Short Story Terms
1.
narrative - a kind of writing or speaking that tells a story
2.
short story - a short fictional prose narrative usually ten to
twenty pages long
3.
character - a person in a story; could also be an animal, a natural
(such as the wind), a divinity, or a hero
4.
characterization - the process of revealing the personality of a
character
5.
direct characterization - the writer tells us exactly what the
character is like--no guessing
6.
indirect characterization - the writer gives us evidence or clues
that reveal what the character is like; we must decide for
ourselves
7.
static character - does not change or changes only a little during
the course of the story
8.
dynamic character - changes as the result of a story’s events
9.
flat character - has only one or two main personality traits; we
don’t know much about him/her; one dimensional.
10. round character - has many different personality traits; three
dimensional, solid, realistic; we know a lot about this character
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11. setting - the time and place of a story or play; could be past,
present, future, day, night, spring, summer; often the setting is
crucial to the story.
12. plot - the series of events that make up a story; the plot usually
follows this pattern: exposition, complication, climax,
resolution
13. exposition - (introduction) tells us about the characters, setting,
conflict, etc.; tells us all we need to know to understand the
story
14. complication - (rising action) the story becomes more
interesting as the characters interact with each other and take
steps to resolve the conflict
15. climax - the most exciting time in the story as the outcome is
decided; we know what is going to happen—how the story is
going to end
16. resolution - (falling action, denouement) all the conflicts are
resolved and the story ends
17. conflict - the problem that must be solved; a struggle or clash
between opposing people, forces, needs, desires, or emotions
18. external conflict - a character struggles against outside forces
19. internal conflict - takes place in a character’s mind
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20. theme - the central idea in a work of literature; the idea a writer
wishes to convey about a subject (a theme is not a subject—a
subject is what is what is written about); the theme is usually not
stated directly; it is usually implied
21. point of view - the vantage point from which the writer chooses
to tell the story; three possible points of view: 1) omniscient, 2)
third-person limited, 3) first person
22. Omniscient point of view - all knowing; the person telling the
story (the narrator) knows everything about the characters and
their problems
23. third-person limited point of view - the narrator focuses on the
thoughts and feelings of just one character; we see everything
through that person’s eyes
24. first-person point of view - a character actually tells the story,
using the pronoun “I”
25. Second person - designated by the pronoun you. There is no
second person point of view in storytelling.
26. Tone - the attitude a writer takes toward the audience, the
subject, or a character
27. Comedy - a story that ends happily
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28. tragedy - a play, novel, or other narrative that depicts serious
and important events and the main character usually comes to an
unhappy end due to a tragic flaw or weakness in his/her
character
29. stereotype - a fixed idea or conception of a character that
doesn’t allow for any individuality; based on racial, social,
religious, sexist, or ethnic prejudices. Examples: All New
Yorkers are rude; all Texans are rich and wear over-size cowboy
hats; all Southerners are dumb.
30. satire - a kind of writing that ridicules or pokes fun at something
in order to reveal a weakness in society, a person, a belief, etc.
Example: “All in the Family”
31. symbol - a person, place, thing, or event that stands for itself
and for something beyond itself as well; has its own real or
literal meaning, but also means something else. Examples: a
wedding ring, the Pillsbury Dough Boy—Poppin’ Fresh, a stop
sign, an eagle, the American flag
32. irony - in general, a contrast between what you expect and what
really happens, between what is said and what is meant,
between what appears to be true and what really is true
33. verbal irony - when a writer or speaker says one thing but really
means something else—usually opposite
34. situational irony - a contrast between what we expect to happen
and what really happens
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35. dramatic irony - when the audience or reader knows important
information that a character in a book, play, TV show, etc. does
not know and that would cause that character to act differently.
Good examples: soap operas
36. foil - a character who is used as a contrast to another to
intensify, accentuate, or make that character stand out.
