1. Elements of a Short Story

2. What is a Short Story?
It’s a piece of prose fiction, usually under 10, 000 words, which can be read at one sitting.
In a short story every word counts, and is carefully selected by the author.
Artistically, a short story is intended to create an impression
Most stories have a beginning, middle, and end
A good story entertains, arouses questions about life, and makes the reader question his or her own values.
The effect a story has is created through these elements:
Plot
Atmosphere
Character and Characterization
Conflict
Theme
Setting
Style (which includes a number of devices)

3. The Plot Graph Climax Falling Action Rising Action
The plot is the series of actions or main events that happen in a story to effectively present some form of conflict and its outcome.
A Plot Graph is an excellent way to map out the important plot details in a given story.
It allows the student to select the pertinent plot elements and trace how they build to the end of the story.
Climax
Highest point of excitement
Falling Action
Rising Action
Complicating incidents or obstacles
Inciting/Trigger Incident
Identifies a basic problem or conflict
How the problem is resolved
Introduction/Exposition
Conclusion/ Resolution

4. Plot Points in Detail Introduction/Exposition
Introduces setting, characters, and the conflict serves to entice the reader to keep reading
Inciting/Trigger Incident
The KEY event that causes or initiates the action in the story
Rising Action
The main part of a story, when the main character tries to solve his or her problem.
Suspense, conflicts, problems or obstacles all occur to create a series of crises.
A crisis refers to a problem which is produced by the conflicts, etc.
At this point the action can go in many different directions. Serves to entice the reader to keep reading

5. Plot Points in Detail-cont’d
Climax
The turning point of the story where conflicts are resolved.
The highest point of interest in the story when a characters solves his/her struggles.
It is the outcome of a decision that had to be made. This major decision influences the rest of the story.
Falling Action
The part of a story that leads to the ending or
resolution.
Conclusion/Resolution
This element refers to the final details of the story. Conflicts are over, and final statements are made.
Not all stories have a formal conclusion.
Sometimes stories have Surprise or Twist Endings!

6. Conflict Internal Conflict is External
The conflict is the struggle between two people or things in a story.
It is the central source of tension in the story
It usually involves a struggle between opposing characters, emotions, etc.
Conflict is sometimes referred to as the problem in the story. Therefore, it must be solved or a goal must be achieved to resolve it.
The plot of the story usually revolves around conflict!
There are TWO main types of conflict present in most stories:
External
Person vs Person ex._____________________
Person vs Society ex. ____________________
Person vs The Environment (Nature) ex. ____________________
Person vs Circumstance (fate) ex. ____________________
Person vs Technology ex. ____________________
Person vs The Supernatural ex. ___________________
Internal
Person vs Self

7. Setting Where and when the story takes place!
Plays an important role in many stories.
Often helps create the MOOD
It is the environment in which the story takes place.
It refers to both the time (era) that a story is set
and the place (location) where the action occurs

8. Atmosphere This term refers to the feeling that
is created in the story
The author uses certain descriptive words, images, details about setting, etc. to create feelings in the reader of fear, anger, happiness, shock, etc.
This term is often referred to as MOOD. It is the “emotional colouring” in story.
TONE
This is the attitude a writer expresses towards his or her subject. It could be formal, informal, personal, impersonal, angry, cheerful or bitter, for a few examples.

9. Characters
Character refers to the individuals that are depicted in each story. Without characters there can be no story!
Characters are important in a story because they experience the conflict. Usually there is only one central figure around whom the events of the story revolve.
This character is called the PROTAGONIST: a regular or main character or a hero or heroine
An ANTAGONIST is the main opponent to the protagonist; often working in contrast to the protagonist such as a villain.

10. Characters cont… Characters are often classified as:
STATIC (those who are barely revealed and/or don’t change throughout a story) or
DYNAMIC (those who change or transform throughout a story and are described at great length)

11. Characters cont…
Flat character - is a minor character in a work of fiction who does not undergo substantial change or growth in the course of a story.
Also referred to as "two-dimensional characters" 2D or "static characters," flat characters play a supporting role to the main character, who as a rule should be round
Round character - is a major character in a work of fiction who encounters conflict and is changed by it. A round character is depicted with such psychological depth and details that he or she seems like a "real" person.
Also referred to as “three-dimensional” 3D
Round characters tend to be more fully developed like 3and described than flat or static characters.
If you think of the characters you most love in fiction, they probably seem as real to you as people you know in real life. This is a good sign that they are round characters.

