Literary Techniques Flashcards
What is foreshadowing
Use of hints or clues that suggests what will happen next.
Flashbacks / Flashforward
A narrative part that takes the story backward or forward in time.
What is a motif?
A repeated pattern, image, sound, word, or quote that comes again and again in the story.
Like a quote in fight club
Symbolism
Using an object or something to stand for an idea.
Like a bird as a symbol of piece, etc
Allusion
Referring another literary work.
Like in Gintama
Situation Irony
When what is expected to happen does not acually happens
Dramatic Irony
When the audience knows more the the character it self.
Like the relation ship in Kaguya Sama
Mirroring
When the author creates similarities or parallels in different elements or characters in the story.
Like n in death note. He was similar to L
Conflict
The disagreement, or problem that creates the need of change in a story.
Internal conflicts or external conflicts.
The conflict if Eren and the world and his mind and whether he should trust others or not
What is juxtaposition?
When you place different objects or characters next to each other to highlight the differences.
What is Narrative Persona
A narrative persona is the voice or character that tells the story, shaping how events and characters are presented to the reader.
Simple Definition:
It’s who is telling the story and how they tell it—whether it’s a character in the story or an outside narrator.
The character that the writer builds, his traits, his mindset, and who he is as a person.
Easy Way to Remember:
Think of it like putting on a mask to tell a story. The persona is the mask (voice or character) the author uses to narrate the events to the audience.
Multimodality
Multimodality involves using multiple modes of communication (like text, images, audio, etc.) to convey meaning.
Temporal Mechanics
Simple Definition:
Temporal mechanics is the manipulation or use of time within a story, whether it involves time travel, time loops, or unconventional time progression.
the techniques of organizing the events in time.
Easy Way to Remember:
Think of temporal mechanics as “story time tricks”—how the author plays with the timeline of events to create tension, mystery, or surprise.
Examples in Stories:
Time Loops: A character relives the same events repeatedly, as in the movie Groundhog Day.
Nonlinear Narrative: Events are presented out of chronological order, as in Pulp Fiction or Memento.
Time Travel: Characters move backward or forward in time, as seen in Interstellar or Back to the Future.
