Short Story

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Short Story

• Introduction
• Introduce the characters
• Describe the setting

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Short Story

• Main Body
• Introduce the conflict
• Tell a sequence of events
• Develop main character
• Build toward a climax

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Short Story

• Conclusion
• Resolve the conflict
• Tell the last event

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Freytags Pyramid
Climax
Falling Action
Crisis
Crisis
Denouement
Rising Action
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Short Story

• Short stories generally have
• a simple subject, usually one that lets the story
  take place within a brief period of time
• only a few characters, which are developed
  quickly
• dialogue and action that move the story forward
• one point of view
• a fast paced, reader-grabbing beginning
• a middle that doesnt ramble but proceeds in a
  direct route to the end
• a strong ending that completes the story and
  provides understanding and satisfaction
• a plot and characters that give us insight into
  the human condition

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Short Story

• Tips
• Decide on the basics
• Who are the characters?
• What events make up the story?
• Where and when does the story occur?
• Determine who tells the story
• Does a character in the story serve as a narrator
  using first person point of view
• Is the narrator outside the action
• Choose a mood
• will your story be scary, funny, or sad
• Use details
• Show what happens in the story by using specific
  details to advance your plot
• A puddle may indicate something has spilled
• An elevator door light may reveal where someone
  is
• Use dialogue

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Short Story

• Story writers show the reader a character by
• Describing the characters physical
  characteristics
• Putting the character in a particular setting
  that is, time and place, mood, circumstance
• Revealing information about the characters
  background, such as family, past, historical
  information, emotional experiences, habits
• Having the character say things, either to
  him/herself or to other characters
• Having the character do things, either on his/her
  own or in response to other characters and/or
  events

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Conflict

• A clash of actions, ideas, desires, or will
• Every story has conflict

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Conflict

• There are 4 main types, organized into 2 groups
• Internal- a character must struggle against
  him/herself the conflict is inside the
  character
• Person vs. Self
• Conflict with some element in his/her own nature
  may be physical, mental, emotional, or moral.
  This is usually a dilemma. The character must
  decide what to do, but the decision is not easy

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Conflict

• External
• Person vs. Person
• One character has a direct conflict with another.
  A common example is the good guy against the bad
  guy, although this is certainly not always the
  case.

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Conflict

• Person vs. Environment
• The character struggles against the situation he
  or she is in. This can take many forms,
  including society, nature, or an organization,
  such as government.
• In this type of conflict environment is any
  place the character is within, which challenges
  the character somehow

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Conflict

• Person vs. Unknown
• The unknown includes God, gods, religion, fate,
  ghosts, the supernatural, luck, destiny, or
  anything else that is beyond the control of human
  beings.
• In this case, the character might question why
  God or gods allow the character to suffer or
  succeed.
• The character might be in a conflict with a ghost
  for some reason of simply have bad luck.
• In this case, the character rarely wins, but the
  way in which the character tries to survive is
  important to showing the quality of the character

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Point of View

• Omniscient
• A story told by the author, using third person
  her/his knowledge, control, and prerogatives are
  unlimited.
• The author may describe the thoughts of any or
  all of the characters
• The author does not need to reveal the thoughts
  or feelings of all characters in order to have
  Omniscient point of view.
• If the author reveals the feelings or thoughts of
  two or more, it is Omniscient

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Point of View

• Limited
• A story in which the author associates with a
  major or minor character this character serves
  as the authors spokesperson or mouthpiece.
• The author limits her or himself to the
  expression of this characters thoughts and not
  of the others.
• The reader usually has access to the thoughts and
  feelings of the protagonist, and sees the story
  through the eyes of the protagonist

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Point of View

• First Person
• The author identifies with a major or minor
  character or disappears inside a character
• The story is told using the first person I

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Symbol

• A literary symbol means more than what it is. It
  has layers of meanings. For example, doves can
  represent peace night can represent death.
  Whereas an image has one meaning, a symbol has
  many.

