fiction prose terms
Subge
Novel an extended work of prose fiction at lease 50,000 words (roughly 200+ pages).
It features complex plots, multiple characters that are deep and developed, detailed settings, and explores themes with substantial scope.
The length allows for intricate subplots, extensive character arcs, and thorough exploration of ideas and situations over time.
Short Story a brief work of prose fiction, usually ranging from 1,000 to 20,000 words (though typically under 10,000).
It focuses on a single plot or incident, features a limited number of characters, covers a compressed time frame, and aims for a unified effect or impression.
Due to its brevity, every element must be economical and purposeful, often building toward a significant moment of insight or revelation.
Novella a work of prose fiction that falls between a short story and a novel in length, typically ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 words (roughly 60-200 pages).
It allows for more character development and plot complexity than a short story but maintains a tighter focus than a novel.
The novella often concentrates on a single character or situation while providing sufficient space for nuanced exploration and development.
Cultural Setting: refers to the social environment and customs that shape the world of the story.
This includes the values, beliefs, traditions, social norms, religious practices, political systems, and ways of life of the characters within the narrative.
It encompasses elements like class structure, gender roles, language patterns, and cultural expectations that influence how characters think, behave, and interact with one another.
Physical Setting the concrete, tangible environment where the story takes place.
This includes the geographical location, landscape, architecture, weather, time period, and specific places (such as rooms, buildings, cities, or natural environments). It encompasses all the sensory details—what characters can see, hear, smell, and touch—that create the story's atmosphere and backdrop for the action.
Story is the complete chronological sequence of events - everything that happens, in the order it actually occurred. It's the "what happened" in its most basic, linear form. For example, a story might be: a woman is born, grows up, falls in love, gets married, has children, and grows old.
The story of In Cold Blood recalls the tragic murder of the Clutter family in the small American town of Holcomb. The story begins with the introduction of both the murderers and the Clutter family. Then after the murders, they escape and we follow the KBI as they try to capture the murderers. The murderers are caught, tried and sentenced to death.
Plot is how those events are selected and arranged for dramatic effect. It's the causal structure - how one event leads to another, and which events are emphasized or omitted.
The plot decides what to show and in what order. Using the same story, a plot might start with the woman as an elderly person reflecting on her life, then flash back to key moments, creating suspense about how certain relationships developed.
Narrative is the broadest term - it's the actual telling of the story, including the plot structure plus the voice, perspective, style, and medium used to convey it.
The narrative includes who's telling the story (first person? omniscient narrator?), the tone, the language, and even the medium (novel, film, oral tale). Two narratives could present the same plot in completely different ways depending on narrative choices.
Exposition the opening section of a story where essential background information is provided.
It introduces the setting (time and place), main characters, and the initial situation. This establishes the context readers need to understand the story that follows.
Problem/Conflict the central struggle or challenge that drives the narrative forward.
It can be external (character vs. character, society, nature, or technology) or internal (character vs. themselves). This is the obstacle the protagonist must face or resolve, creating tension and engaging reader interest.
Rising Action consists of a series of events and complications that build upon the initial conflict.
During this phase, narrative tension and suspense increase as the protagonist encounters obstacles, makes decisions, and moves toward the story's peak moment. Stakes become progressively higher as the narrative develops.
Climax the story's turning point and moment of highest tension.
It's the most intense, dramatic moment where the conflict reaches its peak and the protagonist faces their greatest challenge. This is often where the outcome of the central conflict is determined, though not yet fully resolved.
Denouement/Resolution (from French, meaning "unknotting") or resolution is the final section where loose ends are tied up and the story concludes.
It shows the aftermath of the climax, reveals the consequences of the protagonist's actions, and establishes a new normal. This provides closure and shows how characters and situations have changed as a result of the story's events.
Subplot: a secondary storyline that runs alongside the main plot of a narrative.
It typically involves supporting characters or explores a different aspect of the protagonist's life, providing additional depth, complexity, and texture to the overall story.
Subplots often complement or contrast with the main plot,
can develop themes in different ways, and may intersect with the primary storyline at key moments.
They help create a richer, more layered narrative while also providing pacing variety and additional character development.
First-Person Narrator tells the story from their own perspective using "I" or "we."
This narrator is a character within the story who recounts events they experienced, witnessed, or heard about. This perspective provides intimate access to one character's thoughts and feelings but is limited to what that character knows and perceives.
Third-Person Narrator (Omniscient) is an all-knowing voice outside the story who uses "he," "she," or "they."
This narrator has unlimited knowledge and can access the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of all characters, move freely through time and space, and provide commentary or information beyond any single character's awareness.
Third-Person Narrator (Limited) tells the story from outside using "he," "she," or "they," but restricts the perspective to the experiences and knowledge of one character—called the focalizer (or sometimes a few characters).
