Fiction Literary Terms

1. Fiction Literary Terms

2. Plot – • series of events in a story

3. Exposition – • introduces the characters, setting (time and place), and conflict of a story

4. Setting – • time and place

5. Characters – • people, animals, or objects that participate in the action of a story

6. Protagonist – • usually the hero, has struggles in the story

7. Antagonist – • the person or force who struggles against the protagonist

8. Central Character - Main character

9. Lesser Character Minor character

10. Flat Character – • stereotype, one-sided personality

11. Round Character – • we see all sides of a character’s personality

12. Static Character – • stays the same in the story

13. Dynamic Character – • changes in the story (usually a change of mind about something)

14. Conflict – • the problems in the story

15. Internal Conflict – • problems with in a character (fears, emotions, doubts, ect.) man vs. himself

16. External Conflict – • outside obstacles in the story • Man vs. Man (society) • Man vs. Animal • Man vs. Nature (i.e. forces of nature)

17. Rising Action – • the escalating of the problem in the story

18. Climax – • the highest point of emotional intensity in the story and a change of direction in the action

19. Falling Action – • the de-escalation of the conflict

20. Resolution/Denouement – • the last moment of intensity in a story

21. Point of View – • how the story is told to the reader

22. 1st Person Point of View – • usually by a character as the action is happening

23. 3rd Person Limited Point of View – • usually by a narrator who does not know all of the characters’ motivations, thoughts, reasons, ect.

24. 3rd Person Omniscient Point of View – • usually by a narrator who does know all the characters’ motivations , thoughts, reasons, ect.

25. Theme – • the central idea or message of a story

26. Foreshadowing – • hints or clues of things to come in the story

27. Flashback – • remembering an event that occurred before the action of the story being read started

28. Irony – • contrast between what you expect and what actually happens

29. Verbal Irony – • contrast between what is said and what is actually meant

30. Situational Irony – • contrast between what you expect and what actually happens – has to do primarily with “place” (ex. Hunter is caught in his own trap)

31. Dramatic Irony – • audience knows something that a character does not

32. Anticlimax – • a drop from the high and elevated to the trivial and ridiculous in the story

33. Symbolism – • a person or object representing something beyond itself

34. Allusion – • referring to a story or event that is outside of the story being read

35. Tone – • the author’s attitude toward his subject

36. Mood – • the atmosphere that the writer creates for the reader

37. Metaphor – • comparison of two unlike things not using “like” or “as”

38. Simile – • comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as”

39. Hyperbole – • an over-exaggeration

40. Personification – • giving human characteristics to something non-human

41. Satire Corrective Ridicule

42. Parody - Imitation of serious things/works in a comical manner

43. Farce Comedy using highly exaggerated caricatured types of characters

44. Story with in a Story Frame Story

45. Stream of Consciencousness James Joyce, unbroken flow of perceptions, memories, thoughts, and feelings

46. Surprise Ending O. Henry, violates our expectations

47. Suspense Withholding information to create curiosity