Literary Devices and Story Structure

the creation of a believable personality by showing the character’s appearance, displaying the character’s actions, revealing the character’s thoughts, hearing the character speak and seeing the reactions of others to this character

• foreshadowing

• characterization

• protagonist

• dialogue

technique in which writers employ two or more characters to be engaged in conversation with one another

• theme

• diction

• dialogue

• tone

 the central character or hero, usually the character the audience is sympathetic towards

• characterization

• conflict

• protagonist

• antagonist

any struggle between opposing forces; it drives each and every story

• sensory details

• figurative language

• plot

• conflict

the time, place and atmosphere in which the story takes place

• setting

• mood

• foreshadowing

• dialogue

the general idea or insight about life that a writer wishes to express, the moral of the story

• mood

• tone

• theme

• point of view

the sequence of events that happen in a story

• conflict

• plot

• point of view

• setting

The comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, typically using the words like or as, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid

• Metaphor

• Simile

• Allusion

• Allegory

A figure of speech that is used to make a comparison between two things that aren't alike but do have something in common; does not use the words "like" or "as"

• Simile

• Personification

• Imagery

• Metaphor

The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.

• Irony

• Hyperbole

• Personification

• Alliteration