Fiction Terms

main character, center of psychological complications, called hero/heroine, but not always heroic

character/thing who is set up to oppose protagonist, bent upon blocking/frustrating pro.'s aims or causing them harm

character that changes in some fundamental way, often opposed to static characters

does not exhibit complexity or change over the course of the narrative

a character designed to highlight qualities of other characters, possess opposite qualities/characteristics

character with one preominant quality or purpose, does not deviate

many different qualities portrayed throughout the narrative

narrator tells reader facts about character's lives/personalities directly

• narrator reveals qualities about characters through actions and dialogue, readers make inference
• point of view

created by author, physical position as an observer

voice of work is "I", firsthand experience, firsthand witness, secondhand testimony and hearsay, inferential information

uses he, she, they

all-knowing, presents action/dialogue, able to report all character's thoughts

limits narration to actions/thoughts of main characters

the character's or speaker's attitude

refers to the writer's selection of words

refers to the dictionary definitions

refers to the emotions and associations of the words

work's environment; customs, culture, politics, surroundings, possessions

emotional texture or feeling of the place, bright colors=happy, darkness=gloom/augment hysteria

ground work for story, actions resulting from believable human responses to conflict, cause-effect, everything is related

laying out of materials in story

complication is the onset of the major conflict

story's high point, no new major developments may follow it

things that happen as a direct result of the climax

brings things to a satisfying ending

present circumstances are explained by past events

people or circumstances a character must face and try to overcome

opposition of two people, individual opposes larger forces

psychological struggle

theme is heart/soul of story, essential subject, what it is about, themes are universal, complete sentence, find theme is analyzing the events, characters and subjects

creates a direct, meaningful equation between a specific object, scene, character, or action and ideas values persons, or ways of lives

recurring image, phrase or symbol, relates to theme

sensory details used to describe, arouse emotion or represent abstractions, uses five senses

deliberate exaggeration or overstatement

ironic minimalization of fact, understatement presents something less significant, humoroes or emphatic

opposite of what is expected happens

someone says something but means the opposite

characters think something that audience knows is untrue

implied comparison of seemingly unlike things, subsitution of one for the other

same function as metaphor, but uses like, as, or seems

contradictory terms

a statement that appears to be self-contradictoy or opposed to common sense, contains some degree to truth or validity

describes inanimate objects by endowing them with human attributes or emotions

figure of speech that makes reference to place, event, literary work, myth, or work of art, either directly or my implication