1. Analyzing Stories Introducing the Elements of a Story

2. The following presentation includes many terms used to describe the elements or parts of a story. You will find this information helpful when you write or talk about short stories, novels, etc.

3. The Basic Elements of a Story are: The title of the story The author The setting The Characters The Conflict

4. The Point of View The Tone The Plot The Turning point or climax The Resolution

5. T he Title of the Story The title of the story usually provides the reader a hint or clue of what the story will be about. Most of the time, the title appears in the initial page of the story. The title is usually written in bigger letters.

6. The Author Most of the stories that are written have explicit authors. The author is the person that writes the story, article or literary work. The stories that do not have explicit authors are said to be anonymous or that the author is unknown.

7. The Setting The setting of the story refers to the specific time and place of development of the story. To identify the setting of a story, the students must ask themselves the following questions: Where does the story take place? When does the story take place?

8. Setting Place Where? Time When?

9. The characters The characters are the persons or animals that perform the action in a story. The most important character in a story, novel, or play is called the main character or protagonist. A piece of literature may have more than one main character.

10. The other characters that are necessary for the development of the story's plot but are less important are called the secondary characters.

11. The Conflict A problem or struggle between two opposing forces in a story. There are five basic types of conflicts: Man vs. man ( person against person) Man vs. himself ( person against self) Man vs. society Man vs. nature Man vs. fate ( God)

12. Man vs. man One character has a problem with another character or characters

13. Man vs. himself A character struggles with him- or herself

14. Man vs. Society A character has a problem with society, the school, the law, or a tradition.

15. Man vs. Nature A character struggles against an element of nature: a blizzard, a hurricane, extreme heat, etc.

16. Man vs. Fate (God) A character struggles with a problem that seems beyond his or her control

17. Point of View The angle from which a story is told, which depends upon who is telling it.The different types of point of view are:

18. First Person In first person point of view, one of the characters tells the story.

19. Third Person In third person point of view, someone on the outside of the story is telling it. There are actually three third-person points of view:

20. Third-Person Omniscient (All Knowing) The narrator is able to tell about the thoughts and feelings of all the characters in the story.

21. Third-Person Limited Omniscient The narrator is able to tell about the thoughts and feelings of one character only.

22. Camera (Objective) View The narrator tells the story, but shares no thoughts or feelings of the characters.

23. Tone The writer’s attitude toward his or her subject. A writer’s tone can be serious, funny, and so on.

24. Plot The story’s action, which is a series of events is called the plot.

25. Climax The most exciting or important part in a story. The climax is often called the turning point.

26. Resolution The end part of the story, when the problem is solved.