Plot Points
Term Definitions
Lecture Concepts/Writer's Workshop
Wild Card
100

This character, also a student at Cambridge, escapes a haunting experience at the Dover house in Helen Oyeyemi's White is for Witching. 

Who is Ore?

100

The place and time at which the events of a narrative take place. A narrative may have a single one of these, or any number of them, and they can be real or imaginary, concrete and specific (e.g., the Eiffel Tower in June 1943) or vague and abstract (e.g., a dream).

What is the setting? 

100

Claim, Evidence, Analysis

What are the three key components of an analytical paragraph? 

100

This cavidacious rodent is the animal featured at the end of Sara's slideshows each week. 

What is a guinea pig? 

200

In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, a group of schoolboys gather a pile of these - which serve a violent purpose later in the story. 

What are stones? 

200

The use of literal (not figurative) descriptive language to appeal to the senses. It can appeal to the senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or more general sensations like cold or pain.

What is imagery?

200

This literary genre makes a serious attempt to think through the consequences of scientific knowledge or imagined technology and how it would affect the human condition. 

What is science fiction?

200

This is Sara's favourite short story on the course syllabus. 

What is There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury? 

300

This is how Mike Enslin was able to escape Room 1408 in Stephen King's short story of the same name. 

What is setting his shirt on fire? 

300

A literary devices that attributes human characteristics to something non-human.

What is personification?

300

This popular genre of novel - now recognizable as a combination of horror and romance - was introduced in the 18th century, before spreading through Europe and continuing to influence pop culture to this day. 

What is the Gothic? 

300

This is the first song that Sara played (though not in its entirety!) at the beginning of the first tutorial. 

What is "Golden" from Kpop Demon Hunter? 

400

These tiny creatures are responsible for keeping the house clean in Ray Bradbury's There Will Come Soft Rains. 

What are robotic mice? 

400

A kind of this which is either deluded, deceptive, or deranged: they aim to mislead readers, forcing us to evaluate what is happing in the story while understanding that we can’t accept at face value what they say.

What is an unreliable narrator? 

400

This combines the use of a literary device with a larger idea in the narrative to make a concise and original argument. 

What is an effective analytical claim? 

400

This world-renowned author of horror stories whose work appears on the syllabus will reportedly sell the film rights to his stories for $1 if he likes the adaptation concept.

Who is Stephen King? 

500
This is the fantastical city of Omelas' one dark secret - that its seemingly utopian state relies on this. 

What is the perpetual suffering of one child? 

500
Generally, this refers to a gap: this specific kind makes reference to the gap between intentions and outcome in a story.

What is situational irony? 

500

This literary technique is significant to Stephen King's 1408 because it establishes information about the main character, establishes the history of the setting, and builds suspense.

What is plot dilation? 
500

This early-era Studio Ghibli movie is actually an adaptation of a novel from an iconic science fiction author whose work appears on the syllabus.

What is Tales from Earthsea? 

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