Writing glossary

Writing glossary

This glossary covers the literary terms writers look up most, from oxymoron to denouement. Each entry gives a one-sentence definition, examples checked against the books themselves and advice on using the idea in your own fiction.

It also covers the book-trade words most literary glossaries skip, like preface and unabridged. Every entry ends where a novelist needs it to: how does this help your book? For keeping characters, arcs and threads straight across a whole manuscript, see [Story DNA](/features/story-dna).

Every term

Figures of speech

  • Oxymoron

    An oxymoron is a figure of speech that pairs two words with opposite meanings, such as "sweet sorrow," to express something neither word could say alone.

  • Paradox

    A paradox is a statement or situation that seems to contradict itself but, looked at closely, turns out to be true.

  • Hyperbole

    Hyperbole is exaggeration used on purpose, so obviously overstated that no reader takes it literally.

  • Personification

    Personification is a figure of speech that gives human qualities, feelings or actions to something that is not human, such as an object, an animal or an idea.

Meaning beyond the words

  • Allusion

    An allusion is a brief reference to a well-known person, place, event or work that the writer expects the reader to recognize without explanation.

  • Allegory

    An allegory is a story in which characters, places and events stand for ideas, so the whole narrative carries a second, often moral or political, meaning.

  • Archetype

    An archetype is a recurring pattern of character, plot or symbol, such as the mentor or the trickster, that readers recognize across stories and cultures.

Character

  • Protagonist

    A protagonist is the central character of a story, the one whose goals and choices drive the plot and whose fate the reader follows.

  • Dynamic character

    A dynamic character is a character who changes in a meaningful internal way over the course of a story, in beliefs, values or understanding.

  • Mannerism

    A mannerism is a habitual gesture, phrase or way of behaving, often unconscious, that marks a particular person.

Plot and endings

  • Falling action

    Falling action is the stretch of a plot after the climax, where the tension eases and the story works toward its ending.

  • Denouement

    The denouement is the final part of a story, after the climax, in which the remaining loose ends are tied up and the story settles into its ending.

Reading and audience

  • Author's perspective

    Author's perspective is the attitude, values and way of seeing that a writer brings to a subject, shaped by their background and beliefs.

  • Intended audience

    An intended audience is the specific group of readers a writer has in mind while writing, which shapes the tone, vocabulary and content of the work.

Books and editions

  • Preface

    A preface is a short note by the author at the front of a book, explaining how or why the work came to be.

  • Anthology

    An anthology is a published collection of poems, stories or other writing by several different authors, chosen and arranged by an editor.

  • Unabridged

    Unabridged describes a book, audiobook or dictionary presented in full, with nothing shortened or cut from the complete text.