Elements of Fiction and Literary Style

Vocabulary flashcards covering core terminology, elements of fiction, dramatic structure, figures of speech, and literary style.

Inciting Event

The element in Freytag's pyramid of dramatic structure that starts the story off.

Rising Action

The phase of a narrative during which main characters, their relationships, main conflicts, genre, and setting are established.

Climax

The turning point in dramatic structure when something very important happens.

Falling Action (Denouement)

The phase of dramatic structure where characters may separate, serious events occur, and confusion happens as the story moves toward its conclusion.

Resolution

The final part of dramatic structure where everything comes back together and the reader finds out how the story ends.

Imagery

The use of words to paint a mental picture for the reader to visualize what something looks like or to indicate underlying meanings.

Stereotypes

Stock, often one-dimensional characters or situations that have been used so frequently that they become clichés.

Archetype

A character or element representing an essential part of the human experience that is seen throughout centuries, eras, and cultures.

Personification

A figure of speech that gives human attributes, feelings, or powers to a concept, inanimate object, or animal.

Theme

The main idea, underlying message, or moral point that the author is conveying through a story.

First Person Point-of-View

A narrative perspective in which one of the characters inside the story is telling it.

Third Person Point-of-View

A narrative perspective in which a character who is not directly involved in the story tells it.

Omniscient Narrator

A narrator who can enter the minds of characters to relate their thoughts and convey other relevant information.

Allegory

A work in which the majority of characters and plot developments serve as symbols or metaphors for broader concepts to convey a moral.

Persona

The narrator or fictional identity created by an author, which should not be confused with the author themselves.

Style

The physical construction of writing, including sentence structure, choice of words, and use of punctuation.

Voice

The connection writing creates with the reader that gives it individuality and prevents it from becoming bland.

Verbal Irony

A trope in which the intended meaning of a statement differs from the meaning that the words appear to express, usually gentler than sarcasm.

Sarcasm

A cutting and direct form of language designed to make a harsh, in-your-face point, often using ironic similes.

Situational Irony

An outcome or event that involves a sharp incongruity between what is expected or intended and what actually occurs.

Dramatic Irony

A narrative effect produced when the audience or reader knows more about present or future circumstances than a character does.

Symbolism

The use of a symbol that retains its literal meaning while invoking a secondary, underlying meaning that remains consistent across contexts.

Motif

A recurring collection of different symbols used together to signify and reinforce the same theme or concept.

Mirror Device (Chiasmus)

A stylistic device used to emphasize an opposite point by reversing structural phrases.

Analogy

A general comparison illustrating how an unfamiliar object or idea (tenor) is like a familiar object or idea (vehicle) in limited aspects.

Simile

An expressed, short comparison between two essentially unlike items based on a shared quality using 'like' or 'as'.

Rhetorical Metaphor

A comparison that directly equates two essentially dissimilar things in the form of 'this = that'.

Literary Metaphor

A comparison that establishes the equation 'this = that' indirectly through association.