(Above: I co-edited 6 collections of short stories with supporting information about the elements of fiction/short story terminology.)
If you stop and think about it, our lives are like stories or novels and contain many of the fictional elements below:
antagonist
antecedent action
anticlimax
antihero
atmosphere/mood
character (including characters, characters’ characters, static and dynamic characters)
climax
complicating incident/complication
confidant/e
conflicts (vs. self, others, social environment, nature)
contrast
crisis
dialogue
dilemma
epiphany
episode
exposition
falling action
fantasy
foil/character foil
foreshadowing
goal/motivation
images
in media res
irony (situational irony, verbal irony, dramatic irony)
juxtaposition
local color
moral
narrative (having plot, conflict, characters, settings, points of view)
plot
predicament
protagonist
purpose
rising action
romance
setting
stream-of-consciousness
style
subplot
surprise ending
suspense
symbol
theme
universaility
vicarious experience