Short Story Terms
Short story terms for Mrs. Murphy's English 1 Honors class.
Terms
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copy deck
- tactile imagery
- imagery that appeals to touch
- framework story
- a story within a story
- resolution
- a statement of the outcome of the conflict
- suprise ending
- a second climax and turning point
- initial incident
- first meeting of the two opposing forces in the conflict
- first person narrative
- narrative voice where the narrator is a character in the story
- falling action
- action from the turning point to the end of the story
- static character
- character that doesn't change from beginning to end of the story
- climax
- the point of highest emotional interest for the reader
- objective NV
- third person narrative voice that knows no one's thoughts
- limited omniscient NV
- third person narrative voice that can tell one or two people's thoughts
- visual imagery
- imagery that appeals to sight
- motive
- a reason to do something
- symbol
- an item that functions on the literal level but comes to mean something beyond itself through repetition and associations
- imagery
- sensory language
- tone
- the the writer's attitude toward the subject matter
- irony
- the difference between appearance and reality
- gustatory imagery
- imagery that appeals to taste
- flashback
- a story that begins in one time frame and reverts to a previous time frame
- satirist
- one who points out the flaws of something in hopes or improving them
- third person narrative
- narrative voice where the narrator is someone outside of the story
- protagonist
- the main character; usually the character you hope wins
- exposition
- neccessary background information
- conflict
- the struggle between two opposing forces: protagonist vs. antagonist
- omniscient NV
- third person narrative voice that tells everyone's thoughts
- situation irony
- the unexpected occurs
- character
- a created being
- simile
- a comparison using like or as
- literal
- has one meaning; it is what it is
- verbal irony
- saying one thing but meaning another
- personification
- giving human or lifelike qualities to animals or inanimate objects
- sentence structure
- the pace of sentences and the way they're written
- complication
- secondary conflict
- analysis
- taking something apart to see how it works
- setting
- the time and place
- novel
- a long fictional prose narrative with complex elements
- auditory imagery
- imagery that appeals to hearing
- short story
- a relatively brief fictional prose narrative with condensed elements
- narrative voice
- the voice that tells the story
- dramatic irony
- the reader/audience knows something the character does not; creates suspense
- turning point
- the point in the story when the reader knows who wins in the conflict
- mood
- the reader's emotional response to the setting
- olfactory imagery
- imagery that appeals to smell
- antagonist
- the force opposing the protagonist
- dynamic character
- a character that changes through the course of the story because of involvement in the conflict
- rising action
- meetings of the opposing forces from the initial incident to the turning point
- style
- the intentional way a writer uses language
- round character
- well-developed, many-sided character; one you know a lot about
- plot
- sequence of events
- diction
- word choice
- theme
- a universal statement of truth about life or human nature expressed thgough the actions of the story
- figurative
- has more than one meaning
- metaphor
- a comparison between two unlike things saying one is the other
- flat character
- a one-sided character you don't know much about