Literary technique

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A literary technique or literary device may be used by works of literature in order to produce a specific effect on the reader. Literary technique is distinguished from literary genre as military tactics are from military strategy. Thus, though David Copperfield employs satire at certain moments, it belongs to the genre of comic novel, not that of satire. By contrast, Bleak House employs satire so consistently as to belong to the genre of satirical novel. In this way, use of a technique can lead to the development of a new genre, as was the case with one of the first modern novels, Pamela by Samuel Richardson, which by using the epistolary technique gave birth to the epistolary novel.

Many of the techniques listed below can also be used in other forms of fiction, for example film.

Annotated list of literary techniques

Author surrogate, a character who acts as the author's spokesman. Sometimes the character may intentionally or unintentionally be an idealized version of the author. A well known variation is the Mary Sue or Gary Stu.
Autobiographical novel, tales of the author's life as seen by the author in fictional form; sometimes significant changes are made. An example is James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
Back-story, the story "behind" or "before" the events being portrayed in the story being told; past events or background for a character that can serve to color or add additional meaning to current circumstances. Provides extra depth to the story by anchoring it to external events, real or imagined.
Breaking the fourth wall, the author or a character addressing the audience directly (also known as direct address). May acknowledge to the reader or audience that what is being presented is fiction, or may seek to extend the world of the story to provide the illusion that they are included in it.
Christ Figure is an extended metaphor where a character is strongly associated with the religious figure of Jesus Christ. Often, the Christ figure is represented as conspicuously moral, and may sacrifice himself. Sometimes, such a character is then resurrected.
Conceit is an extended metaphor, associated with metaphysical poetry, designed to push the limits of the imagination in order to portray something indescribable.
Constrained writing, in which artificial constraints, such as "no words containing the letter 'e'", are imposed.
Deus ex machina, a plot device dating back to ancient Greek theater, where the primary conflict is resolved through a means that seems unrelated to the story (i.e. a God comes down out of nowhere and solves everything, saving the character from peril). In modern times, the Deus ex machina is often considered a clumsy method, to be avoided in order not to frustrate readers or viewers.
Epistolary novel, novel in the form of letters exchanged between the characters. Classic examples include Pamela by Samuel Richardson (1740), Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett (1771), Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (1782) and Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897).
False documents, fiction written in the form of, or about, apparently real, but actually fake documents. Examples include Robert Graves' I, Claudius, a fictional autobiography of the Roman emperor Claudius; and H. P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon, a fictional book of evil that appeared frequently in horror fiction and film, written by both Lovecraft and his admirers.
First-person narrative, the narrator tells his own tale
Flashback, general term for altering time sequences, taking characters back to the beginning of the tale, for instance.
Foreshadowing, hinting at events to occur later.
Frame tale, or a story within a story, where a main story is used to organise a series of shorter stories.
Historical novel, story set amidst historical events, pioneered by Sir Walter Scott in his novels of Scottish history. Protagonists may be fictional or historical personages, or a combination.
Hysterical realism, is a literary genre characterized by chronic length, manic characters, madding action, and frequent digressions on topics secondary to the story.
Incluing, describing a different world, such as "Brave New World"
In medias res, when the story begins in the middle of an intense action sequence.
Juxtaposition, when the author places two themes, characters, phrases, words, or situations together for the purpose of comparison, contrast, or rhetoric.
Magic realism, a form particularly popular in Latin American but not limited to that region, in which events are described realistically, but in a magical haze of strange local customs and beliefs. Gabriel García Márquez is a notable author in the style.
Metaphor, in which a tale stands for something larger, as in Anatole France's Penguin Island, in which the penguin society described in the book stands for human society.
Narrative, fiction written as if it were related to the reader by a single participant or observer.
Omniscient narrator, particular form of narrative in which the narrator sees and knows all
Overstatement, exaggeration of something, often for the purpose of emphasis
Oxymoron, a contradicting statement, for example "jumbo shrimp"
Parody, ridicule by imitation, usually humorous, such as MAD Magazine
Pastiche, using forms and styles of another author, generally as an affectionate tribute, such as the many stories featuring Sherlock Holmes not written by Arthur Conan Doyle, or much of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Picaresque novel, episodic recounting of the adventures of a rogue (Spanish picaro) on the road, such as Tom Jones or Huckleberry Finn.
Personification, the use of comparative metaphors and similies to give human-like characteristcs to non-human objects.
Plot twist is a change ("twist") in the direction or expected outcome of the plot of a film or novel.
Poetic justice is a literary device in which virtue is ultimately rewarded or vice punished, often in modern literature by an ironic twist of fate intimately related to the character's own conduct.
Roman a clef, a "novel with a key", that is, whose characters and plot are related to real-life happenings
Satire, "an attack on wickedness and folly", as Samuel Johnson called it, such as A Modest Proposal or Candide. Satires are not necessarily humorous; for example, dystopian novels such as 1984 and Brave New World have satiric elements.
Second-person narrative, a technique in which the main character is the reader, and the narrator is telling the reader what he or she is doing or did.
Shared universe is a shared back-story.
Simile, a comparison using the words "like" or "as"
Story within a story
Stream of consciousness, an attempt to portray all the thoughts and feelings of a character, as in parts of James Joyce, William Faulkner, and Virginia Woolf.
Tone, or the overall attitude that an author appears to hold toward the work—a novel such as Candide makes fun of the sufferings of its characters, while The Sorrows of Young Werther takes its protagonist's suffering very seriously
Word play, in which the nature of the words used themselves become part of the work
Writer's voice, a literary technique combining various structural aspects of an author's writing style.

Authors also manipulate the language of their works to create a desired response from the reader. This is the realm of the rhetorical devices.

Literary technique

Annotated list of literary techniques

See also