1. Vocabulary Word Review
Elements of Fiction
Vocabulary Word Review

2. characters
actors in the plot

3. Setting:
Where and when the story takes place

4. Plot:
the action of the story, the events

5. Conflict:
The struggle between opposing forces; man vs. man, himself, nature, society, or God

6. Climax:
The turning point in the plot; a moment where the tension is at its peak

7. Denouement:
The untangling of the conflict; the resolution

8. Epiphany:
moment of truth

9. Round Characters:
Developed completely and we have a complete picture of the character described

10. Flat Character:
Underdeveloped and the reader knows very little about their personality. We see only one side; a minor character

11. Protagonist:
The central or main character who is the center of most of the action; often the hero

12. Antagonist:
A character representing the force which is opposed to the hero; usually the villain

13. Foil Character
A character designed to a mirror opposite of another character

14. Theme:
the author’s central message or purpose in writing

15. Style:
the characteristic way authors express themselves in language

16. Foreshadowing:
The writer drops hints at the outcome of the plot

17. Image
Mental pictures that writers create by using sensory details

18. Point of View
The manner in which the author narrates the story; who is telling the story and how much they know

19. All Knowing Narrator
Omniscient narrator; like a god looking down from above; this narrator knows everything

20. Limited All-Knowing
only knows about ONE character ONLY

21. observer
Tells the story as if that individual were seeing it on the stage

22. Symbolism:
A character, object, or event which stands for something else and has a deeper or wider meaning

23. Public symbols:
Everybody recognizes this object that stands for something

24. private symbols:
Symbols not easily recognized because it is specific to the story
dust = poverty

25. metaphor:
A comparison of two unlike objects not using the words like or as
Rock Solid

26. Simile A comparison between unlike objects using like or as
as sly as a fox

27. Hyperbole:
Involves extensive exaggeration and is chiefly used for effect (usually humor)
Dave was so conceited that he developed a head as big as a barn.

28. personification:
To give inanimate objects life-like characteristics

29. Irony
Opposite of what expects

30. verbal irony:
The speaker actually means the exact opposite of what is said

31. Situational irony:
The situation or action is opposite of what one would expect

32. Tone:
The attitude the writers have toward the subject matter they have written about (bitter, honest, realistic, ironic, etc.)
M*A*S*H

33. mood
The emotional response of readers toward what they have read