fabulist
Teller of morals
A fabulist is a teller of fables—someone who composes moral tales, often featuring talking animals, in the tradition of Aesop.
By extension, fabulist describes someone who fabricates stories or lies: The journalist was exposed as a fabulist who invented sources.
The word carries a literary quality that plain "liar" lacks.
One who adds decoration
- exaggeratorOne who overstates things
- deceiverOne who tricks others
- dissemblerOne who hides beliefs
- prevaricatorOne who deceives verbally
storyteller · mythomaniac · fibber · falsifier · spinner · fantasist · romancer
One who tells events
- raconteurSkilled storyteller
- bardPoet of epics
- chroniclerWriter of historical accounts
- yarn-spinnerOne who tells tales
griot · novelist · allegorist · folklorist · scribe · minstrel · biographer · reciter
Imagined narrative work
- satireMockery exposing vice
- fantasyImaginative mental wandering
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- mythTraditional explanatory tale
legend · fairy-tale · romance · epic · narrative · prose · apologue · exemplum
Creator of fictions
- mythmakerInventor of legends
- dreamerOne given to fantasies
- visionaryImaginative planner of futures
- romancerOne who woos
inventor · embroiderer · tale-spinner · enchanter · illusionist · fanciful · whimsical · inventive
embellisher
One who adds decoration
- exaggeratorOne who overstates things
- deceiverOne who tricks others
- dissemblerOne who hides beliefs
prevaricator · storyteller · mythomaniac · fibber · falsifier · spinner · fantasist · romancer
narrator
One who tells events
- raconteurSkilled storyteller
- bardPoet of epics
- chroniclerWriter of historical accounts
yarn-spinner · griot · novelist · allegorist · folklorist · scribe · minstrel · biographer · reciter · tale-teller
fiction
Imagined narrative work
- satireMockery exposing vice
- fantasyImaginative mental wandering
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
myth · legend · fairy-tale · romance · epic · narrative · prose · apologue · exemplum
fantasist
Creator of fictions
romancer · inventor · embroiderer · tale-spinner · enchanter · illusionist · fanciful · whimsical · inventive · creative
Aesop
Ancient Greek fable writer
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- parableInstructive allegorical narrative
- moralConcerning right conduct
didactic · folklore · apologue · proverbial · edifying · instructive · Anansi · Reynard
- deceiversliar, liars, deceiver, fraud, fake
- storytellersstorytellers, narrator, narrators, tale-teller, tale spinner
- FabulistsAesop, La Fontaine, James Thurber, Thurber
- fraudscharlatan, faker, imposter, impostor, phony
- fictionfiction, novel, novels, novella, novellas
- writersauthor, novelist, writer, poet, journalist
fabulisttruthteller
One who speaks honestly
truth-teller · straight shooter · realist · debunker · literalist
fabulisthistorian
Expert on past events
chronicler · documentarian · journalist · reporter · biographer