Storyshop's Literary Terms

Here we'll keep an alphabetized list of some useful literary terms to help with your reviews and writing.

[#Characterization]
[#Colloquialism]
[#En media res]
[#Explication]
[#Irony]
[#Passive Verbs]





Characterization: The building of a believable, realistic character who has personality depth. The audience does not need the character's life story, just enough information to know what makes hir tick. Ideally, after following the character for a while your reader ought to be able to answer the question of "what would this character do in this situation".


Colloquialism: A word or phrase used in an informal, casual, and often nonliteral way. Similar to slang. Colloquialisms may have a literal meaning as well as an informal meaning understood by common use, especially common to individual regions.

Examples:"Compatriots": literally refers to people who share the same nationality. However, in informal speech it is understood to also mean "ally" or "partner", or generally represent a close, often working, relationship.

"I'll kick your ass" and the like are also colloquialisms, as the meaning is understood through common usage rather than through literal meaning.


En media res: Loosely translated as "In the middle of things." This is a phrase used to describe a preferable method of beginning a story or play, especially a short one. It means that the tale ought to begin with some scene or situation instead of exposition.


Explication: The writing style of 'telling' what's going on through lengthy narration, flashback, explanation, et cetera.  This is generally considered less preferable than explaining the situation through action, dialogue, and sensory details.

Examples: John is a lawyer, and he has a deadline looming. Also, he's about to get his ass kicked.

"John was a lawyer, and a damned fine one. For six years he had spent endless nights billing clients while sorting paperwork, evidence, and testimony into victorious cases. Just the night before, though, his boss - Bobo, a certified partner - had come to him with an ultimatum. He had to win his next case without help, or he would be disbarred for being a mama's boy."

This is an explicatory opening. We're being told things by the narrator.  A more preferable version is...

"'I won't tell you again, John. I don't care how much money the firm thinks you're worth. If you can't win this case without your mama's help, I'll see to it that your skinny ass is out on the street within the month!' Bobo stormed out of John's office with a chorus of slamming doors and muttered obscenities."

This is en media res. Not only do we get dialogue, conflict, and a few details about Bobo's personality, we also get an opening that's much more likely to capture the attention of the reader.


Irony: A word or phrase conveying something other than its literal intention. Irony is not literally defined as coincidence. It is especially useful in allowing the audience to know something that a character doesn't get.



Examples: "I bought a new set of tires for my car, but when I came home my car had been stolen! Isn't that ironic?"

No, that's coincidence. Unfortunate coincidence, but still. HOWEVER! Using irony in this way is a perfectly acceptable form of colloquialism.

John lay down, eyes closed as soon as he hit the pillow. "I'm just worried that Bobo is going to do something drastic."
"Don't worry, John," Margot purred as she screwed the suppressor onto her .22 pistol and aimed for his face, "after tonight Bobo won't be able to bother you any more."

This paragraph is making a few assumptions (it would occur later in the story, obviously). Let's assume John trusts Margot, and is hiding out at her place for a while, or something. This bit is ironic on a couple of levels. First, there's dramatic irony as the audience learns something the main character doesn't know: that Margot is an enemy. Secondly, Margot's sentence is ironic in its meaning. Its literal meaning is obvious, and still true, but the implied meaning is "You'll be dead, so you won't have to worry about it."


Passive Verbs: Verbs that indicate no action in particular, also the 'to be' verbs. These are is, are, was, and were especially. Passive verbs (though sometimes unavoidable, especially in article settings) add little to the action of a sentence where a more powerful verb might push that action.

Examples: "Bob was drinking wine. We were watching television in the front room, unaware that sirens were approaching the house. A serial ass-thief was next door, but we were completely oblivious."

This paragraph has several easily improved verbs, and one passive verb that fits okay. See if you can figure them out before reading on.

"Bob pulled the dwindling wine bottle from between his lips. We sat in zombified stupor in front of the television, unaware of sirens approaching the house. A serial ass-thief had broken into the house next door, but we were completely oblivious.