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A 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.
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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.
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.
Conceit is an extended metaphor, associated with metaphysical poetry, designed to push the limits of the imagination in order to portray something indescribable.
Deleted affair, telling of a romantic relationship, but not referred to in current story
Deus ex machina (God from the Machine), 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.
Epic Theater, a technique popularized by 20th century playwright Bertolt Brecht, in which the audience is "alienated" or "distanced" from the emotion of the play
Epiphany, is a literary work or section of a literary work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight.
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. The short stories of Jorge Luis Borges are often written as summaries or criticisms of books that in actuality do not exist.
Flashback, general term for altering time sequences, taking characters back to the beginning of the tale, for instance.
Frame tale, or a story within a story, where a main story is used to organise a series of shorter stories.
In medias res, when the story begins in the middle of an intense action sequence.
Irony is a form of stating one thing and meaning another.
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 America 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.
Overstatement, exaggeration of something, often for the purpose of emphasis.
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.
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.
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See also
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