B and C Words

I will be posting writing terms every other week from the book "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creative Writing" (2nd edition) by Laurie E. Rozakis.

1. ballad- a story told in song form. Ballads often tell stories about adventure and love.
2. biography- a true story about a person's life written by another person.
3. blank verse- unrhymed poetry, usually written in iambic pentameter. Many poets write in blank verse because it captures the natural rhythm of speech.
4. catalog technique- a poetic list.
5. character- a person or animal in a story. Main characters have important roles in a literary work; minor characters have smaller roles.
6. characterization- the act of telling readers about characters. Sometimes, writers tell about characters directly. Other times, writers let readers reach their own decisions by showing the comments, thoughts, and actions of the other characters.
7. chronological order- arranging the events of a story in order in time from first to last.
8. climax- the highest point in the action. During the climax, the conflict is resolved and the end of the story becomes clear. The climax is also called the turning point.
9. collaboration- cooperation with two or more people in the writing of a script or other work.
10. conclusion- the end of an article, play, poem, or book.
11. conflict- a struggle or fight. Conflict makes a story interesting because readers want to discover the outcome. A) external conflict- characters struggle against a force outside themselves. B) internal conflict- characters battle a force within themselves. Stories often contain both external and internal conflicts.
12. connotation- a word's emotional overtones.
13. couplet- two related lines of poetry, which often rhyme.
14. creative writing- a kind of writing that uses language in imaginative and bold ways.