Story Terminology

There are a lot of different pieces that go into a story. While not every piece is relevant to every manuscript, here is a list of story terminology that every writer should know. Not only will an understanding of these concepts help you structure a narrative, but they will also broaden your toolkit and make it easier to communicate with your editor and other writers.

Antagonist: The main villain of the story who exists to prevent the protagonist from reaching their goals. This does not have to be a person. It can be society, the environment or the protagonist themselves. The antagonist also doesn't have to be pure evil. They simply have to have goals that are opposed and conflict with the protagonist's.

Character Arc: The narrative progression of a character that leads to their growth or change. The character arc is strongly connected to the narrative arc.

Characterization: The process of revealing a character's personality, traits and motives through words and actions.

Climax: The final moment that the narrative builds towards. It's the big revelation or the final showdown. By the end of teh climax, all the major plot points should be wrapped up.

Denouement: Follows the climax, wrapping up any loose narrative ends and presenting the final image of the narrative.

Diegetic: Anything that exists within the world of the story. In general, think would the characters be aware of it? Then it's diegetic. Non-diegetic is anything that is available only to the reader.

Dialogue: Speech. Often considered dialogue only if it is two or more characters in conversation with one another, not simply one character speaking into a void.

Editorial Breaks: A break in the narrative indicated by an extra space or dingbat. This usually signals the passage of time or a change in location, but can also indicate a change in POV.

Exposition: When the author gives the reader information directly instead of showing them through examples. Useful to quickly orient a reader within the narrative world or fill in important backstory. Too much exposition is usually considered an info dump.

e.g. She was angry vs. She punched the wall

Both convey the same information to the reader, but the first sentence is expositional and directly tells the reader the character's emotions while the second non-expositional sentence gives the reader clues to interpret the character's emotions.

Forth Wall: The space between the writer/characters and the reader. "Breaking the fourth wall" means the author or characters address the reader directly. Usually, the reader is only an observer, not included in the narrative.

Head Hopping: When a narrative includes the thoughts and viewpoints of non-viewpoint characters. This is not the same as an intentionally omniscient viewpoint.

Info Dump: A large chunk of expositional text that is designed to give the reader background information about the setting, characters or plot. An info dump breaks from the narrative and slows the forward progression. While sometimes necessary, it should be avoided where possible.

Main Narrative/Plot: This is the primary story of a novel that follows a strong narrative arc, with a beginning, middle and end that engages the reader and keeps them invested in the protagonist and their goals. The main narrative is essential to a successful novel. If an element of the main narrative is removed, the story no longer works.

Narrative Arc: This is the progression of a story. All arcs have a beginning, a middle and an end, with each building off what came before. The narrative arc is strongly tied to character arc, especially the protagonist's.

Omniscient Viewpoint: A version of third person point of view also called the "God Perspective." An omniscient viewpoint is one where the narrator of the story is all seeing and all knowing. They have access to the thoughts and feelings of all the characters and know things that the characters can't and share these with the reader.

Pantser: A writer who doesn't plan the story ahead of time, creating as they write.

Parallelism: A structure where two or more elements share the same construction. This is most often applied at the sentence level, but can also be seen at the paragraph, chapter or book level.

e.g. He likes to run, jump and fight. (parallel)

He likes running, to jump and fights dragons. (not parallel)

Plot: All the events that happen, making up a narrative.

Plotter: A writer who plans the story out ahead of time.

Point of View (POV): The perspective the narrative is being told from. There are three main options: First person, second person and third person.

First person uses I and is restricted to a singular person's perspective. The reader is placed directly into the head of the character and knows everything they think and feel.

Second person uses you and directly addresses the reader. This viewpoint can feel confrontational but can also be used to put the reader directly in the action.

Third person uses he, she and they and is told from a perspective outside of the characters. There are multiple types of third person. The two most common are third limited, where the reader has access to the thoughts and feelings of a single character and omniscient.

Third person is the most common POV, followed by first person. Second person is rare outside of dialogue.

Prose: Text that is not poetry or dialogue.

Protagonist: The main character of the story. The protagonist is a fully developed person and completes a fully developed character arc by the end of the narrative. This is the character the narrative is most strongly connected to and the one the reader should be the most invested in.

Secondary Characters: Characters who support the protagonist in achieving their goals. Secondary characters often have their own character arcs, but they are not as developed as that of the protagonist's as they aren't central to the main narrative.

Subplot: A small narrative arc or plot point that isn't essential to the main narrative but that adds emotional or thematic depth. Subplots can be removed from a manuscript without hurting the overall story.

Tertiary Characters: These are characters that exist to fill out the world of the narrative or serve one or two very specific functions. They may or may not be named, and the reader will have very little information about them beyond what they provide to the narrative. However, without them, the diegesis would feel empty.

Viewpoint: See Point of View