1. LITERARY TERMS & DEVICES
HOW TO SHOW NOT TELL

2. Setting
The Setting CAN Include; geographic location, the historical time period, season of the year, specific place, weather, culture/people

3. Imagery
Language that appeals to the five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch.

4. Indirect Characterization
the writer reveals/SHOWS information about a character and his personality through the character's thoughts, words, and actions, along with how other characters respond to that character, including what they think and say about him.
***Remember:
STEAL
S~ Speech
T~ Thoughts
E~ Effect on other characters
A~ Actions
L~ Looks

5. Direct Characterization
The writer makes direct statements about a character's personality and TELLS what the character is like.

6. Theme
The meaning, moral, or main message the writer wishes to share with the reader.
Theme is NEVER just one word.
“Love” isn’t a theme / “Love endures all things” is a theme

7. Protagonist Antagonist
the main character in a story, play, or a novel that is involved in the main conflict, the “good guy.”
Antagonist
the character who opposes the protagonist in the main conflict of the story, the “bad guy.”

8. Characters who change very little in a story.
Dynamic Character
Characters who change significantly in the story; usually main characters
Static Character
Characters who change very little in a story.

9. Climax
Rising Action
Falling Action
Resolution
Exposition

10. 1. Exposition
This usually occurs at the beginning of a short story. The exposition introduces the main characters and setting; it establishes the main conflict and provides background information.

11. 2. Rising Action
This part of the story is a series of events that build to the conflict. It begins with the exciting force and ends with the climax.

12. 3. Climax
This is the turning point of the story. It is the most exciting or intense part of the plot.

13. 4. Falling Action
the events after the climax which close the story.

14. 5. Resolution
the final stage of the plot; the loose ends are tied up and the story ends.

15. Conflict: the struggle between opposing forces.
Person vs Person
Internal Conflict: a struggle that goes on within the character's mind.
Person vs Self
Person vs Society
External Conflict: a character’s struggle against another character or an outside force.
Person vs Environment

16. Point of View
1st person PoV: the story is told by the narrator from his/her point of view. It is easily identified by the use of "I" or "Me".
2nd person PoV: addresses the reader. The second person uses the pronouns “you,” “your,” and “yours.”
3rd person PoV: the narrator does not participate in the events of the story and tells the story by referring to all characters and places in the third person with pronouns (he, she, they).
~Limited: only one character’s thoughts/feelings revealed.
~Omniscient: ALL characters’ thoughts and feelings revealed.

17. Tone
the author’s attitude toward his or her subject. Examples include amused, eerie, or angry.

18. Allusion
is a brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or fictitious, or to a work of art.
ex. I am not the type to say, “To infinity and beyond.” Rather, I am an awkward dinosaur or a three-eyed alien.

19. Figurative Language
Simile: a comparison that uses the words like, as, or than.
Metaphor~ a direct comparison with no signal words.
Personification~ when a writer describes an animal or object as if it had human qualities.
Hyperbole~ an extreme exaggeration.

20. Figurative Language Continued
-Idiom~ an expression that has a meaning different from the meaning of its individual words.
EXAMPLE: It’s raining cats and dogs!
EXAMPLE: Don’t jump the gun!
EXAMPLE: You’re barking up the wrong tree!
-Alliteration~ the repetition of a sound or letter at the beginning of a word.
EXAMPLE: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary….while I nodded, nearly napping…