Elements of Short Stories

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Elements of Short Stories

• PowerPoint adapted from

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Setting

• The setting is the place where the story takes
  place. Setting includes the following
• The geographical location
• For example London, Cairo, Halifax, Vancouver
• The time period
• For example 1865, during WWII, today
• The socio-economic characteristics of the
  location
• For example wealthy suburbs
• The specific building, room etc.
• For example a prep school, a log cabin, a bus, a
  military base

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SettingCan be used to tell readers about the
characters

• That evening T.J. smelled the air, his nostrils
  dilating with the odor of the earth under his
  feet. Its spring, he said, and there was
  gladness rising in his voice that filled us all
  with the same feeling.
• Its mighty late for it, but its spring We
  were all sniffing at

the air, too, trying to smell it the way that
T.J. did, and I can still remember the sweet odor
of the earth under our feet. It was the first
time in my life that spring and spring earth had
meant anything to me.
Antaeus by Borden Deal
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SettingCan be used to set the atmosphere for the
story

• During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless
  day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds
  hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been
  passing alone, on horseback, though a singularly
  dreary tract of country.
• The Fall of the House of Usher
• by Edgar Allan Poe

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CharactersThe people (or animals, things, etc.
presented as people) appearing in a literary work.

• Round Characters are convincing, true to life.
  Have many different and sometimes even
  contradictory personality traits.
• Dynamic Characters undergo some type of change or
  development in story, often because of something
  that happens to them
• Flat Characters are stereotyped, shallow, and
  often symbolic. Have only one or two personality
  traits
• Static Characters do not change in the course of
  the story

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Characters

• Protagonist The main character in a literary
  work (for instance, Charles in Here There Be
  Tygers or Cinderella or Snow White in the fairy
  tales named for their characters)

• Antagonist The character who opposes the
  protagonist (for instance, Miss Bird in Here
  There Be Tygers or the wicked stepmothers in the
  fairy tales)

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Methods of Characterization
Direct Characterization The author develops the
personality of a character by direct statements.

• Jack had been in basic training in Florida and
  Dottie was there on vacation with her parents.
  Theyd met on the beach and struck up a
  conversation. Dottie was the talker, the outgoing
  one the extrovert. Jack was too shy around
  girls to say much at all.
• Furlough 1944 by Harry Mazer

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Methods of Characterization

• Indirect Characterization Revealing a
  characters personality through
• The characters thoughts, words, and actions
• The comments of other characters
• The characters physical appearance

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Indirect Characterization through Thoughts

• Moonbeam closed his eyes and pretended to sleep
  the rest of the way to Bamfield. He couldnt
  believe what he had gotten himself into. How had
  this happened? Hed never held a gun in his life,
  much less gone hunting for animals.
• Moonbeam Dawson and the Killer Bear
• by Jean Okimoto

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Indirect Characterization through Words

• It was Kenny Griffen, smiling complacently.
  Miss Bird sent me after you cause you been gone
  six years. Youre in trouble yer constipated!
  Kenny chortled gleefully. Waitll I tell
  Caaathy!
• Here There Be Tygers by Stephen King

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Indirect Characterization through Actions

• The boy held his breath he wondered whether
  his father would hear his heart beating Through
  a crack in the counter he could see his father
  where he stood, one hand held to his high stiff
  collar
• I Spy by Graham Greene

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Indirect Characterization through Appearance

• Miss Kinney was young and blonde and bouncy and
  had a boyfriend who picked her up after school in
  a blue Camaro.
• Here There Be Tygers by Stephen King

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Plot

• Plot is how the author arranges events to
  develop his/her basic idea. It is the sequence of
  events in a story or play. The plot is a planned,
  logical series of events having a beginning,
  middle and end.

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Plot Components

• Introduction The start of the story, the
  situation before the action starts
• Rising Action The series of conflicts and crisis
  in the story that lead to the climax
• Climax / Turning Point The most intense moment
  either mentally or in action the reader wonders
  what will happen next will the conflict be
  resolved or not?
• Falling Action The events and complications
  begin to resolve themselves. (The events between
  the climax and the resolution)
• Resolution The conclusion, the untangling of
  events in the story

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Plot Conflict

• Conflict is the dramatic struggle between two
  forces in a story. Without conflict there is no
  plot.

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Plot Types of Conflict

• External Conflict
• Human vs. Human
• Human vs. Nature
• Human vs. Society
• Human vs. Fate/Supreme being

• Internal Conflict
• Human vs. Self

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Point of View

• The angle or perspective from which the story is
  told
• Who is telling the story?
• For instance, is it a player on the home team or
  someone watching the game?
• How do we know what is happening?
• For instance, does a character tell us?

