1. Elements of Short stories

2. Carousel Brainstorming

3. Introduction Rap
Elements of Short Stories Rap

4. Why do people write?
To try and explain why people act the way that they do

5. Setting The time and location in which a story takes place
Place: geographical location
Time: When is the story taking place?
Historical Period
Time of Day
Time of Year

6. Plot How the author arranges events to develop the basic idea
The sequence of events in a story or play
Introduction/Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Conclusion/Denouement

7. Five Essential elements of Plot
Introduction (Exposition): the beginning of the story where the characters and the setting is revealed
Rising Action: the events of the story become complicated and the conflict of the story is revealed
Events between introduction and climax

8. Five Essential Elements of Plot
Climax: the highest point of interest and the turning point of the story.
What will happen next?
Will the conflict be resolved or not?
Falling Action: the events and issues in the story begin to resolve themselves
Was the conflict resolved?
Events between climax and denouement

9. Five Essential Elements of Plot
Resolution (Denouement): Final outcome or untangling of events in the story
French word for “untying”

11. Conflict
A situation or problem that a character has to try and resolve
A constant, ongoing struggle that the main character is trying to find a solution to
Two Types:
Internal
External

12. Conflict Two Types of Conflict:
External: a struggle with a force outside the character
Internal: a struggle within a character; a character has to make a decision, overcome pain, quiet their temper, resist an urge, etc.

13. Types of Conflict: External
Man vs. Man: the main character struggles with another character
Good guy vs. bad guy
Man vs. Circumstances: the main character struggles against fate or the circumstances of life facing him/her
Hamlet

14. Types of conflict: External
Man vs. Society: the main character struggles against ideas, practices, or customs in their society
Man vs. Nature: the main character struggles against nature, a natural disaster, or animals
A struggle to survive

15. Internal Conflict
Man vs. Himself: the main character’s struggle takes place in his/her own mind. Usually has something to do with a choice (choosing between right and wrong), or it may have to do with overcoming emotions or mixed feelings

16. Character Character: the people in a work of fiction
Character Development: the change in the person from the beginning to the end of the story
Characterization: the way a person looks, talks, acts, or thinks

17. Character
Protagonist: main character of the story who is faced with a conflict
Usually the “hero” or good guy
Antagonist: person who goes against the main character who may contribute to the conflict
Usually the “villain” or bad guy

18. Point of view First Person Point of View
One of the characters in the story is telling the story through their perspective, or through their own eyes
When reading stories written in first person, we need to realize that what the narrator is saying is based on their own personal feelings

19. Point of view Third Person Omniscient Point of View
The narrator is not a character in the story
The narrator is an outside voice that lets us know exactly how the characters feel.
We learn about the characters through this outside voice.

20. Point of View Objective Point of View
The writer tells what happens without stating more than can be inferred from the story's action and dialogue.
The narrator never tells anything about what the characters think or feel, remaining a detached observer.

21. Theme Controlling idea in a piece of fiction or its central insight
The author’s underlying meaning
Main idea the author is trying to explain
The theme may be an author’s thoughts about a topic or view of human nature
Examples of Common Themes from Literature, TV, and Film:
Things are not always what they appear to be
Love is blind
Believe in yourself
Evil exists in the world

22. Irony When the opposite of what you expect to happen takes place
Verbal Irony: when someone says one thing, but really means another
Kind of like sarcasm

23. Symbol
Person, place, thing, or event that stands for itself and for something beyond itself
Example: heart stands for the actual organ and for love

24. Flashback
A scene in a story that interrupts the present action of the plot to flash backwards and tell what happened at an earlier time

25. Flash-Forward
A scene in a story that interrupts the present action of the plot and goes into the future