Fiction Terminology

order of events in a story

• plot

• setting

• protagonist

• conflict

when and where a story happens

• plot

• setting

• protagonist

• conflict

main character

• plot

• setting

• protagonist

• conflict

opposes the protagonist

• exposition

• rising action

• antagonist

• conflict

the main struggle/problem the protagonist faces in a story

• exposition

• rising action

• antagonist

• conflict

explains the setting, characters, and background of a story

• climax

• exposition

• conflict

• theme

elements in the story that increase in intensity and lead to the climax

• exposition

• rising action

• falling action

• resolution

turning point of the story

• exposition

• climax

• resolution

• theme

events in the story that happen after the climax

• exposition

• rising action

• falling action

• resolution

when the conflict of the story is brought to an end

• exposition

• rising action

• falling action

• resolution