Articles Index

Narrative Arc - What is Narrative Arc in Literature?

Sometime simply called "arc" or "story arc," narrative arc refers to the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. Typically, a narrative arc looks something like a pyramid, made up of the following components: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Dramatic Irony

Dramatic irony is when the words and actions of the characters of a work of literature have a different meaning for the reader than they do for the characters. This is the result of the reader having a greater knowledge than the characters themselves.

Farce

Farce is literature that combines exaggeration with an improbable plot and stereotyped characters to achieve humor.

Deus Ex Machina

Literally "god in the machine" (or "ghost in the machine" as The Police put it), deus ex machina is a literary device in which divine intervention is employed to get the protagonist out of a sticky situation or untangle an ugly plotline.

Stream of Conciousness

Stream of consciousness is a narrative technique in which the the writer renders a flow of associated thoughts and feelings giving the impression of one's consciousness as it streams through ideas visual, auditory, and physical.

Dramatic Monologue

A speech or soliloquey by a character to an imaginary audience, in which the reader gains insight into the character's personality or history.

Didactic

Pertaining to literature intended to instruct or convey a moral lesson. Didactic is often used pejoratively to refer to literature that is dully erudite in nature.

Figure of Speech

A figure of speech is an expression that uses a creative comparison of some sort in order to convey special meaning. Some figures of speech include hyperbole, metaphor, personification, and simile.

Flashback

A flashback is the returning to an earlier moment in literary time, usually through a character's reminiscing.

Foil

A foil is a character who serves as a contrast to another perhaps more primary character, so as to point out specific traits of the primary character.

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is the presentation in a work of literature of hints and clues that tip the reader off as to what is to come later in the work.

Genre

A category or type of literature based on its content and style is called a genre. Some genres include mystery, science fiction, fantasy, horror, historical fiction, and short story.

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is intentional exaggeration used as a figure of speech for comedy or emphasis.

Imagery

Imagery is an author's use of descriptive and figurative language to create a picture in the reader's mind's eye.

Metaphor

Metaphor is a figure of speech in which two unlike things or ideas are compared directly, without the use of the word "like" or "as."

Mood

Mood is the feeling that a work of literature evokes.

Motif

A recurring theme or dominant idea in a work of literature.

Myth

Myth is a traditional story that explains or illustrates the history of people or a phenomenon of nature. Oftentimes, myths tell of the deeds of supernatural beings and are set in a time prior to recorded history.

Narrator

The person telling the story, who determines the story's point of view. In a first-person narrative, the narrator is a participant in the story. A story told by a narrator who is not one of the story's participants is called third-person narrative. Far more rare, is the second-person narrative in which the narrator addresses the protagonist directly as "you."

Naturalism

Naturalism is a theory in literature which emphasizes the role of environment upon human characters. It is an extreme form of realism which arose in the early 20th century. Rather than focusing on the internal qualities of their characters, authors called out the effects of heredity and environment, outside forces, on humanity. In American Literature, Jack London is an example of a naturalist writer depicting man's struggle for survival in his environment.

Novel

A novel is a fictional story of some length and complexity that relates a series of events (plot) revealed by speech (dialogue), action, and characters. As a literary genre, it embodies a wide range of subgenres and styles.

Oxymoron

An oxymoron is a phrase comprised of seemingly contradictory terms: "bittersweet," "jumbo shrimp," and "act naturally" are a few examples.

Paradox

A seemingly self-contradictory statement that seems to be contrary to common sense but under scrutiny provokes a fresh thought.

Parody

Parody is a literary form in which the style of an author or particular work is mocked in its style for the sake of comic effect.

Plot

The sequence of events told in a story, plot is also known as narrative structure. There are usually considered to be five elements in a plot line: exposition or background information, rising action (that which complicates the story), climax or crisis, falling action, and resolution.