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Allegory
A narrative or description having a second or symbolic meaning beneath the surface.
Allusion
A reference, explicit or implicit, to something in previous literature or history.
Colloquial
Informal, conversational language.
Dialect
A regional variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary.
Slang
Playful speech made up of short-lived coinages and figures of speech deliberately used in place of standard terms.
Understatement
A figure of speech that consists of saying less than one means, or of saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrants.
In Medias Res
A story that begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, rather than at the beginning, establishing setting, character, or conflict via flashback and expository conversations.
Omniscient Point of View
The author tells the story, using the third person, knowing all and free to tell us anything, including what the characters are thinking or feeling and why they act as they do.
Nonlinear Structure
A plot that follows a non-causal order, with events presented in a random series, jumping to and from the main plot with flashbacks or flash-forwards; or in any other manner that is either non-chronological or not cause and effect.
Plot Manipulation
A situation in which an author gives the plot a twist or turn unjustified by preceding action or by the characters involved.
Plot Device
An object, character, or event whose only reason for existing is to advance the story; often breaks suspension of disbelief.
Red Herring
A literary tactic of diverting attention away from an item or person of significance.
