-- Short
- Can usually be read in one sitting.
-- Concise
- Information offered in the story is relevant to the tale being told. This is unlike a novel, where the story can
diverge from the main plot
-- Usually tries to
leave behind a single impression or effect. Usually, though not always built around one
character, place, idea, or act.
-- Because they are
concise, writers depend on the reader bringing personal experiences
and prior knowledge to the story.
Four Major components of the Short Story
-- PLOT
-- SETTING
-- CHARACTERS
-- THEME
#1 PLOT
Plot is the action
that takes place in the story. It is a
series of connected happenings and their result. In order to have a result, we must have an initial event, or conflict.
-- Introduction of
characters
-- The
situation: Initial conflict
-- The generating
circumstances, which create a
-- Rising action –
heightened anticipation for the reader
-- Climax
-- falling action
and Conclusion. These two are also
known as a denouement.
Short stories
usually have:
-- Dramatic conflict
(this is usually the basis of the story).
The source of the problems may or may not be overcome in the climax.
--
Foreshadowing. Many stories, despite
their surprise ending, have left clues through the story.
-- Repetition. Helps drive home a point.
-- Suspense. Draws
readers to the work.
#2 SETTING
Setting is the background against which the incidents of the
story take place. Not merely a place,
it includes the place where, the time when, and social conditions under which
the story moves along.
This can include atmosphere
, the tone and feeling of a story, i.e. gloomy, cheery, etc.
In one form or another, setting is essential to the
story. Often, the relevance of the
story is lost in another setting.
#3 CHARACTERS
There must be living
beings in the story that think or act in order to keep the story going. They must seem like living and feeling
individuals in order for us to feel strongly about them.
The worst thing that
could happen for the writer is that you feel indifferent toward the characters.
If we don’t care for the characters, we are not inclined to keep reading.
FOUR METHODS OF PRESENTING A CHARACTER:
--
Actions or thoughts of the character
-- Conversations the
character engages in
-- Conversations of
other characters about a third character
-- Author’s own
opinion. This might be overt, or may be
implied.
-- Author Omniscient (all knowing, all seeing). This is a third person point
of view. The omniscient author, writing
in third person, sees whatever he wants to see, inside or outside his
character, in privacy or public, and interprets as he chooses.
-- Author participant (first person). The author may be the main character, or
could be a secondary character.
-- Author as an observer (3rd, person). Involves objective treatment, as though the
storyteller had no inner sight into the character’s thinking or behavior.
-- Multiple storytellers (3rd. Person).
#4 Theme
The theme is the total meaning of the story. IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE TIED UP IN A SIMPLE
MORAL. Without it, the story lacks
meaning or purpose.
Sometimes the theme
is stated, sometimes it is only implied.
In other stories, the theme may be a direct negation of a traditional
theme.
taken and revised from http://www.horton.ednet.ns.ca/staff/scottbennett/web/Short%20Stories.htm