12. Characterization (Remember STEAL?)
Characterization refers to how characters are developed and depicted usually through the use of the narrator (the person telling the story).
Authors use a variety of methods to reveal their characters and to communicate information about them:
SPEECH - What a character says (dialogue) gives insight to his/her personality. Authors use dialogue skillfully in the short story to portray character, add suspense, and to dramatize conflict.
THOUGHTS - What a character thinks and feels (thoughts) offers a glimpse into what he/she is like
EFFECTS ON OTHERS - What others say or think about the character (inference) to gain insight about the character
ACTIONS - What a character does (actions) provides an impression for the reader
LOOKS - The physical description of the character: what he/she looks like! (narrator’s input)

13. Types of Characterization
There are two ways character is established:
Direct Characterization
This is where the author comes right out and tells the reader what a certain character is like.
Ex. In “Being Comfortable with being Weird”, the author/narrator calls a character a “superficial little wench.”
Indirect Characterization
This is where the author gives certain information and lets readers draw their own conclusions about the character.
Character’s Name (or nickname) ex “Mouse”
Character’s Appearance
What a Character says
What a Character thinks
What other people think/say about the character
What the character does. Actions speak louder than words.

14. Point of View Style also includes the point of view
Point of view refers to the perspective from which a story is told
There are THREE common points of view:
First-person point of view: the story is told by the protagonist, a minor character or an interested bystander using the pronouns I or we
Third-person OMNISCIENT point of view: all-seeing, all-knowing perspective. It reveals the thoughts and emotions of several characters using he, she, and they.
Third-person LIMITED point of view: uses the pronouns he, she and they, but tells the story from the perspective of one of the characters.

15. Theme
Theme is the main message or idea the author is trying to communicate in the story about life or human nature
It is generally an underlying idea or value about the very topic that the author wrote about
Themes are often universal truths that are suggested by the specifics of the story but it is not stated directly.
Theme is not directly stated
Most simply it CAN BE the moral or lesson BUT these are different concepts
Some examples:
Tragic Love in Romeo and Juliet
Fitting In in Being Comfortable with being Weird

16. Style-created through the use of several devices
The ‘style’ of a short story refers to the author’s particular way of writing. It is the way in which the writer uses language and writing techniques to create his/her story.
Some things that make up a writer’s style include:
Diction: choice of words
Types of sentences
Simple, compound, fragments
Use of stylistic devices and/or poetic language
(metaphor, simile, etc. and/or assonance, alliteration)
Tone: the language in a story that suggests the writer’s or narrator’s own attitude toward characters, objects, and topics in the story
Theme: the message itself indicates the author’s attitudes/beliefs
Rhetorical Devices
Point of View
Many devices can be used to create a specific outcome or effect.

17. Voice
Voice
Voice is the way a piece of writing uses language to indicate the type of character speaking.
Voice is created by the words chosen, whether the piece is formal or informal and descriptive language.
For example, a protagonist who is a teacher would likely speak differently from a criminal or a child.

18. Literary Devices
Literary devices are used to enhance the reader’s experience. Here are a few examples:
Simile – Comparisons between two things that doesn’t seem alike using “like” or “as”
(ie. She’s as light as a feather.)
Metaphor – A comparison between two things without using the words “like” or “as”
(eg. This class is a zoo, Her room is a pig sty.)
Personification – The author gives inanimate objects human qualities
(ie. The wind whispered through the trees.).
Allusion - a reference to another literary work, person, place, event, or object from history, literature, or mythology
(ie. “I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio’s.”)
Symbolism – the practice of representing things by items, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character.
(Ex. a dove means purity)

19. Literary Devices cont…
Foreshadowing – The author gives clues about what is going to happen later in the plot. It builds suspense and helps prepare the reader for what will happen later in the story
Suspense - That quality of a literary work that makes the reader or audience uncertain or tense about the outcome of events. Suspense makes the reader ask "What will happen next?".
Flashback - A literary or cinematic device in which an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronological order of a narrative.
Irony – Contrast between what appears to be and what really is.
Verbal irony – the intended meaning is the opposite of what one says (sarcasm)
Dramatic irony – the audience/ reader knows more than the characters in the story
Situational irony – the reversal of what we expect occurs (ex. a fire station burning down)