Part 1: Fiction
Fiction represents invented or imagined stories, typically in prose, applying to novels, short stories, novellas, romances, and fables.
- Novel: A fictitious prose work over 50,000 words long, with a chronological narrative arc. Common types include romance, thriller, horror, mysteries, the historical novel, and science fiction.
- Novella: A fictional prose tale of intermediate length and complexity between a short story and a novel, usually concentrating on a single event with a surprising turning point.
- Novelette: A short novel or extended short story.
- Short story: A fictional prose tale too short to be published as a volume on its own, normally concentrating on a single event with only one or two characters.
- Folktale: A story passed on by word of mouth, modified by re-tellings, which includes legends, fables, jokes, tall stories, and fairy tales.
Task 1:
Part 2: Poetry
Poetry is language sung, chanted, spoken, or written according to some pattern of recurrence that emphasizes the relationships between words based on sound as well as sense. This pattern is almost always a rhythm or metre, often supplemented by rhyme or alliteration.
- Lyric: Characterized by precise word choice, personal voice, and subjective method expressing the feeling, mood, meditation, or thoughts of a single speaker. It is usually fairly short.
- Verse narrative: Tells a story with characters, themes, and plot, including rhythm and rhyme, like ballads and epics.
- Verse Drama: Verse meant to be performed on a stage by an actor.
Task 2:
Part 3: Drama and Non-Fiction
Drama
Drama is the general term for performances where actors impersonate the actions and speech of characters for the entertainment of an audience. A particular example of this art is a play.
- Comedy: A play written chiefly to amuse its audience by appealing to a sense of superiority over the characters.
- Tragedy: A serious play representing the disastrous downfall of a central character.
- Melodrama: A popular form of sensational drama, originally ‘song-drama’ in Greek, sometimes involving mime or spoken dialogue accompanied by music.
- Tragicomedy: A play that combines elements of tragedy and comedy, often by providing a happy ending to a potentially tragic story.
Non-Fiction
Non-Fiction includes written works that are based on fact.
- Autobiography: The story of a person’s life written by him- or herself, often covering a substantial span of life and involving the interaction of character and external event. It includes memoirs, diaries, and letters.
- Biography: The written history of someone’s life, attending not only to the events but also to the character and personality of the subject.
- Essay: A composition often in prose and rarely in verse.
- Discourse: A learned discussion, spoken or written, on a philosophical, political, literary, or religious topic, or an extended treatment of a subject.