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First Person Point of View

• Told from the viewpoint of one of the characters,
  using the first person pronoun I.
• The thousands of injuries of Fortunato I had
  borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon
  insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the
  nature of my soul, will not suppose, however,
  that I give utterance to a threat.
• The Cask of Amontillado
• by Edgar Allan Poe

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• Stream of Consciousness The story is told so
  that the reader feels as if they are inside the
  head of one character and knows all their
  thoughts and reactions.

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Second Person Point of View

• The main character in the story is referred to
  using the second person pronoun you.
• Rubbing your aching head, you take in the scene
  around you. Nearby you see a narrow dirt road,
  and beyond it a fast-running brook. The road
  disappears into dense woods on either side of the
  field.
• You hear the sound of hooves, and a strange
  clanking noise. Someone is coming! You duck
  behind a tree as two men on horseback ride toward
  you. They are wearing shining metal armor. One of
  them carries a white banner with a golden lion on
  it. They must be knights! You watch as they rein
  in their horses and dismount just a few yards
  away.
• Choose Your Own Adventure The Forbidden Castle
  by Edward Packard

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Third Person Point of View

• The story is told using a narrator who is located
  outside of the action of the story and uses third
  person pronouns such as he, she, his,
  her, they etc.
• Third Person Point of View can be broken up into
  three different types
• Omniscient
• Limited Omniscient
• Objective

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Omniscient Point of View

• The narrator has the power to show the reader
  what is happening though a number of characters
  eyes.
• Myop carried a short knobby stick. She struck
  out at random at chickens she liked, and worked
  out the beat of a song on the fence around the
  pigpen. She felt light and good in the warm sun.
  She was ten, and nothing existed for her but her
  son, the stick she clutched in her dark brown
  hand, and the tat-de-ta-ta-ta of accompaniment.
• The Flowers by Alice Walker

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Limited Omniscient Point of View

• Third person, told from the viewpoint of a
  character in the story.
• They all laughed, and while they were laughing,
  the quiet boy moved his bare foot on the sidewalk
  and merely touched, brushed against a number of
  red ants that were scurrying about on the
  sidewalk. Secretly his eyes shining, while his
  parents chatted with the old man, he saw the ants
  hesitate, quiver, and lie still on the cement. He
  sensed they were cold now.
• Fever Dream by Ray Bradbury

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Objective Point of View

• Third person, told as if from a camera that
  follows the characters. Only what is said and
  done is recorded.
• Jennifer stirred in bed. The cotton sheet clung
  to her body as she rolled to face the nightstand.
  With eyes half open, she reached over to switch
  the alarm clock off when the man in the shadows
  reached out and grabbed her arm. Her scream
  pierced the quiet night and died abruptly as she
  was forced violently back into the dark
  oblivion.
• Objective Point of View writesville.com

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Theme

• Theme is the central idea or central message of
  the story. It usually contains some insight into
  the human condition telling something about
  humans and life.
• The theme can be stated directly or implied by
  the events and actions in the story.

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Types of Irony

• Verbal Irony  This is the contrast between what
  is said and what is meant. In other words
  sarcasm.
• Dramatic Irony  This is the contrast between
  what the character thinks to be true and what we
  (the reader) know to be true.  Sometimes as we
  read we are placed in the position of knowing
  more than what one character knows.  Because we
  know something the character does not, we read to
  discover how the character will react when he or
  she learns the truth of the situation. 
• Situational Irony  This is the most common in
  literature.  It is the contrast between what
  happens and what was expected (or what would seem
  appropriate).  Because it emerges from the events
  and circumstances of a story it is often more
  subtle and effective than verbal or dramatic
  irony.

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SymbolismA symbol represents an idea, quality,
or concept larger than itself.

• A journey can symbolize life
• Water may represent cleanliness
• and renewal

• A lion can be
• a symbol of courage.
• A red rose
• can
• represent
• love.

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Flashback

• This is a writers technique in which the author
  interrupts the plot of the story to recreate an
  incident of an earlier time (goes back in time
  like giving the reader a memory).  This device is
  often used to provide additional information to
  the reader.

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Foreshadowing

• This is a writers technique in which the author
  provides clues or hints as to what is going to
  happen later in the story.  Its like the music
  in a scary movie when we know that something bad
  is about to happen.