Theme - Answers central concept/statement
character - Answers who
conflict - Answers tension and opposition between character and circumstances
setting - Answers where and when
imagery - Answers sights, smells, tastes, textures
what story is about - Answers theme
big question for writers - Answers how can person values and experiences shape theme?
5 aspects of character - Answers physiology (appearance, mannerism, gender)
sociology (class, religion, occupation, education)
psychology (likes, opinions, values, temperament)
personal history
wants and needs
ultimate drive of character and story - Answers want/need
4 types of conflict - Answers character vs character
character vs self
character vs society
character vs nature
hero's journey - Answers call to adventure, supernatural aid, crosses threshold (begin to transform),
helper/mentor, challenges and temptations, revelation (death and rebirth), transformation, atonement,
return
5 goal of establishing scene - Answers bait reader's curiosity with narrative hook
locate reader (sense of place)
intro protagonist and/or supporting characters
intro/foreshadow key conflicts
intro narrative voice and style
, symbolism - Answers when images represent something larger (show don't tell)
deus ex machina (plot device) - Answers character suddenly extricated from impossible position by
introducing new event
macguffin (plot device) - Answers goal can be manifested as object pursued by character without having
motivation explained
red herring (plot device) - Answers a seeming answer/clue that turns out to be unimportant or
misleading
narrator - Answers who tells, or is assumed to be telling the story
POV - Answers how the story gets told. how author presents character, plot, setting ect
3rd person - Answers someone/thing outside the story
2nd person - Answers protagonist addressed as "you"
used to address off page character
1st person - Answers narrator speaks as "i" and is participant in story
3rd person omniscient - Answers narrator knows everything including characters' thoughts, feelings,
motives.
moves between time, space, character
can report or conceal speech
3rd person limited - Answers stays in confines of experiences, thoughts, feelings of 1 character
3rd person objective - Answers reports without commenting
may not have access to thoughts and feelings of certain characters
possible problem with 1st person - Answers unreliable narrator. not necessarily liar but maybe naive
challenges of 1st person - Answers limited knowledge
must be consistent and believable
narrative voice/style - Answers elements that shape voice: emotion, style, tone
tone - Answers expression of literary speaker's attitude
shows own conceptions, attitudes, relationship to what is being talked about
minimal tone - Answers prose that is sparse, relying on inference