Fiction Reading Terms

The leading character or one of the major characters in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text.

• character
• conflict
• protagonist
• antagonist

A serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one.

• character
• protagonist
• antagonist
• conflict

A person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary.

• bad guy
• protagonist
• antagonist
• conflict

A literary element that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through words and descriptions.  The atmosphere. 

• mood
• tone
• plot
• exposition

§An attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. It is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject.  It can be formal, informal, serious, comic, sarcastic, sad, and cheerful or it may be any other existing attitudes.

• mood
• tone
• plot
• rising action

The main events of a play, novel, movie, or similar work; a story line. The causal sequence of events, the "why" for the things that happen in the story.  The way in which the story elements are arranged.

• exposition
• climax
• resolution
• plot

One of the seven elements that construct a plot. The start, where the characters and setting are established . The conflict or main problem is introduced.

• exposition
• climax
• resolution
• plot

This element of plot includes all decisions, characters' flaws and background circumstances that together create turns and twists leading to a climax.

• exposition
• rising action
• climax
• falling action

The highest or most intense point in the development or resolution of something; culmination.  A decisive moment or a turning point.

• exposition
• rising action
• climax
• falling action

Element of plot in which the conflict has been resolved.  The climax has been reached ; compare to rising action.

• exposition
• rising action
• climax
• falling action