The Storytellers Lexicon

Anecdote: A short account that has its action line.

Full circle ending: The most satisfying story ending, it gives the sense that the story has come back to where it began. The structure of the first and last paragraphs can provide this feeling of satisfaction.

Full dialogue: Speech that unfolds in the real time of the story between two or more people

Half dialogue: The words of one participant interspersed with narrative

In Media Res: Beginning a story in the middle of the action rather than at the beginning of the chronology. The term refers to the point at which the story’s outcome hangs in the balance.

Vignette: An anecdote without a punch line.

Participative dialogue: Discussion in which the storyteller participates

Sentence forms: Transitive verbs advance the action line by depicting movement. Linking verbs, such as forms of “to be,” slow action down because they merely define.

Climax: The point at which the story’s complication is resolved.

Complication: The development that disturbs the status quo, forcing the protagonist to react and thereby setting the story in motion. It can be physical or psychological and usually produces some conflict.

Denouement: Falling action or the wrapping up of loose ends after the story climax.

Dialect: Dialogue that reveals distinct patterns of speech. Good dialect is difficult to do well.

Plot Point #1: When the protagonist first encounters the complication, which is usually at the end of the opening section.

Plot Point #2: When the protagonist’s insight or change resolves the complication of the story.

Status indicators: Details that reveal a character’s place in the social order.

Angle of Approach: The entry point the writer uses the story

Atmospheric Detail: A feature specifically selected to create the mood.

Story Framing: The value sets and objectives that the writer brings to the story.

Voice: The overall personality of the writer as perceived through the text

Character Sequencing: The order and timing used by the writer to introduce key characters. It creates story structure because it influences the type and placement of scenes as well as the direction of the narrative.

Parallel Structure: Creating similarities in structural forms as a way to make larger points.

Scenic Structure: A story constructed scene by scene, each one unfolding in a specific place and time. A typical three thousand word story might contain three to five scenes.

Topical Structure: Ordering the story by subject matter rather than by story line.

Typographic Indicators: Devices that break the text into structural elements. The star line break is the traditional indicator of a major break between scenes or topics.

Unifying Devices: Repetition of key details throughout the structure as a way of holding the story together.