Reading: Literature - Fiction - Middle School

Here's a novel idea: Get book smart by learning this list of terms related to reading fiction. Review all the major features of fictional texts, including setting, plot, and theme, as well literary devices like irony, suspense, and foreshadowing.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. allusion
    passing reference or indirect mention
  2. character
    an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction
  3. characterization
    a vivid verbal description
  4. characterize
    describe or portray the qualities or peculiarities of
  5. climax
    the decisive moment in a novel or play
  6. complication
    a development that makes a situation more challenging
  7. conflict
    opposition in a work of fiction between characters or forces
  8. dialogue
    the lines spoken by characters in drama or fiction
  9. diction
    the manner in which something is expressed in words
  10. epilogue
    a short section at the end of a literary work
  11. exposition
    an account that sets forth the intent of a story
  12. fable
    a short moral story
  13. fantasy
    fiction with a large amount of imagination in it
  14. flashback
    a transition in a story to an earlier event or scene
  15. foreshadow
    indicate by signs
  16. foreshadowing
    the act of providing vague advance indications
  17. irony
    incongruity between what is expected and what occurs
  18. mood
    the prevailing psychological state
  19. motif
    a recurrent element in a literary or artistic work
  20. motivation
    psychological feature arousing action toward a desired goal
  21. mystery
    a story about a crime presented as a novel or play or movie
  22. narration
    a telling of a story in writing, drama, or cinema
  23. narrator
    someone who tells a story
  24. novel
    an extended fictional work in prose
  25. novella
    a short novel
  26. omniscient
    knowing, seeing, or understanding everything
  27. perspective
    a way of regarding situations or topics
  28. plot
    the story that is told, as in a novel, play, movie, etc.
  29. point of view
    a mental position from which things are perceived
  30. protagonist
    the principal character in a work of fiction
  31. science fiction
    genre involving the imagined impact of technology on society
  32. setting
    the context and environment in which something is situated
  33. short story
    a brief but fully developed prose narrative
  34. suspense
    excited anticipation of an approaching climax
  35. symbol
    something visible that represents something invisible
  36. symbolism
    the practice of investing things with arbitrary meaning
  37. tall tale
    an improbable (unusual or incredible or fanciful) story
  38. theme
    a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in literary work
  39. tone
    a quality that reveals the attitudes of the author
Created on Wed Jan 18 12:55:55 EST 2017 (updated Wed Mar 29 15:33:58 EDT 2017)

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