Elements of Short Stories

What makes up a short story?

How should these elements come together?

Are there guidelines to follow?

5 Elements of Plot

Setting: environment of the story

Details: exposition/rising action

Conflict: central struggle (story problem)

Climax: highest point of tension

Resolution: falling action

Setting

Setting: The environment that the story takes place in.

When: past? present? future? specific? vague?

Where: home? Ship? different places?

Mood: established by author

Conflict

2 Types: Internal: within a character’s mind

External: forces battling outside a character

4 Categories of conflict:

Character vs. Character (E)

Character vs. Self (I)

Character vs. Nature (E)

Character vs. Society (I)

Characterization

Direct Characterization: When an author tells the reader directly about a character.

Indirect Characterization: When the author shows the character in action and lets the reader draw their own conclusions.

Characterization

5 Ways we learn about characterization

What the author directly tells us.

What the main character says.

What the main character thinks.

What the main character does (actions).

What other characters say, think, or act.

Characterization: The methods a writer uses to communicate information about characters to readers.

Climax: The moment when the action comes to its highest point of dramatic conflict. Most often, the climax occurs before the actual ending of the story.

Main Conflict: The central source of tension and drama in the story. Conflict is sometimes referred to as the story problem.

Mood: The overall feeling ~ light and happy or dark and brooding, for example ~ created by an author’s choice of words.

Setting: The environment in which the story takes place.

Theme: The story’s main ideas—the “message” that the author intends to communicate by telling the story. Themes are often universal truths that are suggested by the specifics in the story.