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Creative Writing
English 189 vocabulary terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Backstory | the past experiences that have shaped a character and made him/her who s/he is today. Includes childhood, life crises, etc. Limit to only information necessary to the story at hand |
| Conflict | the clash between a character's desires and the forces that oppose those desires, either another character's desires or an abstract entity. Every story should have a principal one - a big goal that the character wants to reach and a major hurdle |
| Denouement | often (but not always) everything that follows the climax; it is what brings the conflict to stasis. Also known as the resolution |
| Directed Voice | a narrative voice aimed at an explicit audience, usually (not always) addressed as "you" in the story itself |
| Exposition | lengthy description of events and/or background information; a lot of telling what happened rather than showing it |
| Figuration | use of metaphors and similes |
| Flashback | a visit to an earlier moment to fill in necessary information. Often a brief snippet of a scene |
| Frame Story | a portion of a narrative separated from the main story in time and/or place. It usually appears at the beginning and end of the main narrative and adds meaning to the principal story. Best used sparingly |
| Free Indirect Discourse | a representation of someone's thoughts as told through a third-person narrator, thoughts not directly quoted, but reported using the character's typical vocab and voice. Uses the tense of the main narrative |
| Narrative | a story, including a beginning, middle, and end - a plot that moves through time |
| Narrative Voice | the persona and style in which a story is told, usually in first or second person, includes third person omniscient and third person limited |
| Third Person Omniscient | a voice whose narrator knows everything that's going on, including the thoughts of characters |
| Third Person Limited | often a character involved in the story; someone who doesn't know everything about the character and events |
| Plot | a complete story arc, including a conflict, series of crises, a climax, and a denouement |
| Point of View | the eyes through which the story is told |
| Premise | analogous to a thesis in argumentative writing. A general theme or statement about life and/or humanity that you want to make through this one particular story. Sums up conflict and resolution. Shouldn't come right out and state in the piece itself |
| Resolution | often (but not always) everything that follows the climax; it is what brings the conflict to stasis. Also known as denouement |
| Scene | a plot movement with its own complete miniature story arc, including a character trying to fulfill a desire, encountering an obstacle, facing a climax, and experiencing a resolution |
| Story arc | a complete plot, including a conflict, series of crises, a climax, and a denouement |
Created by:
kate.carlson
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