Summer Reading | 9th Grade English | 10th Grade English | Creative Writing 

Short Story Elements

BACKGROUND:

All discussion of the modern short story begins with Edgar Allen Poe. In 1842, in a magazine article, Poe said that an author, in writing a story, must strive for a single effect to which everything else is subordinate. This effect is possible only if the story can be read at a single sitting of not more than three hours. Unity, Brevity, and a Single Dominant Effect stand as the basic requirements of the short story.
Poe also believed that there should be nothing extra, nothing irrelevant, in an author's story. He said that every word and incident should contribute directly to the outcome of the tale; and every part of the story has to serve the function of building toward the logical outcome of the author's plan.

INGREDIENTS:

A.) Characters: The person(s) in the story. (May also be an animal or thing.) There are different methods whereby the author reveals his/her characters and their personalities:

1. the author may describe them directly at the start of the story.
2. the author may describe them indirectly through the conversation of the
others in the story.
3. the author may describe them indirectly by action, showing their
personalities by how they act towards other characters in the story, or
how they behave in certain situations and incidents.

B.) Setting: the place where, the time when, and the conditions under which the story is told. The methods of revealing the setting are:

1. through direct description whereby the author comes right out and tells
us the time, place, and conditions of the story.
2. indirectly through suggestion or implication, forcing the reader to
check thoroughly for details.
3. indirectly through the conversation of the characters, having them
mention the time and place.

C.) Plot: a carefully chosen series of incidents, constructed to create complication in the lives of the main characters. (It's the storyline!)
Usually the incidents lead up to the turning point, or climax of the story. The steps in the plot are as follows:

1. Introduction (exposition): the characters are introduced as well as the
setting and the conflict (the problem facing the characters).
2. Rising Actions (development of complication): those events leading up
to the climax or highest point of the story.
3. Climax: the highest point or turning point in the story. The climax is
an event that makes the greatest change in the life of the main character
or of the story itself.
4. Falling Actions: those events that lead away from the climax and lead
to the conclusion of the story. In many stories, the climax occurs at the
end, and there is no falling action.
5. Conclusion (resolution): the ending of the story; the conflict is usually
solved.

THE PLOT TRIANGLE

D.) Theme: the idea behind the story; the author's "message" to the reader, usually a definite point about human nature or about the meaning of life itself.

E.) Mood or Atmosphere: the creation of a state of mind or feeling in the reader by the author's use of setting, events, and dialog. S/he does this by choosing words, and giving descriptions that create a special effect.