1. Archetype (noun) Archetypal examples
Definition: A character, symbol (motif), story pattern, or other element common to human experience across cultures; occurs more in literature, myth, and folklore
Characters:
Symbols:
Story Patterns:
Archetype (noun) Archetypal examples

2. Imagery (noun) Example
Definition: Descriptive or figurative language used to create pictures in the reader’s mind.
Imagery sparks the imagination.
Appeals to the reader’s 5 senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell)
I could hear the popping and crackling as mom dropped the bacon into the frying pan, and soon the salty, greasy smell wafted toward me.
Imagery (noun) Example

3. Definition: The words that describe a character, setting, event, etc.
Details (noun)
Definition: The circumstances or facts that surround a certain event or situation
Context helps readers understand the time and place (setting), which helps them better understand the characters, etc.
Context (noun)

4. Setting (noun) Definition: The time and place of the story
Example: 1950s, Manhattan, New York City
Setting (noun)

5. Definition: The perspective from which the story is told
1st person POV: The character tells his/her own story (I, me, my…)
3rd person POV: The narrator is not a character in the story (he, she, they…)
Point of View (noun)

6. Conflict (noun) Definition: The struggle between opposing forces
Internal: Man vs. Self (emotions, decisions…)
External: Man vs. Man, Society, or Nature
Conflict (noun)

7. Technique (noun) Definition: A way of carrying out a particular task.
Example: Visual techniques are used to evoke a response from the viewer.
Literary techniques are used to evoke responses from readers.
Technique (noun)

8. Definition: The overall emotion the reader feels as a response to the author’s literary techniques.
Example: L’Engle’s 2-dimensional society creates an uneasy and nervous mood or feeling.
Mood (noun)

9. Definition: The leading or main character in a drama, movie, novel, etc.
Example: Ed and Al are both protagonists in Fullmetal Alchemist.
Protagonist (noun)

10. Definition: The sequence of related events that make up a story.
Example: Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution
Plot (noun)

11. Definition: A narrative technique that refers to the amount of time a writer gives to each event/stage of the plot.
Example: The pacing of this story was too slow so I lost interest.
Pacing (noun)

12. Definition: A long narrative poem about the actions of heroes or gods
Example: The Odyssey is an epic poem
Epic (noun)

13. Definition: to be brief and to the point; expressing a lot in just a few words.
Example: His points were concise and well-connected to his thesis statement.
Concise (adjective)

14. Definition: A writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject
Example: Her short and clipped words revealed an impatient tone in her speech.
Tone
(noun)

15. Diction (noun) Definition: A writer’s or speaker’s choice of words.
Example: Don’t use general or boring diction in your narratives.
Diction (noun)

16. Definition: The direct meaning of a word or expression (dictionary definition)
Example: Even though the denotation of “great” is positive, her sarcastic tone told me she didn’t mean it.
Denotation
(noun)

17. Definition: The implied meaning or emotion behind a word
Example: She called him “skinny”, but he didn’t like the word’s connotation.
Connotation
(noun)

18. Nuance (noun) Definition: The subtle difference in a word’s meaning
Example: There are many nuances of the word “good”, such as _________________
_________________.
Nuance (noun)

19. Definition: A literary device of extending a metaphor through an entire poem or story, so that more than one object, person, or action has a meaning that lies outside of the text itself.
Example: “O Captain! My Captain!” is an allegory in which Lincoln is the Captain and the ship is our post-Civil War country.
Allegory (noun)

20. Formal Style (noun) Informal Style (noun)
Definition: School or academic writing, which shows care and appropriate language
Definition: Writing which can be used in ing, texting, or conversation in a casual context
Formal
Style
(noun)
Informal
Style
(noun)

21. Definition: The clear and orderly presentation of ideas in a paragraph or essay
Internal coherence: Using transitions within a paragraph
External Coherence: Using transitions between paragraphs
Coherence
(noun)

22. Definition: The last sentence of the introduction of an essay; states the writer’s position on the topic; the controlling idea of the essay
Clearly shows the reader what the essay will prove or explain.
All topic sentences point back to the thesis.
Thesis
(noun)