Elements of a Short Story

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Elements of a Short Story

• Genre- A type or category (of literature, film,
  etc.) Examples novel, musical, drama.

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Definition of Short Story

• A brief fictional narrative, written in prose.
• Fictional Untrue
• Narrative A Story
• Prose Written in full sentences, paragraph
  style with everyday language (as opposed to
  poetry)

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History of the Short Story

• 1. The origin of man-oral tradition

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Bible- parables stories with morals/lessons
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Allegory

• work in which the characters and events are to be
  understood as representing other things and
  symbolically expressing a deeper, often
  spiritual, moral, or political meaning

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Greek/Roman Period Incidents/Epics
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Middle Ages
Knights Fables
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• 1800s
• Short Stories

Edgar Allen Poe
Washington Irving
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Recipe for a Short Story

• There are 5 main ingredients in a Short Story
• Add 1 Lg. helping of the most important
  ingredient, CHARACTER
• Now fold SETTING into the batter and stir
• Add PLOT and mix well
• Whip in POINT OF VIEW and
• Finally stir in THEME

ENJOY!
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Plot
The series of events (action) that takes place in
a story.
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PLOT / CONFLICT

• The arrangement of ideas and or incidents which
  lead, by cause and effect, from the opening of
  the story to the climax is called the PLOT.
•  
• Plot is most often about a conflict or struggle
  that the main character goes through. The
  conflict can be with another character, or with
  the way things are, or with something inside the
  character, like needs or feelings.

Plot Outline Scientists clone dinosaurs to
populate a theme park which suffers a major
security breakdown and releases the dinosaurs
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mentsLit.htm
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PLOT / CONFLICT

• Narrative tradition calls for developing stories
  with particular piecesplot elementsin place.
• Exposition is the information needed to
  understand a story.
• Narrative Hook catches the readers attention and
  makes the reader want to keep reading
• Rising Action the series of conflicts and crisis
  in the story that lead to the climax
• Climax is the turning point in the story that
  occurs when characters try to resolve the
  complication.
• Falling Action all of the action which follows
  the climax
• Resolution is the set of events that bring the
  story to a close.

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mentsLit.html http//www.learner.org/cgi-bin/htsea
rch?wordsshortstoryconfigcomplete
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Plot Diagram
Narrative Hook
Climax
Exposition
Resolution
Rising Action
Falling Action
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Theme

• The authors purpose for
• writing the story--the
• message that the reader
• receives.

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THEME

• The theme is the main idea of the story, often a
  moral or lesson.
• Theme also may reflect the authors general
  comment on the world in which we live.
• The theme is the message of the story. The theme
  is not the same thing as the plot, which is
  usually used by the writer to illustrate the
  theme.
• Example
• Theme A good man will help anyone who needs
  help, regardless of whether that person is an
  enemy.
• Plot A certain man was traveling from Jerusalem
  to Jericho when he fell among thieves

http//www.trinity.edu/departments/education/SACK/
Short20Stories20Outline.htm http//www.yale.edu/
ynhti/curriculum/units/1983/3/83.03.09.x.htmlg
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THEME

• In American literature, several themes are
  evident which reflect and define our society.
• The dominant ones might be
• innocence/experience, life/death,
• madness/sanity, love/hate,
• society/individual, known/unknown.

• Disney's 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had
  themes about the virtues of hard work,
  solidarity, cheerfulness, and industriousness.
  What would this have meant to a Depression-era
  audience?

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mentsLit.html http//course1.winona.msus.edu/pjohn
son/h140/snow_white.htm
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SETTING

• The Setting is time and location in which the
  story takes place. Setting helps you understand
  the characters.
• Location, location, location!
• Whether its a physical locale that is exotic,
  or a turbulent historical period, making unique
  and intriguing choices automatically transforms
  any story.

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m http//www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary http//w
ww.thewindjammer.com/smfs/newsletter/html/sameold.
html
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SETTING

• Every story would be another story, and
  unrecognizable if it took up its characters and
  plot and happened somewhere else
• Author
  Eudora Welty

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shortstoryconfigcomplete
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Mood
Mood
Mood
For example peaceful, threatening, scary
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CHARACTER

• The most important element of a short story is
  Character the people the story is about.
• The main character of a story is called the
  Protagonist. S/he may be good or bad, or a
  combination of the two, but the action revolves
  around her/him.
• protagonist a the principal character
  in a literary work (as a drama or story) b a
  leading actor, character, or participant in a
  literary work or real event

Elements of a Short Story -J.Weston Walch,
Publisher http//www.apple.com/trailers/columbia/s
piderman/ http//www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary
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CHARACTER

• Remember the main character is the
  protagonist--the major person.
• An antagonist is any character, feeling, or
  situation which acts against the protagonist in
  any way.
• antagonist - one that contends with or
  opposes another adversary, opponent

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.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary http//www.tsufl.edu/p
jmoran/eng1102/1102w1.htm
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CHARACTER

• Short stories are often populated with characters
  other than the protagonist or antagonist.
• Minor character--often provides support and
  illuminates the protagonist, sometimes called the
  foil.
• Static character--A character who remains
  fundamentally the same.
• Dynamic character--A character who changes in
  some important way.
• Characters who are not developed in the story are
  called flat characters.
• Characters who are shown in many lights are
  called round characters.

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Characters

• We learn about a character through
• DADI

• Description of the character

• Actions of the character

• Dialogue of the character

• Interaction with other characters
• .

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POINT OF VIEW

• Point of View - pertains to who tells the story
  and the relationship of the narrator to the
  characters in the story.
• The action in a short story can be seen through-
• 1) third person omniscient point of view the
  narrator knows all the thoughts, motives and
  feelings of each character
• 2) limited third person the narrator can
  describe the characters and what they do and say
  but not their thoughts and feelings.
• 3) first person the main character tells his own
  story and refers to himself as I.

My Mama said life is like a box of chocolate
http//www.trinity.edu/departments/education/SACK/
Short20Stories20Outline.htm
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Literary Terms
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Imagery

• Use of words that appeal to the senses
• Smell---the rancid odor of decaying flesh
• Sight---the brilliant colors of the twilight sky
• Taste---the flavor was that of dirty mud covered
  in moss
• Example
• The wind had blown off, leaving a loud bright
  night with wings beating in the trees and a
  persistent organ sound as the full bellows of the
  earth blew the frogs full of life. F. Scott
  Fitzgerald

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Symbolism

• Author uses something that represents more than
  what it is.
• Something stands for something else
• IE The flag represents freedom, liberty, etc.

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Flashback

• Tell something that happened earlier

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Conflict

• Problem to be solved
• Five types

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Person vs. self
Person vs. Person
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Person vs. Nature
Person vs. Society
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Person vs. Higher Power
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Complications

• Events that stand in the way of the conflict
  being resolved.

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Irony

• When the opposite happens from what you think
  would happen

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Word Choice

• Vocabulary

• Sentence Structure

• Use of special devices
• (foreshadowing, flashback,
• personification)

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Authors Style

• Use of irony (one thing is
• expected, but another thing
• happens.)

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Authors Style
current
past
Charles Dickens
Steven King
Langston Hughes
John Grisham
Willam Shakespeare