creative writing -short story elements

Short Story Elements:

Terms to Know

•the geographical location •the time period •the socio-economic characteristics and the culture • the specific place

Setting

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Where the story takes place

That evening T.J. smelled the air, his nostrils dilating with the odor of the earth under his feet. “It’s spring,” he said, and there was a gladness rising in his voice that filled us with all the same feeling.

“It’s mighty late for it, but it’s spring”….We were all sniffing at the air, too, trying to smell it the way that T.J. did, and I can still remember the sweet odor of the earth under our feet. It was the first time in my life that spring and spring earth had meant anything to me.

--From “Antaeus” by Borden Deal

Setting Can be used to tell readers about the characters:


During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country.

--From “The Fall of the House of Usher”

by Edgar Allan Poe

Setting Can be used to set up the atmosphere, or mood, for a story:


•Round Characters - true to life; many personality traits.

•Dynamic Characters - change or develop

•Flat Characters – stereotypical; one or two personality traits.

•Static Characters – stay the same www.readwritethink.org

people (or animals, places, things that are presented

as people)

Characters

ANTAGONIST The character who opposes the

protagonist.

Does not have to be the “bad guy.”

PROTAGONIST The main character in a literary work.

The characther who begins the action.

Does not have to be the “good guy.”


DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

(TELLS)

Jack had been in basic training in Florida and Dottie was there on vacation with her parents. They’d met on the beach and struck up a conversation. Dottie was the talker, the outgoing one—the extrovert. Jack was too shy around girls to say much at all.

- From “Furlough—1944” by Harry Mazer


Methods of Characterization

INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

(SHOWS)

Remember STEAL!


Methods of Characterization

Speech What does the character say? How does the character speak?

Thoughts What is revealed through the characters private thoughts and feelings?

Effect on others

How do other characters feel and/or behave in reaction to the character?

Actions What does the character do? How does the characters behave?

Looks/ appearance

What does the character look like? How does the character dress?


Examples of Indirect

Characterization from…

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss


Speech Many of the words spoken by the cat at the beginning of the story have an upbeat connotative meaning.

But we can have Lots of fun that is funny! (7). What does this tell us about the cat?


Thoughts So all we could do was to Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! And we did not like it. Not one little bit (3).

What does this tell us about the narrator?

These are the thoughts of the narrator as he stares out the window on a rainy day.


Effect on Others Throughout the first ¾ of the story, three different illustrations portray the fish scowling at the cat immediately after each of the cat’s activities. When the cat returns to clean up his mess at the end of the story, the fish is shown with a smile.

What does this tell us about the cat?


Actions The cat engages in “UP-UP-UP with a fish” (18). Then, later in the story, the cat releases two “things” that fly kites in the house.

What does this tell us about the cat?


Looks Throughout the first ¾ of the story, the cat is shown with a smile on his face. Towards the end of the story, however, when the cat is told to leave, he is shown leaving the house with slumped shoulders and a sad face. What does this tell us about the cat?

the structure of a story;

the arrangement of events and actions


Plot

www.readwritethink.org Plot Components

Exposition: the start of the story; introduction of setting, characters, conflict

Resolution: the conclusion; loose ends are wrapped up

Climax: the turning point; the most intense moment either in emotion or in action

Rising Action: series of conflicts

that lead to the climax

Falling Action: all of the action that follows the climax

events that happened before the time of the current story

• memories

• dreams

• and stories told by characters


Flashback

● hints and clues suggesting what will happen later in the story

● often used to build suspense or tension in a story

What does this suggest is going to happen?


Foreshadowing

Without Conflict, there would be no plot.

The dramatic struggle between two forces in a story.


Conflict = Plot


External Conflict 1. Character vs. Character 2. Character vs. Nature 3. Character vs. Society 4. Character vs. Fate or Time

INTERNAL CONFLICT → Character vs. Self www.readwritethink.org


Point Of

View

The perspective from which the story is

told.

Who is telling the story? How do we know what is happening?

As I walked up the hill, I realized that the atmosphere was just too quiet. There was no sound from the cardinal who was nearly always singing from the top of the maple tree. I thought I saw a shadow move high up on the slope, but when I looked again it was gone. Still, I shuddered as I felt a silent threat pass over me like a cloud over the sun.

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First-Person POV the thoughts and perspective of one main character

As she walked up the hill, she realized that the atmosphere was just too quiet. There was no sound from the cardinal who she so often heard singing from the top of the maple tree. She thought she saw a shadow move high up on the slope, but when she looked again it was gone. Nevertheless, she shuddered as she felt a silent threat pass over her. It felt like a cloud creeping over the sun.

As the girl walked up the hill, she realized that the atmosphere was just too quiet.

The cardinal tipped his head back and drew breath to sing, but just as the first note passed his beak he heard the crack of a dead branch far below his perch high in the maple tree. Startled, he looked down, cocking his head to one side and watching with great interest while the man rattled the blades of grass as he tried to hide himself behind the tree. P

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Third-Person POV Third-Person Limited thoughts and perspective of one main character

Third-Person Omniscient all-knowing; thoughts and perspective of all characters

The girl walked up the quiet hillside.

In the top of the maple tree, the cardinal tipped his head back and drew

breath to sing. A dead branch cracked on the ground below the bird's perch.

The man stepped on the branch and rattled the blades of grass as he moved

behind the tree. He watched the girl come up the hillside toward him.

Her gaze shifted quickly and warily from one shadowy area high on the slope to

another, and she shuddered.

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Third-Person Objective journalist’s point of view

facts without thoughts and feelings

• Central idea or message of the story

• Insight into the human condition

• Can be either stated or implied


Theme

THEME STATEMENT (not a topic)

Topic = Trust

Theme = Trust can never be regained once it is lost.

creative writing -short story elements

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