subjective description
writing with emotion, persuade
objective description
writing without emotion, avoid bias
dominant impression
the single mood, atmosphere, or quality a writer emphasizes in a piece of descriptive writing, controlling idea
diction
word choice
denotation
the dictionary definition of a word
connotation
the meanings, associations, or emotions that a word suggests
tone
writers attitude toward speaker, narrator, author, character, subject, audience, or character (snacsac)
exposition
introduction of the characters and basic situation
setting
the time and place
conflict
the problems
external conflict
man vs. man, man vs technology man vs. nature, man vs. society
internal conflict
man vs. self
rising action
conflict increases, events leading to climax
climax
exacerbated primary conflict and turning point
falling action
conflict decreases, events leading to conclusion
resolution, denouement
outcome of the conflict
foreshadowing
details that hint a future event
flashback
recalls something that happened in the past
flash foward
jumps ahead of the story to show whats to come
in medias res
story begins in the middle of things
point of view
the perspective from which a story is told
first person
'i, 'me'
first person innocent eye
narrator is innocent
second person
'you'
third person
'he', 'she', 'it'
third person limited
the narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of one or few characters
third person omniscient
the narrator knows all of the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in a work
third person objective
the narrator is not a character in the story and reports only what can be seen and heard, unbiased
protagonist
main character
antagonist
character against the protagonist
flat character
character who has few characteristics, does not change or progress
static character
character that does not change the whole story
stock character
stereotypical character
round character
character who demonstrates some complexity and who develops or changes in the course of a work
dynamic character
character who goes through tremendous growth and change
foil character
a character who highlights another character by contrast
major character
character with a significant role in the action of the story
minor character
character with insignificant role
direct characterization
explicit descriptions from the author
indirect characterization
the process by which the personality of a fictitious character is revealed through the character's speech, actions, appearance, etc.
dialogue
conversation between two or more people
mood
feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader
symbolism
the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities
conventional symbol
something that is recognized by many people to represent certain ideas
literary symbol
an object that carries symbolic meaning only within the context of a particular literary work