Glossary
Glossary of Terms Listed in Alphabetical Order
active character fallacy – The assumption that if a character has interesting desires that they want to pursue, then a story will form around that character naturally. This is only true so long as the author has provided a means by which the character can pursue his goal. See also: motivation.
antagonist – A character working counter to the protagonist’s goals. See also: goals, protagonist.
anticipation – The third part of a sequel, where a character considers the possible consequences of the action she is preparing to take. See also: sequel.
dialogue – Parts of the story written in the character’s voice.
emotional reaction – The first part of the sequel, where a character reacts emotionally to the outcome of the previous scene. See also: sequel.
external pressure – Pressure from outside of a character which forces her to act. See also: pressure, goals.
first person – A story is said to be in the first person when it is told from the point of view of a character in the story itself. See also: point of view.
genre – The specific rules or features which a type of work generally abide by. For example, works in the fantasy genre generally include magic of some kind.
goals – The ideal result that a character is pursing through their actions. See also: motivation.
internal pressure – Pressure which comes from a characters own desires and goals. See also: pressure, goals.
Literature – A work of literature which is notable, particularly in the eyes of academics.
magical realism – The use of magical, or fantastic story elements in a setting which is otherwise ordinary or realistic situations.
mainstream literature – Works written in accordance with how the real world behaves, focusing on characters who could exist in the real world.
motivation – The drive a character has to pursue her goal. See also: pressure, goal.
narrator – The voice which is actually telling the story.
omniscient narrator - A third person narrator who knows everything they possibly could about the story, characters, and setting, as though God were telling the story himself. See also: narrator, third person.
pace – How fast the story feels to be progressing for the reader.
plot – Story structure which connects events in ways other than temporally. See also: timeline.
point of view – The perspective from which the story is told. See also: first person, second person, third person.
pressure – The internal or external force which is motivating a character to pursue his goals. See also: motivation, goals, internal pressure, external pressure.
protagonist – A main character of the story whose goals the reader sympathizes with. See also: goals.
rational reaction – The second part of a sequel, where a character reacts logically to the outcome of the previous scene, and begins to plan to actions that she will take in the next scene. See also: sequel.
second person – A story is said to be in the second person when it is told from the perspective of the reader. See also: point of view.
scene – Parts of the story where a character pursues his goals that were established in the previous sequel. See also: sequel.
sequel – The transition between two scenes, where a character reacts to the previous scene, and develops a goal to pursue in the next scene. See also: anticipation, emotional reaction, rational reaction, scene.
setting - The time and place that a story takes place in.
suspense – When questions are asked within a story which the author does not answer immediately.
dialogue tags – Sentences which precede or follow dialogue which identify the speaker, and other information which is relevant to the dialogue. See also: dialogue.
third person – A story is said to be in the third person when it is told from the perspective of a narrator independent from the reader and the characters in the story. See also: point of view.
timeline – The literal sequence of events in a story, connected by the passage of time. See also: plot.
Tolkien Syndrome – When an author uses too many details in a setting, which slows the pace of the story. See also: pace.
two sentence story – A story summary which takes the following format: [When something happens],[the protagonist(s)][pursues the overarching goal of the plot]. But will he/she/they succeed when [the antagonist(s)][pursues a goal contrary to the protagonist’s goal]?
