fiction terms kelly road english department – communications 11

Fiction Terms

Kelly Road English Department – Communications 11

Plot

• What happens in a story


Exposition

• Tells background information• Sets up plot events


Crisis

• The main problem or troubling event that sets the action going


Rising Action

• The series of events leading to the climax


Climax

• The point at which the action and/or tension is at its height


Falling Action

• The beginning of the end of the story• Crisis resolved; character conflicts dealt with


Denouement

• French for “unknotting”• Loose ends of the plot tied up, either after the

climax, or (more commonly) in the very final scenes of the story


Protagonist

• The main character(s) in a story


Antagonist

• The characters or forces arrayed against the protagonist(s)


Setting

• The place and time in which a story occurs


Foreshadowing

• Hints given in the plot as to its outcome


Mood

• Also called atmosphere or ambience• The “feeling” presented in the story through

the way the author describes scenes or plot events

• Eg.: It was a dark and stormy night…


Tone

• The author’s attitudes and/or biases that come through in the story, whether in character descriptions, or in their dialogue


Moral

• A message the author is trying to give through the story

• Also, a term that indicates whether or not the actions of the characters are good or just, from a societal perspective


Dilemma

• A choice that a character must make between 2 unpleasant outcomes, in response to a plot challenge

• Dilemmas are often hard choices that involve moral or ethical issues


Symbolism

• When an important person, place or thing in a story represents both itself, and something else

• The secondary representation is generally figurative


Suspense

• A feeling of tension that builds throughout the plot

• Usually linked to what will happen at the climax


Flashback

• A scene inserted into the plot that shows events that occurred at an earlier time


Subplot

• A secondary plot or story woven in-between the events in the main plot


Episode

• A particular incident or event within the main plot of a story


Indeterminate Ending

• An ending in which the reader cannot be certain of the outcome


Surprise Ending

• An ending which does not naturally follow on from the main points in the plot

• Most effective when foreshadowed information is revealed to mean something completely different from the reader’s expectations


Anti-Climax

• An effect which works against the climax• Often acts to bring a lofty tone “down to

earth”


Complication

• A challenge or hurdle placed in the way of the protagonist


Epiphany

• A term for a character’s sudden realization about something

• Think “lightbulb moment” – a thought or idea that occurs to a character that changes his or her outlook


Conflict

• General term for negative interactions between characters


Internal Conflict

1. Internal – struggle inside a character’s mind or self – person vs. self


External Conflict

1. Person vs. Person – conflict between 2 or more characters

2. Person vs. Environment – conflicts between a person and their situation – Nature, society, group, etc.


Characterization

• Round – character has many traits• Flat – character has few traits


Characterization

• Dynamic – character’s traits change over time• Static – character’s traits do not change over

time


Characterization

• Stereotype/Stock – character with clichéd or familiar traits which appears often in especially escapist-type literature– Eg. James Bond, Robin Hood, Wicked

Stepmother, etc.• Realistic – A character who is NOT based on a

stereotypical cliché, but on “real life”


Characterization

• Foil – a secondary character whose traits or actions contrast with those of the main character in order to draw attention to them


Characterization

• Motivation – the combination of circumstance and personality that makes a character do what they do


Characterization

• Presentation – how the author tells the reader about a character:– Direct – the author actually tells the reader

about a character’s traits, motivations, etc.– Indirect – the author has other characters tell the

reader about another a particular character, or shows us through the character’s actions


Point of View

• The viewpoint through which a story is told• Types:– First Person – “I” – solely the POV of the narrator;

reader only knows as much as narrator


Point of View

• The viewpoint through which a story is told• Types Cont’d:– Third Person Omniscient – “God Mode” –

narrator knows characters’ thoughts and feelings– Third Person Limited Omniscient – narrator

knows thoughts and feelings of one character, but not necessarily others


Point of View

• The viewpoint through which a story is told• Types Cont’d:– Objective/Dramatic – “fly on the wall” – narrator

is completely outside the action, and simply relates it as he/she sees it happening.• Eg. Reality TV/DVD extras footage, etc.


Theme

• The central idea or thesis of a story• Can be stated directly by the author, or

indirectly through the outcome of the plot


fiction terms kelly road english department – communications 11

Documents

plot challengedilemmas

plot eventseg

subplota secondary plot

protagonistthe main

main points

crisisthe main problem

antagonistthe characters

action andor tension