Plot has to do with the "way in which a story's events are arranged" and not merely with "what happens" (Kirszner and Mandell (64)

Conflict - conflict is what drives the plot, the tension between the main character(s) and themselves, other characters, their society/culture, and/or their situation.

Scene - a scene is the structural unit of the plot. A scene is a span of narration focused on a single event, situation, or character.

Structure - plot typically proceeds from exposition (setting, characters, conflict) through crisis (situation highlighting conflict), to climax (ultimate response to conflict), to resolution (outcome).

Narrative time - the sequencing of story events in relation to linear ("real") time

in media res - beginning in the middle of the action

flashback- in a flashback, action that occurred chronologically earlier is inserted into the story-flashbacks usually provide a perspective on the "present" (the moment when the flashback occurred) by giving background information or by advancing the reader's understanding of the character or conflict

foreshadowing - in foreshadowing, a action that will occur later in the story is hinted at, usually to increase the tension of the coming conflict or as a type of irony

Character

Character is the illusion of personality as it is revealed through actions and attitudes developed within the story through description, scene (actions), dialogue, exposition (comments by the narrator), and narrated thoughts (internal dialogue, stream of consciousness, point of view).

Round vs. flat - round characters are "well developed, closely involved in, and responsive to the action" while flat characters are "barely developed or stereotypical" (Kirszner and Mandell 93) -relates to complexity of psychological makeup.

Foil - highlights quality in a major character by demonstrating the opposite quality

Stock characters - traditional roles - the youth, the drunk, the wise old man

Caricatures - characters with a single dominating and exaggerated trait

Dynamic vs. static - dynamic characters change as a consequence of their interaction with the conflict or other characters; static characters do not change

Motivation - what compels a character to act

Setting

Setting is the physical, geographical, historical, cultural, and/or temporal location(s) in which a story takes place. Setting tends to influence the interpretation of actions and events, and can establish a mood or feeling about the characters or action. Sometimes the setting is so important to the conflict or drama of the story that the setting almost takes on the qualities of a character within the story.

Point of view

There are two aspects of point of view: Who sees? (focalizer) and Who speaks? (narrator). A story may be told by a character at a certain stage in his/her life (narrator) but be told using vocabulary or a style of writing only appropriate to another (later) stage of life (focalizer).

First person - narrator tells story from his/her point of view (as a character in story)

irony - discrepancy between what narrator says and what reader perceives

dramatic - narrator perceives less than reader

situational - what happens is different from what reader expects

verbal - narrator says one thing, means another

unreliable narrators - "intentionally or unintentionally . . . misrepresent events or misdirect readers" (Kirszner and Mandell 175-6)

Third person - narrator is not a character in the story

omniscient - see all minds, all characters, all actions

Limited omniscient - see only through one character's mind or experiences

objective - see no minds, but all characters, all actions

Literary Conventions

Literary conventions refer to those features and qualities of texts that are common to literary works (as opposed to non-fictional writings such as essay or biography-although these works sometimes also take advantage of the conventions of literature). These include figurative and symbolic language (expressions which exceed their apparent literal meaning or express more than one level of meaning), archetypal language (language which evokes a subconscious but universal response), imagery (language that by its vividness recreates a sensory experience), elements of style (formality, complexity, and intensity of language and the writer's unique expression), tone (the atmosphere or mood expressed by the writing), and theme (the central or dominant idea expressed by a piece of writing).

Sources

Genette, Gerard. Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method. Trans. Jane E. Lewin. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1980.

Kirszner, Lauree G. and Stephen R. Mandell. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 2^nd ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1994.

Minot, Stephen. Three Genres: The Writing of Poetry, Fiction, and Drama. 4^th ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1988.

Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. London: Methuen, 1983.