Slice of life story

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A slice of life story is a category for a story that portrays a "cut-out" sequence of events in a character's life. It may or may not contain any real plot, and often has no exposition, action, conflict, or denouement, with an open ending. It usually tries to depict the every-day life of ordinary people. The term slice of life is actually a (more or less) dead metaphor: it often seems as if the author had taken a knife and cut out a slice of the lives of some characters, apparently not bothering at all where the cuts were made. It is sometimes called tranche de vie, from the French.

It has also been defined as an "episode of actual experience represented realistically and with little alteration in a dramatic, fictional, or journalistic work." (cp. Answers.com).

See also Vignette (literature) and happy ending.