7th Grade Lit Terms

Fiction

Prose writing that tells imaginary events and characters and events. Short storiesand novels are examples of this type of writing. Some writers base there writings on actual events and people, adding invented characters, dialogue, setting 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 there elements. In addition to a main plot, it may contain one or more subplots, or a independent, related stories. it may also have several themes.

Novella

A work of fiction that is longer than a 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 protagonists. The events usually communicate a message about life or human nature. This message, or the central idea, is the stories 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 is 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 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 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 in the story.

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 same sequence of events to relate events that occurred in the past.

Foreshadowing

The author’s use of clue to what might happen later in the story.

External Conflict

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

Internal Conflict

It takes place in the mind of a character. The character struggles to make a decision, take action, or over come a feeling.

First person POV

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

Third Person POV

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

Omniscient POV

In stories told from this POV, the narrator knows, and tells about waht each character fells and think.

Limited POV

In stories told from this POV, the narrator relates to the inner thoughts and feelings of only one character, and everything is told from this chachter’s perspective.

Dialect

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

Dialauge

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

Protagonist

Antagonist

Alliteration

Tone

Mood