Unit 3: Short Fiction

En Medias Res

Latin for "in the middle of things" When an epic or narrative starts the tale begins in the middle of the action, necessitating filling in past details by exposition or flashback.

Form

The structure, shape, pattern, organization, or style of a piece of literature. Contrasts with content=subject or topic of a work

Theme

A central ideas in literary work which gives the work unity: subject + author's ideas about it = ______. The general truth behind the story of a particular situation. Not to confused with subject, but the general idea of a work, a perception about life or human nature and is worded in a complete sentence. A "light" work might not have a theme.

Dynamic character

A character who is different at the end of the book than at the beginning. The character matured and usually learned harsh lessons along the way.

Stereotype

A characterization based on conscious or unconscious assumptions that one aspect (such as gender, age, religion, race) determines what humans are like and accompanied by certain traits, actions and value. Sometimes an author creates a character that represents all of us: everyman

Unreliable Narrator

A speaker or voice whose vision of version of the details of a story are consciously or consciously deceiving: may not know all the relevant info, may be intoxicated or mentally ill, a child or naive, may lie to an audience, such a narrator's version is usually subtly undermined by details in the story or the reader's general knowledge of facts outside the story

Style

A writers uniquely individual way of expressing him or the particular way in which the literature is written. Not what is said but how it is said. Elements contribute: word choice, arrangement, tone, etc

Omniscient point view

AKA Unlimited POV. Narrator is all knowing, seeing into the minds and internal states of more than character. Gives writers greater flexibility and provides the reader with access to all the characters' motivations and responses to events that may be occurring simultaneously

Climax

AKA turning point. High point of interest or suspense, usually occurring near the crisis or turning point in the plot, the point at which the protagonist changes their understanding of the solution to the conflict. May coincide with the resolution

Resolution

Central conflict is resolved and made known, the consequences for the protagonist are decided; the tying up of loose ends

Static character

Character who does no change and is the same sort of person at the end as they were at the beginning

Falling action

Everything that happens in plot between the climax or crisis and the denouement. During this time, the conflict is resolved and the suspense decreases

Reliable Narrator

Everything this narrator says is true and narrator knows everything necessary to the story

Expostition

Introductory material which lays the groundwork for the plot, sets the tone, gives the setting, introduces the characters, establishes the situation, and supplies necessary background facts; may stretch out or may be tucked in unobtrusively as people talk to each other or inside the narrator's description. Usually in the opening, but can be later

Chiasmus

Inverted parallelism; the reversal of order of corresponding words or phrases (with or without exact repetition) in successive clauses which are usually parallel in syntax Ex: Pleasures a sin and sometimes sin's a pleasure

Persona

Mask worn by an actor in Greek drama. In literary context, the persona is the character of the 1st person narrator in verse or prose narratives and the speaker in lyric poetry. Term stresses that the speaker is part of the fictional creation, invented for the author's particular purposes in a given literary work, who may or may not share the values of the author.

Stream of consciousness

Narrative technique which presents thoughts as if they were coming directly from a character's mind; instead of being organized and arranged in chronological order, events are presented from the character's POV, mixed in with character's ongoing feelings and memories

Objective point of view

Narrator does not reveal characters thoughts unless they speak them aloud. POV may wander like a camera from one character to another and close in or move back but cannot get inside anyone's head and does not present form the inside any character's thoughts. Can be called third person dramatic

Stock character

One whose nature is familiar from prototypes in previous fiction: the absent-minded professor, the busybody, the merciless villain, the dumb blond, the mad scientist, often stereotypes

limited point of view

Perspective pinned to a single character (whether a 1st person or 3rd person centered consciousness so the readers learns only what that character thinks, feels, observes and experiences and cannot know for sure what is going on in the minds of other characters; thus, when the focal character leaves the room in a story we must go, too, and cannot know what is going on while our "eyes" or "camera" is gone.

Conflict

Problem, usually introduced at the beginning of the narrative, often between a protagonist who is opposed by antagonist

Characterization

Techniques writers use to reveal personality, life history, value and physical attributes of a fictional character in a literary work to they seem believable Techniques=direct analysis, character behavior, thoughts, actions, responses ect

Setting

The place(s) and time(s) of a narrative, including the historical period, geographical location, and indoor and outdoor descriptions. Plays an important role in what happens and why. When analyzing, it is insufficient to merely identify the time and place; and analysis of setting requires a discussion of its overall contribution to characterization, plot, theme and atmosphere

Rising action

The protagonist begins to grapple with the story's main conflict and where complications usually arise, causing difficulties for the main characters, making the conflict more difficult to resolve, and building suspense toward the crisis or climax

Motivation

The reasons, either stated or implied, for a character's behavior. To make the story believable, a writer must provide characters with motivation that explains what they do. They might be motivated by outside events or inner needs or fears.

Structure

The way in which the parts of a literary work are put together. Paragraphs are a basic unit in prose as are chapters in novels, acts and scenes in plays and stanzas and lines in poems. A prose selection can be structured by idea or incident like most essays, short stories, narrative poems, and one act plays. ___involves: Arrangement of words and lines, sound, and emphasizing certain important aspects of content

Flat Character

a fictional, not always minor character with only one outstanding trait or feature, or at the most few distinguishing marks, who is not fully devolped by an author; often stereotypes who can be summed up into a few words: and "anxious miser" or a "strong, silent type"; usually static

Round character

a fully developed, usually dynamic, character; character who is complex, mulipdimensional, and convincing

Archetype

an image, descriptive detail, plot pattern or character type that occurs frequently in literature, myth, religion or folklore and is, therefore, believed to evoke profound emotions because it awakens a primordial image image in the unconscious memory

Antithesis

the juxtaposition of sharply contrasting or paradoxical ideas in a balanced or parallel words, phrases, or grammatical structure