Literature

Literature

Of or pertaining to the art of writing in any form or style, most especially published works.

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Literature > Fiction

engage

Literature; Fiction

Used intransitively, it means a reader who is paying close attention. Used transitively, it means an author or a piece of fiction that forces the reader to pay close attention. A ...

exposition

Literature; Fiction

Directly conveying information from author to reader. This may be done through overt description by an omniscient narrator, a mental movie camera inside the head of a ...

expository lump

Literature; Fiction

A chunk of exposition that, whether or not relevant to the plot, is insufficiently integrated into the story being told. As such, is seems to come from left field, as if a page ...

eyeball kick

Literature; Fiction

A perfect, telling detail that creates an instant and powerful visual image.

fast forward

Literature; Fiction

The literary convention of shortcutting things the reader already knows but the characters may not. Example: Rex Stout’s Archie Goodwin: “I got home and told Wolfe everything that ...

fat writing

Literature; Fiction

A plethora of unnecessary and grandiose verbiage — too many words. A woman “saw me abandon my wagon and shovel for greener pastures and intersected me” could become a woman ...

ficelle character

Literature; Fiction

From the French word for ‘string,’ a term used by Henry James to denote a character who exists simply to move the plot or drama from place to place. In Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” ...