everything (omniscient narrator) or who has limited knowledge (limited narrator); not generally used in fiction.

Third person narrator (third person point of view) –

a story told in third person (he, she, it); may be from the perspective of a character in the story who knows everything (omniscient narrator) or who has limited knowledge (limited narrator).

Objective narrator (objective point of view) –

relates the story as a sequence of events without commenting or judging the characters, their action or situation.

Stream-of-consciousness –

a style of writing that writes how a person is thinking; written-down thoughts.

Unreliable narrators –

a narrator who is either not omniscient or is deliberately misleading the reader.

Terms Related to Fiction - Figures of Speech

Allusion–

a reference to an historical event, aspect of culture, character or content in a piece of literature, or other widely known type of information to convey a feeling, idea, or image; serves to convey information using a few words.

Apostrophe –

where the speaker speaks to a dead or non-present person

Extended metaphor –

direct comparison which is repeated in the poem; more commonly used in an epic poem where the same comparison is used throughout

Extended simile – 

comparison using the word "like" or "as" which is repeated in the poem; more commonly used in an epic poem where the same comparison is used throughout.

Figurative language –

language that is used to mean some other or something more than it says; language that is used in a non-literal way

Figures of speech –

various ways speech is used figuratively

Hyperbole –

saying more than what is meant; exaggeration

Metaphor –

a direct comparison or equivalence

Metonymy –

referring to one thing by something else it is associated with: the crown refers to the king

Personification –

attributing human qualities to a non-human or non-living object

Simile –

a comparison using the word "like" or "as"

Synecdoche –

use of a part of a person to object to refer to the person or the object: the hand that rocked the cradle to refer to the person rocking the cradle

Understatement –

saying less than what is meant

Terms Related to Fiction - Irony

Irony –

created when there is a discrepancy between an expectation and actuality

Dramatic irony (tragic irony) –

an irony created when the audience knows something a character does not know

Situational irony –

an irony created when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to have occurred and what has actually occurred in the situation

Verbal irony –

an irony created within a sentence where there is a difference between what is said and what is meant

Tone –

the attitude with which the story is told as expressed in particular words; a description of people laughing and enjoying themselves conveys a happy tone, for example.

Sarcasm –

a form of expression which says something opposite from what is meant in a way to criticize or insult or express anger such as describing a bad day by saying, “What a great day I had!”

Terms Related to Fiction - Plot and Theme

Action –

the events that occur in the piece of literature

Antagonist –

the forces against the protagonist; could be another character, a force of nature, or an organization, or other entity or situation which creates opposition to the protagonist.

Arrangement of events –

how the events are structured in a plot; may be chronological, start in the middle of things (in medias res), or as flashbacks

Carpe diem –

Latin for seize the day; sometimes, a theme in a fiction or poem

Chronological order –

the presentation of events in the order they occurred in time

Cliché –

worn-out phrase purporting to tell some general truth which no longer has meaning because of his overuse

Climax –

the highest point of conflict; the point at which the action begins to fall to resolution (denouement)

Conflict –

the friction between the goals of the protagonist (the main character – doesn’t have to be the “good” character) and the forces against the protagonist, called the antagonist

Deus ex machina –

a plot contrivance to unexpectedly save a character from a seemingly inescapable, problematic situation often associated with a divine intervention; first used in Ancient Greek and Roman theatre where mechanical devices were used, such as a pulley to lower a god or goddess onto the set to take the character back into the heavens.

Epiphany –

the sudden insight a character has about him or herself, another character, or the situation

Exposition –

a part of the fiction (or drama or poem) which introduces the characters, settings, and conflict

Falling action –

the action following the climax ending in resolution (denouement)

Fiction –

a created series of characters and events that has not actually happened

Fictionalize –

to create a fiction from an actual event

Flashbacks –

a technique used to show events that previous occurred by interrupting the present action and going back to previous events; generally used when a story starts in medias res (in the middle of things) such as where a scene opens during a trial and then some of the previous action leading up to the trial is told.

Foreshadowing –

a literary device that gives a hint as to what is going to occur

In medias res –

Latin expression meaning in the middle of things; an arrangement of events where the story starts somewhere in the middle of the action and then goes forward giving information about what happened before through narration, dialogue, or flashbacks.

Initiation theme –

a theme about being initiated into something new

Ironic title –

a title which contains irony often helping to reveal the theme

Moral –

a lesson learned as a result of actions that occurred in a story

Plot –

the sequence of events in the main action in a piece of literature

Protagonist –

the main character, not necessarily the “good” character

Resolution (denouement) –

the end; the result of the conflict, sometimes left for the reader to interpret

Rising action –

the building of conflict and suspense prior to the climax

Storytelling –

the communication of a series of events which may take different forms such as anecdotes, myths, fables, tall tales, legends and fairy tales

Subject –

the person, object, or topic of focus in literature

Subplot –  

the sequence of events in a subordinate storyline in piece of literature

Suspense –

the emotional reaction to the conflict in anticipation of future action, climax, and resolution

Symbolic title –

a title which contains a symbol often helping to reveal theme

Tension –

the result of the friction between the protagonist and antagonist

Theme –

the central idea in a story

Title –

what a story is called; often includes symbolism or irony

Terms Related to Fiction - Setting

Setting –

the environment in which the action occurs

Physical setting –

the place where the action occurs: a park, a supermarket

Historical setting –

the moment in history where the action occurs

Geographical setting –

the town, state, country, or other geographical place

Cultural setting –

the ethnic, religious, or other setting relating to culture such as sociological

Atmosphere –

the general feeling in the environment created as a result of the tone and mood

Tone –

the attitude of the author toward the characters and events; in describing the situation as “one of many self-imposed troubles,” the author created a non-sympathetic tone,

Mood –

the resulting emotional setting from the tone; the feelings of the characters toward a character described as creating his own problems would not non-sympathetic or possibly indifference.

Character analysis –

the analysis of a character’s personality based on the behavior described in the work of literature; may be described in everyday language such as selfish, kind, thoughtful, or mean or in psychological terms such as having a narcissistic personality disorder or depressed.

Cultural context –

the consideration of the cultural setting in order to do a character analysis such as the pre-Women’s Movement in America in a rural community in the 1920s or 1930s.

Terms Related to Symbols

Allegorical figures –

the symbolic character representing something in an allegory such as the character Faith representing religious faith in “Young Goodman Brown”

Allegorical framework –

the overall organization of an allegory

Allegory –

a pattern of using symbols to tell a story in a story

Archetypal images –

images that are generally accepted as representing something such as the Statue of Liberty representing freedom and opportunity

Conventional symbols –

symbols with a generally understood meaning across cultures with similar usages such as the various road signs or even computer icons.

Figurative level –

the non-literal level; the place where the story behind the story is told

Literary symbols –

symbols that are used within a piece of literature to represent a person, object, or situation in that piece of literature such as pink ribbons representing the purity and innocence of a character who is wearing them.

Symbol –

something that is what it is and also represents something else

Universal symbols (archetypes) –

symbols that seem to be part of the human psyche which are generally accepted across time and culture such as the Old Man representing experience and wisdom or the Grim Reaper representing death.