1. Short story elements

2. CHARACTERIZATION
This is how the author develops/describes the characters.

3. Direct characterization
When the author tells you about the character
No guessing
You can actually point to the description on the page
For example:
“His face was round and he was chubby. His hair was straw-colored and his cheeks were always red.”

4. INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
The author gives hints/clues about the characters
Description is not specifically stated
You must INFER
For example:
“Now there was a cold silence between my mother and my father. Lately, it had been happening more and more often.”
We can infer that there is conflict between his parents, even though the author does not say it directly.

5. conflict
A problem
There are two types: internal and external

6. External conflict A problem outside of the character
Man vs. man, man vs. nature, etc.
For example:
Timothy and Phillip vs. the storm

7. Internal conflict
A problem the character has within his or herself (in their mind)
For example:
Phillip was wondering whether he should trust Timothy.

8. plot Exposition Inciting incident Rising action Climax Falling action
Resolution

9. Exposition- The beginning of the story, before any conflict happens
Inciting incident- When the conflict first begins
Rising action- The conflict/problem begins to increase
Climax- The peak of the problem- the conflict does not get any worse from here
Falling action- The problem begins to wrap up
- Resolution- The problem is solved and/or the story ends

10. For example:
Exposition: Mary stretches and begins to wake up.
Inciting incident: She rolls over and sees 8:30 on the alarm clock.
Rising action: Mary jumps out of bed as she realizes she’s late for work.
Climax: Ten minutes later she is in her car driving to work but gets stuck in a major traffic jam. No one is moving.
Falling action: The DJ on the radio wishes everyone a happy Saturday. Mary realizes it’s actually the weekend!
Resolution: Mary turns the car around and heads home to enjoy the rest of her weekend.

11. setting Time and place For example:
The Cay took place in 1942 in Curacao.

12. theme A lesson/message
Cannot be summed up in just one word- needs to be a statement or sentence
Universal: something that most people can relate to
For example:
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a theme we could learn from The Cay after Phillip forms a friendship with Timothy.

13. Point of view How a story is told The narrator
1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person limited, 3rd person omniscient

14. 1st Person point of view Told using “I”
The narrator is a character in the story
For example:
The Cay uses 1st person p.o.v. Timothy is telling the story using “I.”

15. 2nd Person point of view Almost never used Told saying “you”
For example:
You walk through a forest and encounter a magical, talking fox. It takes you to a cabin in the woods that you swear was not there a minute ago…

16. 3RD PERSON LIMITED POINT OF VIEW
The narrator is not a character in the story
Told using “he,” “she,” etc. NOT “I”
The narrator may have access to one character’s thoughts
For example:
He decided to steal the five dollars that was sticking out of his mom’s bag. She won’t even know it’s missing, he thought to himself.

17. 3rd person omniscient point of view
- The same as 3rd person limited EXCEPT the narrator has access to all character’s thoughts
For example:
The classroom was silent. Maddie thought the silence was creepy but Rebecca found it relaxing. She could finally concentrate long enough to complete the difficult math problem they’d been assigned.

18. symbol Something that represents/stands for something else
Emojis are symbols on your phone/online but NOT a symbol in literature!
For example, two common symbols in literature are:
A dove represents peace
Green represents greed, money