Fiction Literary Terms Short Story A brief work

Fiction Literary Terms

Short Story § A brief work of fiction. It resembles the longer novel, but generally has a simpler plot and setting. Character tends to be revealed at a crucial moment rather than developing through many incidents.

Novel § A longer work of fiction. The plot explores characters in conflict just like a short story. However, a novel is typically much longer than a short story and may have one or more subplots, several themes, and more complex characters.

Character: § Protagonist - the most important character in a story (the one that readers would like to see succeed!) § Antagonist – the character who opposes the main character, or the protagonist.

Character continued: § Round characters show many traits – faults as well as virtues. § Flat characters demonstrate a single trait. § Dynamic characters develop and grow during the course of the story. Static characters do not change.

Diction § Word choice. To discuss a writer’s diction is to consider the vocabulary used, the appropriateness of the words, and the vividness of the language.

Syntax § The grammatical arrangement of words within a sentence. Writers often manipulate syntax, changing conventional word order, to place certain emphasis on particular words. § Example: "Sense sure you have, / Else could you not have motion" (Shakespeare Hamlet 3. 4. 71 -2)

Frame Narrative § A narrative structure containing or connecting a series of otherwise unrelated tales. A “story within a story. ”

In medias res § Technical term for the epic convention of beginning "in the middle of things, " rather than at the very start of the story. § Example: many episodes of “The Walking Dead”

Foreshadowing § hints and/or clues as to what is going to happen next

Flashback § A device that allows the writer to present events that happened before the time of the current narration or the current events in the fiction. Flashback is useful for exposition, to fill in the reader about a character or place, or about the background to a conflict.

Idiom § An expression that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words. Ex: working the graveyard shift

Irony § The general term for literary techniques that portray differences between appearance and reality, expectation and result, or meaning and intention.

Irony continued: § In verbal irony, words are used to suggest the opposite of what is meant. § Ex: “No one would argue that there could be anything more important in choosing a college than how close it is to the beach. "

Even More Irony: In dramatic irony, there is a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true. Ex: When Romeo finds Juliet in a drugged sleep, he assumes her to be dead and kills himself. Upon awakening to find her dead lover beside her, Juliet then kills herself.

Yep. Still More Irony! In irony of situation, an event occurs that directly contradicts the expectations of the characters, the readers, or the audience. Ex: a professional pickpocket had his own pocket picked just as he was in the act of picking someone else's pocket.

Point of View § The perspective from which a story is told. If the narrator is part of the action, the story is told from firstperson point of view. In a story told in third- person, the narrator is someone outside the action.

Point of View continued § An omniscient third-person narrator is all-knowing. A limited third-person narrator only tells the thoughts and feelings of one character.

Prose § The ordinary form of written language. Most writing that is not poetry, drama, or song is considered prose.

Theme § A central message or insight revealed through a literary work. The theme may be stated directly or implied. Some works may have multiple themes, while others will have no theme at all.

Universal Theme § A message about life that can be understood by most cultures.

Tone § The writer’s attitude towards his or her audience and subject. The tone can often be described by a single adjective, such as formal or informal, serious or playful.

Mood § Sometimes called atmosphere, this is the feeling created in a reader by a literary work.

Assignment § Choose two works (film or book). § Identify characters from each that are dynamic, static, round, and flat. (4 characters from each work).