Lit

The plan of action or sequence of events of the story.

• climax

• plot

• rising action

The vantage point, or stance from which a story is told, the eye and mind through which the action is perceived.

• point of view

• narrator

• protagonist

The character or force that opposes the protagonist.

• problem

• conflict

• antagonist

A brief tale told to illustrate a moral with animals as characters which possess human traits.

• parable

• fable

• proverb

The time and place in which the action of a story occurs.

• atmosphere

• setting

• mood

The tension or excitement felt by the reader as he or she becomes involved in the story.

• suspense

• climax

• rising action

The central idea in a literary work.

• synopsis

• summary

• theme

The writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject

• tone

• mood

• atmosphere

A figure of speech in which two seemingly unlike things are compared by the use of a word or phrase such as like or as.

• metaphor

• simile

• personification

The feeling, or atmosphere, that a writer creates for the reader.

• attitude

• mood

• tone