1. Writing a Short Story
“What I am trying to achieve is a voice sitting by a fireplace telling you a story on a winter’s evening.”
Truman Capote

2. Thinking About Purpose and Audience
be creative
Characters
Settings
Plot/Conflict
Entertain your Audience
Know their interests and knowledge
Share an idea
theme

3. Tone
Tone= attitude you take towards your characters and the events in your story
Communicate through details and word choice
Consider Point of View
A story is always told by a narrator (who is not the author)
First Person
Third-Person Limited
Third-Person Omniscient

4. Consider Point of View
At the rear of the column, Private First Class Paul Berlin lay quietly with his forehead resting on the black plastic stock rifle, his eyes closed. He was pretending he was not in war, pretending he had not watched Billy Boy Watkins die of a heart attack that afternoon. He was pretending he was a boy again, camping with his father in the midnight summer along the Des Moines River. In the dark, with his eyes pinched shut, he pretended.
Tim O’Brien, “Where Have You Gone Charming Billy?”

5. The Basic Elements of Stories
Characters
Telling readers what the character is like
Describing how the character looks and dresses
Having the character speak
Revealing the character’s thoughts and feelings
Showing how other characters feel about or behave toward the character
Showing the character’s actions

6. The Basic Elements of Stories
Dialogue
Do the words and sentences fit the characters?
Does the dialogue move the story along?
Do dialogue tags (“they said, he groaned, she screamed) identify the speaker and add interest.

7. Punctuating Dialogue Remember these points when proofreading dialogue:
Begin a new paragraph when the speaker changes.
Use quotation marks around the speaker’s words.
Separate dialogue tags from the rest of the sentence with a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation point.
Do not capitalize the second half of a sentence that is separated by the dialogue tag.
“Don’t go,” he pleaded, “until we’ve finished reviewing for the test.”

8. Make a Story Map Point of View: Third-person Characters:
Maria Silvano, 16, only child; excited about getting her driver’s license
Maria’s mother, a widow; protective of Maria; afraid for Maria to drive
Carol, Maria’s friend
Setting: Maria’s town, after school, modern times
Plot:
Conflict-Maria wants her driver’s license , but her mother won’t let her get it because she is afraid to let her drive alone.
Events: 1. Maria’s mother arrives late to take Maria to get her license.
2. Maria and her mother argue 3. Maria takes the test and passes…
Outcome: Mrs. Silvano decides she has to trust Maria and lets her take the car.