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Symbol

• Names are used as symbols
• Objects are used as symbols
• Actions are used as symbols
• Helpful suggestions for identifying literary
  symbols
• The story itself must furnish a clue that a
  detail is to be taken symbolically symbols
  nearly always signal their existence by emphasis,
  repetition, or position

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Symbol

• The meaning of a literary symbol must be
  established and supported by the entire context
  of the story. A symbol has its meaning inside
  not outside a story.
• To be called a symbol, an item must suggest a
  meaning different in kind from its literal
  meaning
• A symbol has a cluster of meanings

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Irony

• A term with a range of meanings, all of them
  involving some sort of discrepancy or
  incongruity.
• Irony is used to suggest the differences between
  expectation and fulfillment

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Irony

• There are 3 main types
• Verbal the opposite of what is said from what
  is intended
• Dramatic the contrast between what a character
  says and what the reader knows is true
• Irony of Situation discrepancy between
  appearance and reality, or between expectation
  and fulfillment, or between what is and what
  would seem appropriate

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Mood

• The feeling the author tries to create within the
  reader through the description of incident and
  setting combined.
• Particular details are selected to help bring out
  this mood.
• As you read, watch for word choice, specific
  descriptions, figurative language
• Mood is often compared to ATMOSPHERE in a story

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Setting

• The where and when of the narrative
• Importance of time and place
• Could the story have occurred elsewhere or at
  another time?
• What specific details of setting are emphasized
  and how do these details affect the
  mood/atmosphere of the story

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Flashback

• An occurrence that often occurs in literature
  whereby the author flashes back into time in an
  attempt to bring us up to date as to why certain
  things are the way they are

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Suspense

• The device used in many stories that keeps the
  reader wanting to read more.
• The reader desires to find out what will happen
  next he becomes more and more involved in the
  story because of suspense

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Foreshadowing

• Give hints about what will happen later in the
  story

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Dialogue

• Why does it matter, anyway?
• The main goal of writing is to communicate
• Writing in proper format helps to make that
  communication clearer.

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Formatting Dialogue

• All quoted dialogue appears in quotation marks
• Hey, watch where youre going.
• Just remember, when you write dialogue you are
  quoting what your characters say, so always use
  quotation marks.

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Formatting Dialogue

• Punctuating quotations falls into 2 basic
  categories
• Punctuation marks which are always done the same
  way
• Periods and commas if you need to follow a
  piece of dialogue with a period or a comma, you
  ALWAYS put it inside the quotations marks.
• Hey, watch where youre going, he said.
• Hey, watch where youre going. He glared after
  the rude woman.
• Punctuations that are done differently depending
  on the circumstances
• For writing dialogue, your punctuation almost
  always occurs within the quotes, but you need to
  consider the function of the punctuation when
  deciding where to place it.
• Hey, dont you ever watch where youre going?
• She he shout after her, Watch where you are
  going?

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Formatting Dialogue

• Quotes within quotes
• If you need to quote one character directly
  quoting another character, use double quotes for
  the main dialogue and single quotes for the
  quote.
• And then he said, Mind your own business. The
  nerve! she said.

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Formatting Dialogue

• Dialogue Tags the she said or Jack said
  part of the sentence
• The tag can come before or after the sentence and
  , if it is clear who is speaking a tag may not
  even be necessary.
• A dialogue tag is always part of the same
  sentence as the dialogue
• You can, however, have sentences preceding or
  following the dialogue that identify the speaker

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Formatting Dialogue

• Example
• Come on. Hurry up, he said.
• Okay, Im coming, she yelled back.
• Fine, he replied. Ill be waiting in the
  car.
• Youre always in such a hurry. She sighed and
  scratched her head.
• Sheesh.
• George snorted. Youre the one who wanted to get
  there early.

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Formatting Dialogue

• Paragraphing
• The general rule is to always start a new
  paragraph for each new speaker. The paragraph is
  marked by a hard return and an indent in printed
  text.
• I cant stand it! she yelled finally. She
  slammed open the door and stalked through. This
  isnt over yet.
• Wait, darling. You havent given me a
  chance to explain. He trailed after her, holding
  the flowers out as if he still thought they could
  placate her.
  

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Formatting Dialogue

• If you have the same speaker saying things that
  are separated by descriptive passages, you may
  choose to keep everything in one paragraph or
  separate into their own paragraphs.
• If you have more than one topic, give each its
  own paragraph.
• In some cases, quoted dialogue may run so long or
  cover so many topics you need to separate it into
  paragraphs even if there is no narration
  interspersed with the dialogue.
• If this happens, leave off the closing quotes at
  the end of each paragraph except the last, but
  begin every new paragraph with opening quotes.