The narrator can access the focalizer´s thoughts and feelings but cannot reveal what other characters are thinking unless it's observable or communicated.
Reliable Narrator a trustworthy storyteller whose account of events the reader can accept as accurate and credible.
Their perceptions, interpretations, and reporting align with the story's implicit truth, and they don't intentionally or unintentionally mislead the reader through bias, limited understanding, or deception.
Unreliable Narrator a storyteller whose credibility is compromised, causing readers to question the accuracy or truthfulness of their account.
This unreliability can stem from various factors: mental illness, youth or naivety, personal bias, self-deception, deliberate dishonesty, or limited understanding. Readers must read between the lines to discern the actual truth.
Indirect Speech (also called reported speech) is a narrative technique where a character's words, thoughts, or dialogue are summarized or paraphrased by the narrator rather than quoted directly.
Instead of using quotation marks and the character's exact words, the narrator reports what was said in their own words, often changing pronouns and verb tenses. For example, direct speech would be: She said, "I am tired." Indirect speech would be: She said that she was tired.
This technique allows for smoother narrative flow, can cover conversations more efficiently, and maintains the narrator's voice while conveying the essential content of what characters communicate.
Interior Monologue a narrative technique that presents a character's inner thoughts and feelings directly to the reader.
It reveals the character's conscious mental processes, often organized and coherent, as they reflect, analyze, or react to situations. This can appear in first or third person and provides psychological depth.
Free Indirect Speech (also called free indirect discourse or free indirect style) is a narrative technique that blends third-person narration with a character's own thoughts, perceptions, and voice, without using quotation marks or explicit tags like "she thought" or "he felt."
It maintains third-person pronouns and past tense but adopts the character's vocabulary, tone, emotional perspective, and way of seeing the world.
This creates an intimate fusion of narrator and character consciousness, allowing readers to experience events through the character's subjective lens while maintaining narrative distance. For example: "She looked at the clock. Five more hours of this nonsense! How could anyone bear it?" The exclamations and word choice ("nonsense") reflect the character's thoughts and feelings, even though written in third person, creating a fluid movement between external narration and internal experience.
Stream of Consciousness a narrative technique that attempts to portray the continuous, unfiltered flow of a character's thoughts, perceptions, and associations as they occur.
It mimics the natural, often chaotic way the mind works, including fragments, free associations, sensory impressions, and non-linear jumps between ideas, creating a more raw and immediate psychological realism than interior monologue.
Protagonist the main character of a story, typically the central figure whose journey, goals, or transformation drives the narrative forward.
The protagonist faces the primary conflict and usually undergoes the most significant character development.
Readers generally follow the story through this character's experiences, though the protagonist isn't necessarily heroic or morally good.
Antagonist the force, character, or entity that opposes the protagonist and creates conflict.
This can be a person, group, society, nature, supernatural force, or even an internal struggle within the protagonist themselves.
The antagonist's opposition generates the central tension and obstacles the protagonist must overcome.
Secondary characters a minor character in a work.
They are typically flat characters who do not develop- They can represent an archetype or contribute to the development of the protagonist
Foil: a character whose qualities, personality traits, or circumstances contrast sharply with those of another character, typically the protagonist.
This character highlights and emphasizes particular characteristics of the main character, making their traits more apparent through comparison.
i.e. a cautious character might have an impulsive foil, making the protagonist's careful nature more noticeable and significant to the reader.
Characterization the process by which an author reveals and develops a character's personality, traits, motivations, and qualities to the reader.
It encompasses all the methods used to create a full, believable character
including their actions, speech, thoughts, appearance, and relationships with others.
Direct Characterization when the narrator or another character explicitly tells the reader about a character's traits, qualities, or personality.
The author directly states what a character is like, such as "Maria was generous" or "He was a cruel man."
Indirect Characterization reveals a character's personality through their actions, dialogue, thoughts, appearance, and how other characters respond to them.
Rather than stating traits outright, the author shows them through evidence, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions about what the character is like.
Narrative Tension the sense of uncertainty, anticipation, or emotional strain that keeps readers engaged and invested in the story
It's created through unresolved conflicts, unanswered questions, threats to characters, competing desires, or obstacles that prevent characters from achieving their goals. Tension can be psychological, emotional, or physical, and it propels the reader forward, making them want to discover how situations will resolve.
Suspense the feeling of anxious uncertainty or anticipation about what will happen next in a narrative.
created when readers are invested in outcomes but lack crucial information
face unanswered questions
or witness characters in danger or difficult situations.
Pace the speed at which a story unfolds and events are revealed to the reader.
controlled through sentence length, scene duration, amount of description versus action, and narrative focus.
Fast pacing creates excitement and urgency,
slow pacing allows for reflection, atmosphere-building, and detailed exploration of moments or emotions.