Fiction - literature in the form of prose, especially novels, that describes imaginary events and

people. It may be based on a true story or situation. Types of literature in the fiction genre include
the novel, short story, and novella.

Short story - a story with a fully developed theme but significantly shorter and less elaborate than a
novel. The definition of a short story is a piece of fiction that has a limited number of words, only a
few characters, and one theme.

Novel - An invented prose narrative of considerable length and a certain complexity that deals
imaginatively with human experience, usually through a connected sequence of events involving a
group of persons in a specific setting.

Oral narrative - An oral narrative is a spoken story. Oral narratives are the stories people tell. When
you read these stories they sound like someone is speaking. They sound like storytellers. Some oral
narratives are changed when they are written down. There are different categories of oral
narratives, for example; Myths, Legends, Ogre or monster stories, Trickster stories, Etiological
Narratives, Dilemmas stories, Fables, Spirit tales, Allegory.

Tale - A tale is a comparatively simple narrative, either fictitious or true, written or recounted orally
in prose. A tale often recounts a strange event, focusing on something or someone exotic,
marvelous, or even supernatural. Tales may be attributed to a particular author, whether known or
anonymous, or may simply be part of the lore of a given culture. Whatever their origin, tales tend to
be relatively shorter narratives. The tale places more emphasis on actions and results than on
character.

Fable - Fables are fictional stories with specific moral lessons that are imparted to the reader. Fables
can be either prose or poetry as long as they teach a lesson. Most of the time, fables use animals as
characters, and sometimes objects like household items that come to life and/or parts of nature can
be used as characters as well. Regardless of what kinds of things are used as main characters, they
are given anthropomorphic qualities to make them think and act like humans, and lessons are
revealed at the end aiming to teach readers something about life.

Climax - The point at which the highest level of interest and emotional response is achieved. In the
structure of a play the climax, or crisis, is the decisive moment, or turning point, at which the rising
action of the play is reversed to falling action

Flashback - In fiction, a flashback is a scene that takes place before a story begins. Flashbacks
interrupt the chronological order of the main narrative to take a reader back in time to the past
events in a character's life. Flashbacks in literature are all about discovering a character's past to
help build the story.

Incident - The inciting incident of a story is the event that sets the main character or characters on
the journey that will occupy them throughout the narrative. Typically, this incident will upset the
balance within the main character's world.
The inciting incident is an episode, plot point, or event that hooks the reader into the story. This
particular moment is when an event thrusts the protagonist into the main action of the story.

Plot - The plot describes the events and their significance as the story unfolds. There are five
different parts to the plot: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The plot is
the sequence of events where each affects the next one through the principle of cause-and-effect.
The causal events of a plot can be thought of as a series of events linked.

Character - A character is a person, or other being in a narrative. Writers use characters to perform
the actions and speak dialogue, moving the story along a plotline. The character may be entirely
fictional or based on a real-life person.

Crisis - Crisis means decision or dilemma. In a story, it's the do-or-die moment, that last chance
where the protagonist must gather all their strength, ingenuity, resourcefulness, and courage in one
final effort to defeat the opposing forces guarding the prize. Refers to the single point at which the
protagonist's fortunes change decisively for the better or the worse.

Turning point - A turning point is a moment in a story when a major narrative shift takes place and
the rest of the story will be different.

Setting - The location and time frame in which the action of a narrative takes place. Usually
introduced during the exposition (beginning) of the story, along with the characters. The setting may
also include the environment of the story, which can be made up of the physical location, climate,
weather, or social and cultural surroundings.

Theme - A literary theme is the main idea or underlying meaning a writer explores in a novel, short
story, or other literary work. The theme of a story can be conveyed using characters, setting,
dialogue, plot, or a combination of all of these elements. The term theme can be defined as the
underlying meaning of a story. It is the message the writer is trying to convey through the story.
Often the theme of a story is a broad message about life.