Short Story Literary Terms

When is the suspense evoked?

Conveyed message or lesson learned.

The conflict is centralized around the _________.

Narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of one character.

A character who serves to highlight one or more attributes of another character.

The events that make up a story or the main part of a story.

Psychological struggle within the inner self.

Narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story.

Language used by the people of a specific area, class, district or any other group of people.

Intended goal of the author.

The time and place of a story.

A character or a group of characters which stand in opposition to the main character.

Any person, animal, or figure represented in a literary work.

A plot twist occurring near or at the conclusion of a story.

Set in the past, sometimes borrowing true characteristics of the time period.

Feelings or emotions evoked by the atmosphere.

Actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended.

An object, person, or situation has another meaning other than its literal meaning.

A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of significance.

Introduction of the setting, characters, conflict, and background information.

Substantial difference between readers' awareness of a character and reality of the situation.

Perspective showing us the opinion, or feelings of the individuals involved in a situation.

When the conflict begins to resolve.

Few characters aim at unity of effect, often concentrating on mood rather than plot.

The story is narrated by one character at a time.

Struggle caused by an outside force.

When a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story.

When the resolution of the final plot is revealed.

Highlight and explanation about the details of a character in a story.

Central topic of a story.

A two-dimensional character; uncomplicated and do not change throughout the course of a work.

Language and description that appeals to our five senses.

A character who undergoes an important inner change.

Something invented by the imagination or feigned.

Portrayal of a difference in the intended meaning and the actual meaning of the words.

Intense feeling that an audience goes through while waiting for the outcome of certain events.

What is the essential or main problem?

When the conflict is resolved.

An attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience.

A conversation between two or more characters.

The most intense point in the development of the plot.

A complex character who undergoes development, usually to the surprise of the reader.

An interruption of the chronological sequence of an event of earlier occurrence.

A character who undergoes little or no change.

A category of literary composition.

Uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning.

A person who tells a story.