Short story

• Theme


  The central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work. This is the deeper meaning, the main lesson/message/moral that the author hopes the reader will understand at the end of the story.
• Setting


  The time and place of the action in a literary work
• Protagonist


  The main character in a literary work. Not necessarily the "good guy", just the main character.
• Antagonist


  A character or force in conflict with the main character. Not necessarily the "bad guy", just the person or thing that is working against the main character.
• Characterization methods

  • Direct Characterization: The author directly states a character's personality and/or physical traits
  • Indirect Characterization: Uses a character's thoughts, actions, and feelings, to suggest the character's traits
• Dynamic Character


  A character that develops and changes through the course of a story
• Static Character

  A character that does NOT change or develop through the course of the story
• Round Character


  A character that exhibits many traits, faults as well as virtues
• Flat Character


  A character who seems to have only a few personality traits
• Types of Irony

  • Verbal Irony: a word or phrase used to suggest the opposite of its actual meaning
  • Dramatic Irony: When there is a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the readers know is true
  • Situational Irony: When an event directly contradicts expectations of the reader or of the characters
• Diction


  Word choice, including vocabulary used, word appropriateness, and vividness of language
• Denotation


  The dictionary meaning of a word, independent of other associations that the word may have
• Connotation


  The set of ideas associated with a word in addition to the word's actual, explicit meaning
• Mood


  The feeling created IN the reader by a literary work
• Tone


  The attitude toward the subject that an author conveys in a literary work
• Purposes of writing


  • To entertain
  • To inform
  • To persuade the reader
• Dialogue


  A conversation between characters, often used to reveal things about a character's thoughts, motivations, and personality to the reader, and to advance the action of the plot
• Symbol


  Something that has a literal meaning, but also stands for or represents an abstract idea
• Foreshadowing


  Clues in a literary work that suggest events that have yet to occur
• Narrator


  The person from whose perspective a story is told
• Perspective


  One's view from a particular position; how a situation is seen or perceived
• Types of Point of View

  • First-Person-Point-of-View: When the narrator telling the story is one of the characters, and tells the story as a personal account
  • Third-Person-Point-of-View: When the narrator telling the story is NOT one of the characters (has no name, and does not participate in any of the action of the plot)
  • Third-Limited-Point-of-View: When the narrator sees the world through one character's eyes and reveals only that character's thoughts
  • Third-Omniscient-Point-of-View: When the narrator sees into the minds of all the characters
• Plot


  The sequence of events that make up a story, usually centering around a main conflict
• Types of Narrative Order

  • Chronological – the most common type of narrative order
  • Flashback – occurs when the author narrates an event that took place before the current time of the story
  • Time lapse – occurs when the story skips a period of time that seems unusual compared to the rest of the plot
• Exposition


  The first stage of plot, where the scene is set, characters are introduced, and background information is provided
• Rising Action


  The second stage of plot, where the conflict is introduced and the events leading up to the Climax occur
• Climax


  The highest point of conflict in the story, where something must change
• Falling Action


  The series of events that result because of the conflict, as the conflict lessens and the plot moves towards closure
• Resolution/Denouement


  The final stage of plot, where the conflict concludes and loose ends are tied up
• • Visual Imagery – see
• Gustatory imagery - taste
• Olfactory imagery - smell
• Auditory imagery - hear
• • Cliff-hanger: An abrupt ending that leaves the plot incomplete, without denouement
• resolution/Denouement: The resolution of all conflicts in a play or novel; the final outcome.
• Exposition: Information presented early in a work of fiction about characters, setting, etc., which is necessary for understanding what follows.
• • Twist Ending: An unexpected finale that gives an entirely new vision on the entire plot
• • Happy Ending: A finale when everything ends in the best way for the hero
• • Poetic Justice: A type of a happy ending where the virtue is rewarded and the vice is punished
• Deus ex machina: A plot device where the conflict is resolved through a means (by God) that seem unrelated to the story