Creative Writing Literary Terms

Ends in catastrophe, usually death, for the main characters (and others).

Creation of a fictional character using physical appearance, dialogue, behaviors, and choices.

"I"-The narrator is a character in the story, and they refer to him or herself.

Evokes feelings in readers through words and descriptions; it creates an emotional situation.

story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for abstract ideas or qualities.

The logical sequence of events that develop a story.

The type of story or writing

An educated guess based on facts presented in the text and life experience.

Incidents of suspense and interest: decisions, characters' flaws, background that create twists

An apparent contradiction that is actually true.

An old imaginative pattern that appears across cultures and is repeated through ages

Set in south, reveals darkness of society through irony, outsiders, and fear of institutions.

Anecdotes that travel by word of mouth which seem believable

Literary movement that claimed to portray life exactly as is with detachment and objectivity.

An incongruity between expectations for a situation and what actually happens.

The perspective from which a work is written

The problem of the story is resolved or worked out to tie up the loose ends.

Hints of what's to come.

Most intense point in the development of a decisive moment, a major turning point.

The intense feeling an audience goes through while waiting for the outcome of certain events.

Author's word choice, sentence structure, figurative language to establish meaning in the text.

Combines incredible events with realistic details and relates them all in a matter-of-fact tone

"We"-The narrator is a group of people like a small town.

A character struggles with a force of nature, another character, or a whole society

A person who actively opposes or is hostile to the main character; an adversary.

The central message or idea in a story stated in a complete sentence.

"(S)he"-The narrator is looking in on the person or people being talked about.

This term can be referred as perspective or tone of the writer like serious or humorous.

A character struggles with conscience

Introduce information about events, settings, characters etc. to the audience or readers.

Occurs when someone says one thing but means something else.

The leading character, hero or heroine

A weakness or error in judgment in the main character.

A scene that interrupts the present action to tell what happened at an earlier time.

Left unfinished and the ultimate outcome of the characters' story arcs is unknown

Occurs when the readers know more than a character does.

A reference to a historical, cultural, literary, or political person, place, thing or idea

Wraps up the narrative, and leads toward the closure.

A story of a people explaining some natural or social phenomenon, involving supernatural beings

An object that represents an abstract idea.

Brief, wise sayings

Use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose people's stupidity

"You"-The narrator directly addresses the reader in the written work.

The narrator is outside of the story from the vantage point of only one character.

Where characters of a narrative talk to one another.

Time and place in which a story takes place.

Conveys the inner--and sometimes chaotic--workings of a character's mind.

An issue in a narrative around which the whole story revolves.

Takes place when what is expected is different from what happens.