7th Grade Lit Terms

Fiction

Prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Short stories and novels are examples of this type of writing.Some writers base their writing on actual events and people, adding invented 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 (novelist) develops these elements. In addition to a main plot, it may contain one or more subplots, or independent, related stories. It may alsp have several themes.

Novella

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

Short Story

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

Plot

Sequence 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 time and place of the story), the characters, and the basic situation (conflict is often introduced at the end of this part of the plot).

Rising Action

Events that increase the tension.

Climax

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

Falling action

Is the part of a story when the conflict lessens; events that follow the climax.

Resolution

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

Character

A person or 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 teh 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, time of day, even the weather.

Theme

Central message, 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 of its plot.

Conflict

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

Flashback

A scene within a story that interrupts the sequence of events to relate events that occurred in the past.

Foreshadowing

The author’s use of clues to hint at what might happen later in the story.

External Conflict

One in which a character struggles against some kind of outside force, such as another person. Another may occur between a character and some force in nature.

Internal Conflict

It takes place within  the mind of a character. The character struggles to make a decision, take an action, or overcome a feeling.

First-person Point of View

Told by a character who uses the first-person pronoun “I.”

Third-person Point of View

There are two kinds, limited and omniscient. They are called “third person” because the narrator uses third-person pronouns such as he or she to refer to the characters.

Omniscient Point of View

In stories told from this point of view, the narrator knows and tells about what EACH character feels and thinks.

Limited Point of View

In stories told from this point of view, the narrator relates the inner thoughts and feelings of only ONE character, and everything is viewed from this character’s perspective.

Dialect

The form of a language spoken by people in particular region or group. They differ in pronunciation, grammar, and word choice. The use of it gives a short story a more authentic feel and helps a character’s words sound more realistic.

Dialogue

A conversation between the characters. In poems, novels, and short stories, it is usually set off by quotation marks to indicate a speaker’s exact words.

Protagonist

The main character in a literary work. It is often a person but sometimes it can be an animal.

Antagonist

Alliteration

Tone

Mood