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Formatting Dialogue

• Example
• Dont go, Maude. I can explain everything.
  You see, first I missed the train because my taxi
  was late, and then I didnt have enough money, so
  I had to go back to the bank. By then I had
  missed the next train, too.
• And speaking of train schedules, they really
  ought to do something about that. I mean, to
  have them running every ten minutes is fine, but
  then after six they switch to every half hour,
  and after nine they go to every hour. How is a
  person to get anywhere? I tell you! You must
  remind me to write a letter to the editor.
• But anyway, Maude. I really do love you,
  and these flowers were fresh when I left the
  office. I am really sorry I missed our dinner
  date. Ill send a letter of apology to the
  Smiths so you neednt be embarrassed. Truly. You
  will forgive me, wont you?

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Making Dialogue Believable

• Common Mistakes
• Using too much dialect
• Being too true to the way people speak (adding
  um)
• Sounding too stilted (Mother, I will not go to
  the prom with Charles Melhan. He is gross. His
  hair is always so unpleasant)
• Using peoples names too often in conversations
  (yes, Jane, thats true.)
• Losing track of who said what
• Unclear pronoun references
• Conversations where characters tell each other
  what they already know
• Dont have a character talk about things they
  wouldnt normally discuss
• Long, boring speeches to provide information to
  the reader
• All characters sound alike
• Having a character hiss dialogue when theres no
  s in it
• Overusing synonyms for the word said

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Making Dialogue Believable

• Tips to improve dialogue
• Read it aloud better yet, have someone else do
  it
• Use contractions
• Keep attributions to a minimum
• Interrupt long passages with beats of
  interjections from other characters
• Make each characters dialogue distinctive and
  you wont need tags
• Get into character become an actor or picture
  an actor playing your character

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Making Dialogue Believable

• Dialogue/Narrative Mix
• No hard and fast rule aim for lots of white
  space
• If you need a guideline, analyze a book you
  admire
• The best judge of balance is your own instinct.
  If it feels right, it probably is, but you need
  to be honest with yourself

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Making Dialogue Believable

• Format
• Types of dialogue tags
• Speaker attribution tags attribute the dialogue
  to a specific person by using a form of the word
  said
• This is a speaker tag, John said.
• Action tags/beats show action with the dialogue
  the assumption is that the person performing the
  action is also doing the speaking.
• Mary grinned. And this is an action tag.

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Making Dialogue Believable

• Format
• To connect a tag to dialogue with a comma, the
  tag must show how the speaker said the dialogue
  and/or use a synonym for the word said.
• If you use a tag to show the characters action
  alone, do not connect it to the dialogue with a
  comma.
• If you use an internal beat, connect both
  sections of the dialogue with a comma if its one
  sentence connect only one if its more than one
  sentence.

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Making Dialogue Believable

• Correct Usage
• Take me away from all this. Eve pleaded. Or Eve
  pleaded, Take me away from all this.
• Adam laughed, Sorry, babe, no can do. or Adam
  laughed, saying, Sorry, babe, no can do.
• You pig
• Hey, Adam said, we said no commitment,
  remember?
• You said it, Eve protested. I didnt.

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Making Dialogue Believable

• Other formatting issues
• Dashes
• Use an em dash (--) to indicate a sudden break or
  change in thought, to set off a phrase, or to
  show interruption.
• Commonly used in place of parentheses, colons,
  and semicolons in fiction, dashes are used
  primarily in narrative.
• Sudden break You cantyou wouldnt.
• To set off a phrase His tentaclesall ten of
  themengulfed me.
• Interruption I dont think I John halted,
  thinking.

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Making Dialogue Believable

• Other formatting issues
• Ellipses
• Use ellipses () to show a pause, faltering
  speech, or speech that trails off.
• Ellipses primarily appear in dialogue
• Within a sentence, do not use any spaces before,
  within, or following the ellipses
• At the end of a sentence, follow the ellipses
  with an ending punctuation mark (period, question
  mark, etc.) if the thought is a complete one.
  Otherwise, do not

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Making Dialogue Believable

• Examples using ellipses
• Pauses/faltering speech II dont know. Is
  itsafe?
• Trailing off, no end mark I cant believe she
• Trailing off, with end mark Thats true.