Example: Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes stories
37. foreshadowing - the use of clues that hint at events that will
occur later
38. flashback - a scene in a movie, play, short story, novel, etc. that
interrupts the action to go back and tell what happened at an
earlier time
39. farce - a type of comedy in which ridiculous and sometimes
stereotyped characters are involved in far-fetched, silly
situations
40. fable - a brief story that teaches a moral or practical lesson about
how to get along in life. Example: pg. 871 in CP lit book
41. dialect - a way of speaking that is characteristic of a particular
region or group of people
42. denotation - the literal dictionary definition of a word
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43. connotation - all the meanings, associations, or emotions a word
suggests. Example: “Skinny” and “slender” have approximately
the same meaning, but “slender” is perceived to be more of a
compliment than “skinny” in the minds of many people.
44. allusion - a reference to a statement, person, place, event, or
thing that is, or should be, well known to most people; usually
taken from literature, history, religion, mythology, politics,
sports, science, pop culture
45. allegory - a story in which the characters and settings and events
stand for certain other people or events or concepts; allegories
have two meanings—a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning;
allegories are often used for teaching purposes
46. diction - a writer’s or speaker’s choice of words; slang is
appropriate in writing a letter to a friend, but it is not
appropriate in writing a paragraph for a classroom assignment; a
scientist would use different words than a poet would use even
if both were describing the same tree
47. protagonist - the chief character in a story, play, novel, etc.
48. antagonist - the rival or adversary of the protagonist who works
against him/her
49. archetype - the original model or pattern from which copes are
made, or out of which later forms develop; a character,
in
the literature of a culture, of which you will find examples in all
or most other cultures. Examples: the devil, Santa Clause
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50. anecdote - a short summary of a funny event
51. cliché - a word or phrase that is terribly overused, like “busy as
a bee” or “I slept like a log”; a trite expression
52. epithet - a word or phrase used in place of a person’s name to
help characterize the person. Examples: egg head for a very
smart person, four-eyes for someone who wears glasses
53. fantasy - highly imaginative writing that contains elements not
found in real life
54. genre - a French word meaning form, type, or kind. Literary
genres include novel, essay, poetry, play, short story, etc.
55. hero - a character whose actions are inspiring or noble, and who
usually overcomes difficulties
56. historical fiction - stories that center upon or incorporate some
significant historical events
57. mystery - a story that involves the reader in guessing who
committed the crime or deed
58. myth - a fictional tale that explains the actions of gods or
heroes, or the causes of natural phenomena (such as lightning
and thunder), or both. Myths can be Greek, Roman, Norse, or
Celtic in origin.
59. oxymoron - two words used together that contradict each other,
as in icy fire or sweet sorrow
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60. paradox - a statement that seems to be contradictory but that
actually presents a truth
61. poetic justice - when a character “gets what he deserves”
62. pseudonym - the assumed or false name of an author; Samuel
Clemen’s pseudonym is Mark Twain.
63. pun - a play on words when a word has more than one meaning
64. science fiction - fictional stories that center upon scientific
elements. Some science fiction stories written in the past have
actually been predictors of things we have today (robots) or
events that have actually taken place(space travel).
65. stream of consciousness - a narrative technique, or point of
view, that presents thoughts as if they were coming straight
from a character’s mind, with story events and character’s
feelings combined
66. style - an author’s unique way of writing that involves word
choice and sentence patterns
67. nostalgia - a wistful or excessively sentimental sometimes
abnormal yearning for return to or of some past period or
irrecoverable condition; homesickness. Sometimes stories
evoke, or make us feel, nostalgia.
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68. prose - the ordinary language that people use in speaking or
writing; a literary medium (kind of writing) that is
distinguishable from poetry because of its format; it is written in
paragraphs, while poetry is written in stanzas; any form of
writing that is not poetry. You find prose writing in novels,
short stories, essays, newspaper articles, magazine articles, etc.
69. plot summary – a paragraph that briefly lists the main events of
the story, scene, chapter, etc.
70. fiction – narrative writing drawn from the imagination of the
author rather than from history or fact
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