Lit terms #!

Fiction

Prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Short stories and are examples of this type of writing on actual events and people, adding evented characters dialogue, settings and plots. Other writers rely on imagination alone.

Novel

a long work of fiction - It contains such elements as characters, plot, conflict, and setting. The writer develops these elements. In addition to a main plot, it may contain one or more subplots, or independent, related stories. It may also have several themes.

Novella

A work of fiction that is larger than a short story but shorter than a novel.

Short Story

a brief work of fiction. Like a novel, it presents a sequance of events. or plot. The plot usually deals with a central conflict faced by a main character, or protaganist. The events usually communicate a message about life or human nature. This message, or central idea, is the story’s theme.

Plot

sequance of events in which each event results from a previous one and causes the next. In most novels, dramas, short stories, and narrative poems, it involves both characters and a central conflict.

Exposition

introduces the setting, the characters, and the basic situation.

Rising action

events that increase the tension

Climax

the turning point in the story. It is the high point in the action of the plot. It is the moment of the greatest tension when the outcome of the plot hands in the balance.

Falling action

is the part if a story when the conflict lessons; events that follow the climax.

Resolution

is the story’s conclusion; final outcome is achieved ;loose ends are tied up.

Character

a person or an animal that takes part in the action of a literary work. The main, or major, one is the most important one in a story, poem, or play. A minor one is one who takes part in the action but is not the focus of attention.

Setting

the time and place of the action. It includes all the details of a place and time- the year, the time of day, even the wheather.

Theme

central passage, concern, or purpose in a literary work. It can usually be expressed as a generalization, or a general statement, about human beings or about life. It is not a summary of its plot.

Point of View

the perspective, or vantage point, from which a story is told. It is either a narrator outside the story or a character.

Conflict

a struggle between opposing forces. It is one of the most important elements of stories, novels, and plays because its causes the action. There are two types: external and ternal.