literary terms for short stories

Fiction

An invented story

Nonfiction

Writing or cinema that is about facts and real events

Short story

An invented prose narrative shorter than a novel

Narrator

A person who tells the events of a story

POV

The perspective from which a story is told

First person

Experienced as it through the eyes of a character

Second person

Referring to a person or thing addressed in the utterance in which they occur

Third person

Narrative perspective where the narrator is outside of the story telling about other character inside the story

Third person omniscient

All-knowing, knows all characters thoughts and feelings

Third person limited

The narrator focuses on a single character and is only aware of what that character says and does

Third person objective

The narrator is an impersonal observer who reports the facts of the story without any internal insights

Protagonist

The main character

Antagonist

The opponent of the main character

Setting

The time and a place of the action of a narrative

Plot

The series of events of happenings in a literary work

Exposition

Characters and setting are introduced

Rising action

The build up of a story

Climax

Highest point of action/excitement in the story

Falling action

After climax, loose ends and tied up

Resolution

Ending, conclusion of the story

Conflict

A struggle between two opposing sides

External conflict

Struggle between a character and someone else or something (man vs man) (man vs nature) (man vs society)

Internal conflict

man vs himself (struggle between a character and two decisions)

Central idea

The main point that the author wants it communicate to the readers about the topic (specific on what the story is about)

Theme

The lesson or underlaying meaning of a literary work (should be statement)

Foreshadowing

Warning or indication of, a future event

Irony

The fire station burn down- something that is meant to burn down fires is burning down

Imagery

Descriptive or figurative language in a literary work( the golden sun dipped below the horizon painting the sky with streaks of orange and pink)

Allusion

An expression to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly. Indirect reference to something

Metaphor

Comparison without using like or as

Simile

A comparison using like or as

Hyperbole

Exaggerated statements (it’s a million degrees in this room)