Short Story Elements and

Terms

A short story is … a brief fictional narrative in prose

Sometimes only a few pages in length!

The essence of the short story is “ the plot ” …….

Parts of the plot are: Exposition

Conflict

Rising Action

Climax

Falling Action

Resolution / Denouement

A plot is the sequence of events in a narrative work.

PLOT CHART / DIAGRAM

Exposition Conflict

Ris

ing

Act

ion Falling A

ction

Resolution / Denouement

Climax

Definitions for parts of the plot:

Resolution / Denouement: the final outcome

Exposition: introduction of characters, setting, & situation

Conflict: a struggle between opposing forces

Rising action: complications that occur in trying to resolve the conflict

Climax: the emotional high point of the story

Falling action: the logical consequences of the climax

Conflict can be internal or external.

Internal – a character’s struggle within himself; torn between opposing feelings or different courses of action (psychological)

External – a character’s

struggle with an outside force

Types of external conflict:

character vs. another character

character vs. society

character vs. nature

character vs. machine

character vs. supernatural being

social

metaphysical

physical

What Do We Mean by the Theme of a Story?

The theme is the author’s message about his/her perception about life or human nature.

The theme of a literary work can be stated or implied.

Protagonist – the main character

Antagonist – the character/force in conflict with the protagonist.

Characters

Characters are the actors in a story’s plot.

Types of Characters

Stock or Stereotyped – flat character that is “typical” and often repeated.

Dynamic – changes attitude in the course of the story; gains new understanding or insight

Static – remains the same throughout the story

Flat – has only one personality trait

Round – has varied & different personality traits

Characterization

Direct characterization – when the author tells the reader about the character’s traits directly

Indirect characterization – when the author reveals a character’s personality through the character’s words, thoughts, actions, appearance, and reaction of other characters.

…. is the method the author uses to reveal a character’s personality

Point of View is the voice the author uses to tell his story.

Third-person objective (he/she) – narrator is outside the story; reveals only actions & speech; no thoughts or feelings

First-person (I, me, my) – narrator is a character in the story; reader sees everything through the character

Third-person limited (he/she) – narrator outside the story; reveals thoughts and feelings of just one character

Third-person omniscient (he/she) – narrator outside the story; reveals thoughts and feelings of all characters; “all-knowing”

Foreshadowing

…is the use of clues that give hints so that the reader can predict what will happen.

Irony is the difference between what appears to be real and

what is actually real in a story.

Dramatic Irony – difference between what the reader knows and what the character knows. The reader has more or better information than the character.

Verbal Irony – difference between what a speaker says and what he means

Situational Irony – difference between what the reader expects to happen and what actually happens

Other definitions ….

Tone – the author’s attitude about the subject of the literary work.

Symbolism – when an object, person, place or experience represents something else that is abstract

Diction – the author’s choice of words

Denotation – a word’s literal or dictionary definition

Connotation – a word’s implied / emotional meaning

Other Definitions …

Motif – a pattern of imagery or symbolism in a work of literature.

Epiphany – the sudden understanding in which a character proceeds from ignorance and innocence to knowledge and experience.

Suspense – the quality that makes the reader uncertain or tense about the outcome of events.

Keep these

Short Story Elements

and Terms