Fiction Terms

Flashcards covering key fiction terms and definitions based on the provided lecture notes.

Ambiguity

Deliberate use of a word or expression to convey two or more diverse attitudes or feelings.

Antagonist

A force or character opposing the main character who tries to stop them from achieving their desired goal.

Character

A person (sometimes a group of people, an animal, or a physical force) invented by an author who has an impact on the outcome of the story. Character motivation must be consistent; the character must be convincing and lifelike.

Characterization

The description of a character’s physical traits (how a character looks), point of view, personality, private thoughts, and actions.

Direct characterization

Specific details describing the character’s appearance, motivation, job, passions, and/or background.

Indirect characterization

Specific details that describe the character’s actions, thoughts, words, and/or how other characters treat him/her/them.

Climax

The turning point or moment of highest intensity in the work.

Conflict

The relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist. It can be threefold: 1) conflict between individuals, 2) between the character and circumstances intervening between him and a goal he has set himself, and 3) conflict of opposing tendenci within a single individual’s mind.

MAN vs. MAN (Conflict Type #1)

One character in the story has a problem with one or more of the other characters.

MAN vs. SOCIETY (Conflict Type #2)

A character has a conflict or problem with some element of society–the school, the law, the accepted way of doing things, and so on.

MAN vs. HIMSELF (Conflict Type #3)

A character has trouble deciding what to do in a particular situation.

MAN vs. NATURE (Conflict Type #4)

A character has a problem with some natural happening: a snowstorm, an avalanche, the bitter cold, or any of the other elements common to nature.

MAN vs. FATE (Conflict Type #5)

A character has to battle what seems to be an uncontrollable problem. Whenever the problem seems to be a strange or unbelievable coincidence, fate can be considered the cause of the conflict.

Diction

The choice and use of words.

Dramatic Irony

Occurs when the audience sees a character’s mistakes or misunderstandings, but that character is unable to see them for himself/herself/themselves.

Exposition

The part of the story where an author provides necessary background information.

Falling Action

The section of a play or story that works out the decision arrived at during the climax.

First-person Narrator

A character, often the protagonist, narrates the story using “I,” “me “my”.

Flashback

The writer interrupts the chronological sequence of the story to relate an incident that occurred earlier.

Foil

A character who serves by contrast to emphasize the qualities of another character.

Foreshadowing

The use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in the work of literature.

Genre

Type or kind of literature.

Imagery

Vivid descriptions that use sensory details to paint a picture in the reader’s mind.

In medias res

(Latin phrase) In the middle of things; into the middle of a narrative.

Irony

A contrast between what is expected and what actually happens. There are three types of irony in literature: verbal, dramatic, and situational.

Mood

The feeling a piece of literature evokes in the reader.

Motif

A literary technique that consists of a repeated element that has symbolic significance. It can be a recurring image, or a repeated word, phrase, or topic.

Plot

A system of actions in a purposeful sequence represented in a work. Aristotle defines plot as that which has a beginning, middle, and an end.

Point of View

The outlook from which the events in a work are told. There are different types of point of view: first person, second person, third-person limited, and third-person omniscient.

Protagonist

The hero, chief character, or force that the reader wants to succeed in the work.

Resolution

The portion of a work of literature where the problem is solved.

Rising Action

The portion of a work of literature after the initial incident (introduction of the conflict), when the action is complicated by the opposing forces, ending with the climax.

Second-person Narrator

The story is told directly to the reader using the pronoun “you.”

Setting

The time and place in which the action of a literary work occurs.

Situational Irony

When what is expected to happen is different from what actually does happen.

Suspense

An anxious uncertainty about what is going to happen to character with whom the reader has established bonds of sympathy.

Symbol

A word or image that signifies something other than what is literal represented.

Theme

The main point or message in a work of literature.

Third-person Narrator

The narrator exists outside the events of the story and tells the actions and thoughts of the characters by referring to them by their names or by the pronouns “she,” “he,” they.”

Limited (Third-person Narrator)

One character is the driver of the story, and the narrator (she/he/they) relates thoughts and feelings of that character.

Omniscient (Third-person Narrator)

A narrator is “all-knowing” and relates the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of all the characters.

Tone

The author’s attitude towards the text’s subject.

Verbal Irony

When what is said is the opposite of what is meant.