Short Story Terms
Narrator does not enter the minds of any character but describes the event from the outside.
Objective Point of View
Minor character watching a story, which is mainly about someone else, unfold
Observer
Fixed character.
Static
New conflict.
Complication
Narrator sees into the minds of all (or some).
All-Knowing or Omniscient
A reference to some famous person, place, or thing in history, either from other fiction or reality.
Allusion
Opposite of the protagonist, aka the "bad guy".
Antagonist
A protagonist conspicuously lacking in one or more of the usual attributes of a traditional hero.
Antihero
"Untying of the knot".
Conclusion
An imagined person who inhabits a story.
Character
Moment of greatest tension in which the outcome is decided.
Climax
Moment of high tension.
Crisis
Choice of words.
Diction
When the speaker, unlike the reader, does not realize the ironic dimensions of his or her words.
Dramatic Irony
When a person is involved in some conflict.
Dramatic Situation
A changing character.
Dynamic
Some moment of insight, discovery, or revelation.
Epiphany
Opening portion that sets the scene, introduces the main characters, tells us what happened before the story opened, and any other background information.
Exposition
Stories that are not entirely factual; at least partially shaped, made up, or imagined.
Fiction
Scene relived in a character's memory.
Flashback
One outstanding trait or feature of a character.
Flat
Indication of events to come.
Foreshadowing
A sharp distinction between the narrator of the story and the author-- irony is likely to occur.
Ironic POV
When expected meaning and intended meaning are different.
Irony
One from whose perspective the story is told.
Narrator
Says "I".
Participant.
Artistic arrangement of events in the story.
Plot
Identifies the narrator, what part he/she plays, and the limits on his/her knowledge.
Point of View
Principal person who strives.
Protagonist
Author(s) portray character in greater depth and in more generous detail.
Round
Time and place.
Setting
Individual traits or characteristics of a piece of writing.
Style
Terse, general narration.
Summary
Pleasurable anxiety we feel that heightens our attention to the story.
Suspense
A thing that suggests more than its literal meaning.
Symbol
A gesture with larger significance than usual.
Symbolic Act
General idea or insight the entire story reveals.
Theme
Whatever leads us to infer the author's attitude/the author's feeling.
Tone
The point of view of a person who we perceive as deceptive, self-deceptive, deluded, or deranged.
Unreliable Narrator
Understand the speaker's meaning to be far from the usual meaning of the words.
Verbal Irony
