1. The Short Story A Presentation By Mrs. Anisa Mujawar

2. Definition single event or experience Fictional (not true)
500 to 15,000 words in length
Beginning, middle, and end
Creates an impression on the reader

3. Elements
Setting
Characters
Plot
Conflict
Theme
Point of View

4. Setting Time and place are where the action occurs
Details that describe:
Furniture
Scenery
Customs
Transportation
Clothing
Dialects
Weather
Time of day
Time of year

5. Elements of a Setting

6. Setting To create a mood or atmosphere
We left the home place behind, mile by slow mile, heading for the mountains, across the prairie where the wind blew forever.
At first there were four of us with one horse wagon and its skimpy load. Pa and I walked, because I was a big boy of eleven. My two little sisters romped and trotted until they got tired and had to be boosted up to the wagon bed.
That was no covered Conestoga, like Pa’s folks came West in, but just an old farm wagon, drawn by one weary horse, creaking and rumbling westward to the mountains, toward the little woods town where Pa thought he had an old uncle who owned a little two-bit sawmill.
To create a mood or atmosphere
To show a reader a different way of life
To make action seem more real
To be the source of conflict or struggle
To symbolize an idea
Taken from “The Day the Sun Came Out” by D. Johnson

7. Point of View
Point of view refers to the relationship of the narrator, or storyteller, to the story.
In first-person point of view, the narrator is a character in the story, referred to as “I.”
In third-person limited point of view, the narrator reveals the thoughts of only one character, referring to that character as “he” or “she.”
In third-person omniscient point of view, the narrator knows everything about the story’s events and reveals the thoughts of all the characters.

8. Characters People or animals Major characters Minor characters
Round characters
Flat characters

9. Characterization
A writer reveals what a character is like and how the character changes throughout the story.
Two primary methods of characterization:
Direct- writer tells what the character is like
Indirect- writer shows what a character is like by describing what the character looks like, by telling what the character says and does, and by what other characters say about and do in response to the character.

10. Elements of Character

11. Analyzing Characters Physical appearance of character Personality
Background/personal history
Motivation
Relationships
Conflict
Does character change?

12. Plot
Plot is what happens and how it happens in a narrative. A narrative is any work that tells a story, such as a short story, a novel, a drama, or a narrative poem.

13. Parts of a Plot
Inciting incident – event that gives rise to conflict (opening situation)
Development- events that occur as result of central conflict (rising action)
Climax- highest point of interest or suspense of story
Resolution- when conflict ends
Denouement- when characters go back to their life before the conflict

14. Diagram of Plot Climax Resolution Development/ Rising Action
Introduction
Denouement
Inciting incident/ Opening situation

15. Special Techniques of Plot
Suspense- excitement or tension
Foreshadowing- hint or clue about what will happen in story
Flashback- interrupts the normal sequence of events to tell about something that happened in the past
Surprise Ending- conclusion that reader does not expect

16. Conflict Conflict is a struggle between opposing forces
Every plot must contain some kind of conflict
Stories can have more than one conflict
Conflicts can be external or internal
External conflict- outside force may be person, group, animal, nature, or a nonhuman obstacle
Internal conflict- takes place in a character’s mind

17. Conflict Conflict is generally categorized in the following ways:
Man versus Man: this is an external struggle between two characters
Man versus Society: this is an external struggle between a character and a social force or condition produced by society, such as poverty, political revolution, or a set of values
Man versus Nature: this is an external struggle between a character and some natural obstacle or natural condition
Man versus Self: this is an internal struggle within a character, where aspects of his or her personality may struggle for dominance. These aspects may be emotional, intellectual, or moral.

18. Theme
A central message, concern, or insight into life expressed through a literary work
Can be expressed by one or two sentence statement about human beings or about life
May be stated directly or implied
Interpretation uncovers the theme

19. Great writers are able to use the elements of the short story with such precision that the reader is caught up in the action of the story. This is a mark of a good story and our goal as a writer.

20. Famous Short storyn writers
Aesop (6th Century B.C.)Grimm Brothers (1785/1786)
Edgar Allan Poe ( ) Herman Melville ( ) Kate Chopin ( )

21. Thanks!