Dramatic Features

• Stock Character


  Stereotypical characters, such as the boy genius, ambitious career person, faithful sidekick, mad scientist, etc.
• Round Character


  Characters with many different traits, good and bad, making them more interesting
• Flat Character


  A character with one or two main traits, usually only all positive or negative. The opposite of a round character. The flaw or strength has its use in the story.
• Character Foil


  A character that has opposite character traits from another, meant to help highlight or bring out another's positive or negative side. Many times, the antagonist is the foil for the protagonist.
• Someone who serves as a contrast or challenge to another character
• Characterization


  A writer's tool, or "literary device" that occurs any time the author uses details to teach us about a person. This is used over the course of a story in order to tell the tale.
• Characterization example


  • In the Harry Potter series, Dobby refers to Potter as "the noble Harry Potter," or "good Harry Potter," which shows us how the house elf adores the young wizard. It might also be a hint of how Dobby would show affection for other people he admires
• Comedy


  A broad genre of film, television, and literature in which the goal is to make an audience laugh. It exists in every culture on earth (though the specifics of comedy can be very different from one culture to another), and has always been an extremely popular genre of storytelling.
• Act


  A primary division of a dramatic work, like a play, film, opera, or other performance. The act is made up of shorter scenes.
• Scene


  A part of a play or film in which the action stays in one place for a continuous period of time
• Line


  A subdivision of a poem, specifically a group of words arranged into a row that ends for a reason other than the right-hand margin.
• Monologue


  A speech given by a single character in a story. In drama, it is the vocalization of a character's thoughts; in literature, the verbalization. It is traditionally a device used in theater—a speech to be given on stage—but nowadays, its use extends to film and television.
• Soliloquy


  A speech that a character gives to himself—as if no one else is listening—which voices his inner thoughts aloud. Basically, a soliloquy captures a character talking to himself at length out loud. Of course, the audience (and sometimes other characters) can hear the speech, but the person talking to himself is unaware of others listening.
• Dialogue


  The exchange of spoken words between two or more characters in a book, play, or other written work.
• Prose


  Non-verse writing. Pretty much anything other than poetry counts as prose: this article, that textbook in your backpack, the U.S. Constitution, Harry Potter – it's all prose.
• Prose examples


  • Essays, Novels/short stories, Nonfiction books
• Verse


  Writing that is arranged in short lines with a regular rhythm; poetry
• Protagonist


  The main character or hero of the story
• Antagonist


  The person or force working against the protagonist, or hero, of the work.
• Symbol


  A person, place, thing, or event used to represent something else; characters in literature can be symbols of good or evil; a dove is a symbol of peace
• Hyperbole


  An exaggeration or overstatement
• Double Entendre


  A double meaning or interpretation for a word, phrase, or figure of speech. Usually, the first meaning is straightforward, but can be interpreted in a second way, which the Oxford Dictionary calls "indelicate"—meaning it is usually at least slightly inappropriate or risqué. Often, double entendres are used to mask or subtly deliver racy humor.
• Setting


  The time, place, and atmosphere/mood in which the action of the story takes place
• Simile


  A literary term where you use "like" or "as" to compare two different things and show a common quality between them. A simile is different from a simple comparison in that it usually compares two unrelated things.
• Metaphor


  A comparison between two unlike things without using "like," "as," or "than"
• Personification


  A literary device in which the author speaks of or describes an animal, object, or idea as if it were a person.
• Internal Conflict


  A problem, antagonism, or struggle that takes place within an individual character, usually surrounding the question of how to behave or what action to take next.
• External Conflict


  A problem, antagonism, or struggle that takes place between a character and an outside force; external conflict drives the action of a plot forward; types include person versus person, person versus nature, person versus society, person versus God
• Theme


  The statement about life that the writer is trying to get across in a piece of literature; in most cases, the theme will be implied rather than explicitly stated; a theme is always more than one word