Literary Devices - Definition and Examples of Literary Terms - Website

http://literarydevices.net/

This is an excellent little website for anyone interested in really studying literature.  Highly recommended.

References - Midas - Chapter One

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midas

References - Maecenas - Chapter One

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Maecenas

References - J.P. Morgan (Chapter 1)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Morgan

Elements of Fictions - Terminology and Definitions

Characterization - The methods a writer uses to communicate information about characters to readers

Climax - The moment when the action comes to its highest point of dramatic conflict.

Complication - Any obstacle that increases the tension of the story conflict.

Conflict - The central source of tension and drama in the story

Dialogue - The actual words that characters speak

Dramatic irony - A technique that increases suspense by letting readers know more about the dramatic situation that the characters know

Exposition - Background material about the characters, setting, and dramatic situation with which the author introduces the essentials of the story to the reader

Falling Action - The part of the story, following the climax and leading to the resolution, in which there is a sharp decline in dramatic tension

foreshadowing - A writing technique that gives readers clues about events that will happen later in the story.

Imagery - The use of selected details to describe one thing in terms of another.

Irony - A particular tone created when the speaker intends a meaning that is opposite to the words he or she says

Character development - The ways in which a novelist shows how a character changes as a result of experiencing a sequence of events over an extensive period of time

crisis - a small peak of dramatic tension that functions within a chapter in the way that the more dramatic climax functions in the novel plot as a whole

flashback - a dramatic scene that is presented out of chronological plot sequence

foil  - a character that serves as a contrast to another

genre - Any of a number of traditional forms of the novel that are categorized by a particular treatment of characters, settings, plot, or style

In media res - A latin term meaning "in the midst of things" that describes a plot that starts at a moment of high action in the middle of the story and provides the reader with necessary background information later on

Multiple points of view - A narrative technique in which the novel's storyline is told by more than one character in the plot.

Parallel plotting - The technique of presenting more than one storyline to the reader at the same time

plot - the arrangement of story events that defines a novel's structure

serial plotting - the technique that creates suspense by telling the plot in a series of unresolved chapters with cliffhanger endings.

stream of consciousness - a narrative point of view that presents the actual thoughts going on inside the character's mind

subplot - a secondary storyline involving secondary characters that parallels or contrasts with the main plot involving the central characters

narrator - the speaker who tells the story

point of view - the perspective from which a story is told

protagonist - the central character of the story

resolution - the conclusion of the story

rising action - the part of the story, including exposition, in which the tension rises

setting - the environment in which the story takes place

structure - the framework that determines how a story is put together, its skeleton.

style - the characteristic ways that an individual author uses language

suspense - techniques used by the author to keep readers interested in the story

symbol - an image, object, character, or action that stands for an idea beyond its literal meaning

theme - the story's main ideas, the message that the author intends to communicate by telling the story

tone - the clues in a story that suggest the writer's own attitude toward the elements of his or her story

Types of Characters in Fiction

Types of Characters in Fiction

"What does characterization do for a story? In a nutshell, it allows us to empathize with the protagonist and secondary characters, and thus feel that what is happening to these people in the story is vicariously happening to us; and it also gives us a sense of verisimilitude, or the semblance of living reality. An important part of characterization is dialogue, for it is both spoken and inward dialogue that afford us the opportunity to see into the characters' hearts and examine their motivations. In the best of stories, it is actually characterization that moves the story along, because a compelling character in a difficult situation creates his or her own plot."

Karen Bernardo, Characterization in Literature


In fictional literature, authors use many different types of characters to tell their stories. Different types of characters fulfill different roles in the narrative process, and with a little bit of analysis, you can usually detect some or all of the types below.

• Major or central characters are vital to the development and resolution of the conflict. In other words, the plot and resolution of conflict revolves around these characters.
• Minor characters serve to complement the major characters and help move the plot events forward.
• Dynamic - A dynamic character is a person who changes over time, usually as a result of resolving a central conflict or facing a major crisis. Most dynamic characters tend to be central rather than peripheral characters, because resolving the conflict is the major role of central characters.
• Static - A static character is someone who does not change over time; his or her personality does not transform or evolve.
• Round - A rounded character is anyone who has a complex personality; he or she is often portrayed as a conflicted and contradictory person.
• Flat - A flat character is the opposite of a round character. This literary personality is notable for one kind of personality trait or characteristic.
• Stock - Stock characters are those types of characters who have become conventional or stereotypical through repeated use in particular types of stories. Stock characters are instantly recognizable to readers or audience members (e.g. the femme fatale, the cynical but moral private eye, the mad scientist, the geeky boy with glasses, and the faithful sidekick). Stock characters are normally one-dimensional flat characters, but sometimes stock personalities are deeply conflicted, rounded characters (e.g. the "Hamlet" type).
• Protagonist - The protagonist is the central person in a story, and is often referred to as the story's main character. He or she (or they) is faced with a conflict that must be resolved. The protagonist may not always be admirable (e.g. an anti-hero); nevertheless s/he must command involvement on the part of the reader, or better yet, empathy.
• Antagonist - The antagonist is the character(s) (or situation) that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend. In other words, the antagonist is an obstacle that the protagonist must overcome.
• Anti-Hero - A major character, usually the protagonist, who lacks conventional nobility of mind, and who struggles for values not deemed universally admirable. Duddy, in Mordecai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, is a classic anti-hero. He's vulgar, manipulative and self-centered. Nevertheless, Duddy is the center of the story, and we are drawn to the challenges he must overcome and the goals he seeks to achieve.
• Foil - A foil is any character (usually the antagonist or an important supporting character) whose personal qualities contrast with another character (usually the protagonist). By providing this contrast, we get to know more about the other character.
• Symbolic - A symbolic character is any major or minor character whose very existence represents some major idea or aspect of society. For example, in Lord of the Flies, Piggy is a symbol of both the rationality and physical weakness of modern civilization; Jack, on the other hand, symbolizes the violent tendencies (the Id) that William Golding believes is within human nature.
  
  
• Direct presentation (or characterization) - This refers to what the speaker or narrator directly says or thinks about a character. In other words, in a direct characterization, the reader is told what the character is like. When Dickens describes Scrooge like this: "I present him to you: Ebenezer Scrooge....the most tightfisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!" - this is very direct characterization!
• Indirect presentation (or characterization) - This refers to what the character says or does. The reader then infers what the character is all about. This mimics how we understand people in the real world, since we can't "get inside their heads". In other words, in an indirect characterization, it's the reader who is obliged to figure out what the character is like. And sometimes the reader will get it wrong.

Ten (Direct or Indirect) Ways in which a Character Can Be Revealed

a. By psychological description.
b. By physical description.
c. By probing what s/he thinks.
d. By what s/he says.
e. By how s/he says it.
f. By what s/he does.
g. By what others say about him or her.
h. By his or her environment.
i. By her reaction to others.
j. By his reaction to himself.

http://learn.lexiconic.net/characters.htm