A Glossary of terms relating to Creative Writing
U174_1 Glossary
This glossary includes many key terms discussed in this unit that are relevant to the authoring and creative writing process.
Wednesday, 16 October 2024, 4:32 AM
Site: Open Learning
Course: Start writing fiction (A174_1)
Glossary: A Glossary of terms relating to Creative Writing
A
Action thrillerWhere the dramatic mood and pace is punctuated by a rapid series of high-tension events and actions. |
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Back storyThe wider context or background, which sheds light on the current story. |
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CausalityCausality or causation denotes the relationship between one event (called cause) and another event (called effect) which is the consequence (result) of the first. |
CharacterA fictional person, with a specific identity and recognisable traits, depicted in a novel or drama. |
CrimeAllied to mystery or murder mystery genres, ‘crime’ presents a story involving crime, the police and the law. |
D
DialogueThe lines spoken by characters in novels, plays and films. |
Dirty realismOriginally applied to a particular kind of writing emerging from America in the early 1980s, though it was much in evidence before the term was coined, this is fiction that engages particularly with subjects considered marginal to ‘traditional’ literary material. (Including ‘everyday’ subjects, for example, a scene at a Laundromat; or ‘dirty realities’, such as the life of a vagrant or prisoner.) |
E
EnigmaA riddle, puzzling person or thing; something that cannot absolutely be known or resolved. |
F
Fairy taleOften drawing on myths handed down orally through the world’s various different cultures, fairy tales feature a number of recognisable formulae and character ‘types’. A ‘fairy-tale’ ending is meant to imply a happy ending to a story, however this isn’t always the case, and often a fairy tale evokes a complex moral lesson. |
Family sagaWhere the story focuses on the activities and histories of one or more families, shown over time, often related in a series of lined novels, dealing with different periods in the family’s history. |