Folklore and Fairy Tale Vocabulary
Fairy tale: a children's story about magical and imaginary beings and lands.
Folktale: a story originating in popular culture, typically passed on by word of mouth.
Myth: a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.
Fable (beast fable): a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral.
Flat character: two-dimensional in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout the story.
Round character (a.k.a. “developed character” or “complex character”): a character in fiction whose personality, background, and other features are fully delineated by the author.
Active character: an active character gets things done and their fears don't hold them back.
Passive character: a passive character is withdrawn and cowardly, they have a lot to learn but they do have an opportunity for character development.
Stock character: character that is flat and does not change.
Heteronormative romance plot:
Incremental repetition: repetition in each stanza of part of the preceding stanza usually with a slight change in wording for dramatic effect
Social norm (or “cultural norm”): Social norms are group-held beliefs about how members should behave in a given context.
Formal social control: Formal social control refers to law, norms, and regulations against deviant behavior that people must respect and they are set by government.
Informal social control: the whole process of socialization (ex: social media, fairy tale, television).
Normative behavior: normative behavior is used to describe actions that are intended to make something acceptable.
Donor: a type of stock character that tests the hero (and sometimes other characters as well) and provides magical assistances to the hero when he succeeds.
Baba Yaga: a supernatural being (witch figure) who appears as a...