Short Stories

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Short Stories
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Short story definition

• Brief work of fiction

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Elements of A Short Story

• Character
• Plot
• Point of View

• Setting
• Theme

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Plot

• The sequence of events in a literary work.

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Plot elements

• Plot is built on five main parts
• - Exposition
• Rising Action
• Climax
• Falling Action
• Resolution (Denouement)

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Plot Line
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Plot

• Exposition introduces setting, characters,
  basic situation introduction
• Rising Action- inciting incident central
  conflict introduced leads to climax
• Climax high point of interest or suspense
  turning point light bulb moment

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Plot

• Falling Action - Conflict begins to resolve
  story tapers off leads to resolution
• Resolution Denouement end of story conflicts
  resolved

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Character

• Person, animal, natural force or object in a
  story or play.

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Characterization

• Authors way of revealing the personality of a
  character

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Characterization

• Direct Characterization - Writer directly states
  characters traits tells reader what kind of
  person the character is.
• Indirect Characterization Author provides
  clues reader must use own judgment to identify
  personality traits of a character

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CharacterIndirect Characterization

• Five methods for revealing character
• - Actions (what he does)
• Appearance (what he looks like)
• - Other characters reactions
• Speech (how he speaks what he says)
• Thoughts (what he thinks)
• Most effective techniques

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Characterization

• Static character does NOT change during story
• Dynamic character develops and grows during story

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Characterization

• Flat character Shows only one personality trait
  cartoon character
• Round character Many different personality
  traits (virtues vices)

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Characterization

• Protagonist Main character often changes may
  NOT be the good guy
• Antagonist Character or force in conflict with
  protagonist
• may NOT be the bad guy

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Conflict

• Struggle between opposing forces
• Internal character struggles with self
• e.g. fear vs. duty/ duty vs. pride/ training
  vs. instinct
• External character struggles against outside
  forces

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External Conflict

• Man vs. man
• Man vs. nature
• Man vs. society
• Man vs. fate/destiny

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Character Dialogue

• Conversation between characters
• May reveal traits advance action
• Indicated by quotation marks
• New paragraph change of speaker

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Character Motivation

• Reasons character thinks, feels, acts, or behaves
  in certain way
• Result of personality situation

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Narrator

• Speaker/character who tells story
• NOT always the author!
• Choice of narrator determines POV

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Point of View POV

• Vantage point from which
• the author tells the story
• Controls info (type amount)
• the author reveals

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First Person POV

• One of characters tells story, using pronoun I
• May be reliable narrator
• May be unreliable narrator

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Third Person POV

• Voice outside story narrates story using 3rd
  person pronouns,
• e.g. he, she, they
• Two types
• Limited one character
• Omniscient all characters

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Third Person Limited POV

• Narrator sees the world through one characters
  eyes
• Reveals only that one characters thoughts.

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Third Person Omniscient POV

• All Knowing
• Narrator outside the story tells readers what all
  characters think and feel.

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Setting

• Time and place of action in a story or play
• Time historical period, year, season, climate,
  time of day
• Place geographic, social, economic, cultural

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Setting can provide/reveal

• Atmosphere mood or feeling created in reader
• Background place for characters to live act
• Character how he lives where he lives
• Conflict something against which character must
  fight

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Setting

• One of oldest story plots in the world
• a person fights against something in the
  physical world
• drought, horde of ants, heat of the desert,
  storm, shipwreck, etc.

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Theme

• Central idea or message or insight into life
  contained in the story
• Subject/topic
• answer to question
• What about it?
• THEME

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Theme

• A theme reveals something about a subject
• Subject of story is NOT theme of story
• Subject topic of story
• e.g. love, war, greed, journey
• Love is a subject, NOT a theme.
• Ask yourself. . . What about love?

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Theme

• Stated author directly reveals message, e.g.
  moral at end of folk/fairy tale
• Implied author indirectly suggests his belief
  about people or life
• reader must figure it out.

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Finding a Theme

• Does the title signify something important about
  the story?
• Does the main character change during the story?
  Does he realize something he didnt know before?
• Are there any important statements about life or
  people made in the story - by the words/actions
  of the narrator or characters?

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Other Terms to Know

• Allusion reference in a story that refers to
  Bible, history, or work of literature/art
• Dialect way a character speaks
• (directly related to setting
• time period)

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Other Terms to Know

• Feelings/ attitudes
• Mood (atmosphere) Feeling created in reader by
  story details
• Tone writers attitude toward audience or
  subject
• e.g. formal or informal, serious or playful,
  bitter or ironic

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Other Terms to Know

• Flashback info/material that occurred earlier
  than present time of narrative
• Foreshadowing clues suggest events yet to occur
  in story creates suspense
• Frame story story within a story,
• e.g. Arabian Nights

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Irony is a contrast or difference between

• Between expectation and reality
• (between what is expected to happen and what
  really happens)
• Between what is said and what is
• really meant
• Between appearance and reality
• (between what appears to be true vs.
• what is really true)

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Types of Irony

• Verbal - writer or speaker says one thing but
  means another
• Situational - what we expect to happen is
  different than what actually happens
• Dramatic - Audience or reader knows what is
  happening but the characters do not.
• (Audience knows characters dont)

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Other Terms to Know

• Suspense - The uncertain feeling about what is
  going to happen next in a story.

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Other Terms to Know

• Symbol - Anything that stands for or represents
  another person, object, or abstract idea
• e.g. Red rose ?
• American flag ?
• storm ?

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Symbol

• Conventional universal representations, e.g.
  flags
• Personal created by author through emphasis or
  repetition
• e.g. scarlet ibis