1. Elements of the Short Story
Plot, Character and Narrator

2. Plot
Plot is the series of related events that make up a story or drama.
Climax
Falling Action
Rising Action
Resolution
Exposition

3. Exposition opening of the story
characters and their conflicts are introduced

4. Rising Action
The main character takes action but encounters more problems or complications

5. Climax
key scene in the story—the most tense, exciting, or terrifying moment
reveals the outcome of the conflict

6. Falling Action
Events that wind down the action towards the resolution.

7. Resolution
final part of the story
the conflict is resolved

8. Conflict
Conflict is the struggle or clash between opposing characters or forces. Conflicts may be
External
Internal

9. Types of Conflict
External conflict happens on the outside of a character
Character vs. character
Character vs. group
Character vs. something nonhuman
Internal conflict occurs within a single character
Character vs. self

10. Timing and Pacing
Sometimes, writers might manipulate time to control our emotions. They might
slow down time to emphasize a moment of danger
speed up time to skip over events that don’t move the story along

11. Flashback
Flashback—a scene that interrupts the present action of the plot to flash backward and tell what happened at an earlier time. Flashbacks can
provide background information
Present
strengthen our understanding of a character
Past

12. Flash-Forward
Flash-Forward—a scene that interrupts the present action of the plot to shift into the future.
Flash-forwards can create dramatic irony. The readers know what will happen in the future, but the characters don’t.
Present
Future

13. Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is the use of clues to hint at events that will occur later in the plot.
Foreshadowing can make a story more exciting by increasing suspense.

14. Setting Setting is the time and place of the story Provides background
Where characters live and act
Includes: the locale of a story
people’s customs—how they live, dress, eat, and behave
Weather, time of day, time period (past, present, future)
Writers select images to describe the setting
They use the 5 senses – taste, touch, sight, smell, sound

15. Setting, Mood and Tone
Setting can also create mood, or atmosphere. It can affect the way we feel about the characters.
Setting can also express a tone, or attitude toward a subject or object.

16. Character Development
Writers build characters by revealing
speech
appearance
private thoughts
others’ reactions
actions

17. Speech First-person narrators reveal their personal traits as they
tell their own stories (using pronouns like I, me, and we)
tell us what they think and feel
Be aware that some first-person narrators mislead or lie to the audience.

18. Speech
Dialogue can reveal a lot about characters and their relationships with each other. Pay attention to
what characters say and don’t say
how characters respond to each other
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19. Appearance
Pay attention to language the writer uses to describe the characters’ looks, clothes, and demeanor.

20. Private Thoughts
Writers can take us into the characters’ minds to reveal their thoughts and feelings.
As you read, note whether the characters’ thoughts and feelings match their speech and actions.

21. Actions
What characters do and how they treat each other often reveal the most about them.
Observe characters’ actions to determine
what their personality is like
what motivates them
how they deal with conflict

22. Direct and Indirect Characterization
Direct Characterization—Writers tell us directly what characters are like or what their motives are.
Indirect Characterization—Writers show us characters (through speech, appearance, private thoughts, other characters’ reactions, and actions) but allow us to decide what characters are like.

23. Main Characters Protagonist—the main character of a story.
The action of the story revolves around the protagonist and the conflict he or she faces.
Antagonist—the character or force the protagonist struggles against and must overcome.
Subordinate characters add depth and complication to the plot.

24. Flat and Round Characters
Flat characters
have only one or two character traits that can be described in a few words
have no depth, like a piece of cardboard
Round characters
have many different character traits that sometimes contradict each other
are much like real people, with several sides to their personality

25. Static versus Dynamic Characters
change or grow as a result of the story’s actions
learn something about themselves, other people, or the world as they struggle to resolve their conflicts
The changes that a dynamic character undergoes contribute to the meaning of the story.
Static Characters
do not change or grow
are the same at the end of a story as they were in the beginning

26. Motivation Motivation—what drives a character’s actions. It
explains behaviors
reveals personality
is often based on character’s fears, conflicts, needs
Motivation can be inferred by observing characters’ behavior, speech, actions.

27. Narrator
A writer’s choice of a narrator, or person that tells the story, determines the point of view of the story—the vantage point from which the story is told.
The three main points of view are
Omniscient
First person
Third person limited

28. Omniscient Narrator
When the omniscient point of view is used, the narrator
is not a character in the story
knows all
can tell us everything about every character

29. First person Narrator A first-person narrator
is a character in the story
uses first-person pronouns such as I and me
tells us only what he or she thinks and experiences
A first-person narrator is sometimes
called a persona.

30. Third person limited Narrator
When the third-person-limited point of view is used, the narrator
gives one character’s thoughts and reactions
uses third-person pronouns (he, she, they)
tells little about other characters

31. Voice
Voice is the writer’s distinctive use of language and his or her overall style.
The writer’s tone and choice of words (diction) help create the voice.
In fiction, narrators can also be said to have a voice.
A narrator’s voice can affect our view of characters and events.