1. Short Stories

2. Techniques Glossary
Personification – giving human qualities to animals or objects
Alliteration – the repetition of a consonant sound. The effect is to provide a rhythm or beat and create a particular sound (harsh or soft)
Simile – comparison; saying one thing is “like” another, or one thing “as” another
TEE from “The Perfect Murder”

3. The Perfect Murder Character
Describe the main characteristics of the protagonist.
How does the descriptive language demonstrate their character traits (provide an example)?

4. The Perfect Murder Identify and Plot the action: Orientation
Complication
Series of events
Climax
Resolution
How does the sentence structure help advance the story (example)

5. The Perfect Murder Perspective and Tense
From whose perspective is the story written?
What tense is the story written in and how does this effect the reader’s understanding?
Re-write the last paragraph in a different tense.

6. Techniques Glossary Slang – highly informal language
Onomatopoeia – words that are written as they sound. They create a sound effect when spoken
Metaphor – a comparison between two things where you say one thing is another
TEE from “My Country”

7. My Country
Title
After reading the story, what is the significance of the title?
Character
How does the dialogue demonstrate the protagonist’s characteristics?

8. My Country
Action
Describe the ending of the story and what the message is to the reader.
Perspective and Tense
From whose perspective is the story told and how do we know this?
Re-write the last three paragraph’s (“Maybe he’s just realised ...”) from the father’s perspective.

9. Techniques Glossary
Repetition – words or phases used over and over to create emphasis
Juxtaposition – bringing two things together to compare them
Rhyme – end or beginning of the line. Creates a rhythm and emphasises particular words or ideas
Alliteration
TEE from “A Pound of Flesh”

10. A Pound of Flesh Structure
Describe how the story has been set out (pieces of information from magazines and author’s narrative).
What is the effect of this layout?
Tone
Compare the tone of voice in the parallel pieces of information (factual v descriptive)

11. A Pound of Flesh Perspective and Tense
From whose perspective is the story told?
Write a paragraph from the Mother’s point of view and in third person narrative.
Purpose
What could be the purpose of a story such as this? Is it purely to entertain?

12. Checklist for short stories
Minimal number of characters (2 or 3)
Read in one sitting
One major plot / incident
No unnecessary information – “Show not tell”
Action takes place over a short period of time

13. Structure
Set the scene – characters introduced and basic situation explained
Developing complication – something happens to the character/s
Rising Action
Crisis (climax)
Falling action – crisis sorted and tension fades
Denouement - conclusion

14. Creative Writing Task Choose 1 feature from each column story:
Character
Location
Goal
Obstacle
Grumpy Old Guy
Home
Olympic Medal
Death
Lawyer
Beach
To get to a party
Law/Police
Satan
Train station
Rule the World
Guilt
Bully
Traffic Jam
Famous
Religious Morals
Little person
Space Ship
Become a millionaire
Money

15. Creative Writing Task Using the structure – plan a creative story:
Outline the characters and basic situation (describe the location)
Describe what happens to the character/s
Outline the rising action (how the characters try to reach their goal despite their obstacles)
Outline the climax
Describe how the crisis is sorted including the conclusion

16. Glossary Words
Cliché: An overworked phrase. Often figurative e.g. ‘its raining cats and dogs’
Euphemism: A nice way of saying something not so nice e.g. When someone has died, we say they have ‘passed away’
Paradox: A seeming contradiction in words, designed to shock initially and then convey and important truth e.g. The child is father to the man

17. Glossary Words
Hyperbole: A deliberate exaggeration for effect e.g. All the oceans in the world couldn’t clean this hand
Colloquial: Everyday, informal language e.g. dunno, can’t
Jargon: Language used by a particular group of people e.g. Technical jargon (talking about interfaces and RAM)

18. Glossary Words Parody: An imitation; to satirise, be funny
Biased: A logic that leans one way
Idiom: Localised language. The words used by people in a particular location

19. Expressions Narrative Style
Describe what is different about the narrative style of this story compared to others we have read?
What is the effect?
Setting
Describe the setting of the story.

20. Expressions Language Techniques
Identify ONE language technique and use the TEE template to explain its effectiveness
Ending
Discuss the effectiveness of the ending. What is the implication of the last word.