1. Literary Elements

2. Setting
the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem take place

3. Characterization
all of the techniques used by an author to help readers understand the personality of the characters in a story

4. Plot
the sequence of events or actions in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem

5. Exposition
Characters, setting, and sometimes the conflict are all introduced in this part of the plot.
Exposition occurs at the very
beginning of a story.

6. Conflict
Conflict is the struggle between two forces in a story. Without conflict, there is no plot.

7. Types of Conflict External Conflict Internal Conflict
External conflict occurs when a character struggles against some outside force.
Internal Conflict
Internal conflict takes place within the mind of a character.

8. Rising Action
the events in a story that lead up to the climax. The readers keep wondering what will happen next.

9. Suspense
the quality of a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem that makes the reader or audience uncertain or tense about the outcome of events

10. Climax
the moment of highest tension in a story, when events could go one way or another. It is sometimes known as the “turning point” of the story.

11. Falling Action
the events in the plot that follow the climax and lead to the resolution of the problem.

12. Resolution
the way the story turns out, one way or another. The story now feels finished.

13. Plot Diagram Climax Resolution Exposition Falling Action Rising Action
event
event
event
event
Falling Action
Rising Action
event
event
Resolution
Exposition

14. Protagonist
the central character of a drama, novel, short story, or narrative poem

15. Antagonist
the rival of the protagonist; the bad guy

16. Point of View
the perspective from which a story is told. Can be first person (I, me) or third person (he, she, it, they, etc.)

17. Theme
the central message of a literary work, expressed as a sentence or general statement about life or human nature.

18. Foreshadowing
the use of hints or clues in a story to suggest future action

19. Flashback
a scene that interrupts the action of a story to show a previous event

20. Mood
Mood is the over-all atmosphere or feeling in a work of literature. The mood of a story or a poem might be sad, serious, lighthearted, solemn, or any one of a number of adjectives that describe feelings.

21. Authors create mood in various ways:
Choice of setting
Descriptive details
Word choice
Characters’ actions, words, and emotions

22. Tone
Tone is the writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject, character, or audience, and it is shown through the author’s choice of words and detail.

23. An author’s tone can be serious, condescending, humorous, sarcastic, angry, sympathetic, apologetic, sad, etc.

24. Irony Irony = a contrast between what happens and what is expected,
between what is said and what is
meant, between what a
character knows and what the
reader knows (situation, climactic,
verbal, dramatic)