WHAT IS A SHORT STORY?

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WHAT IS A SHORT STORY?
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Short stories
have a theme main idea
have characters who interact or reflect on
events
have a setting the place(s) where the action
happens
have plots and structure organised by the
writer, to achieve an effect
have their own diction and style of writing
are examples of prose fiction
entertain us, or sometimes make us think or feel
something new
have conflict tensions and discord make things
happen
have a narrator someone who tells the story
are short you can read them in one sitting
have narrative things happen somewhere to
someone, with consequences
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Short stories are short Economy of form

• Short stories are like photographs, rather than
  movies they usually focus on a particular scene,
  character, event or situation.
• With limited space, you need a clear focus, few
  characters, narrators and settings, and one
  central event or conflict.

A short story is like a little earthquake It
must introduce and resolve a single event or
point of conflict, in limited space.
Joseph OConner
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Short stories contain plot

• A plot is a narrative that is carefully organised
  and sequenced.
• Plots focus on why events happen and the
  connections between them (causality).
• Plot events do not have to happen in
  chronological order they may move backwards and
  forwards in time.
• Some stories begin in media res in the middle
  of the action.
• Some stories have a twist in the tail an
  unexpected
• or surprising ending.

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Diagram of short story plot structure

• Typically, a short story plot follows this
  pattern

Climax This is the moment of greatest tension
when the most important event of the story occurs.
Rising action Tension increases as the initial
incident or conflict gets worse.
Denouement (or falling action) The tension
decreases as issues are resolved or explained.
Complication An initial incident or conflict is
introduced and we wonder what will happen or how
the situation will be resolved.
Exposition The scene is set and the characters
are introduced.
Resolution The reader gains understanding of the
central conflict and its outcome. Often the
character(s) learns something new or finds new
ways to carry on.
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Short stories have a narrator and point of view

• Ask who is telling the story? This identifies the
  narrator or narrative voice. (The narrator may be
  a character in the story or someone outside the
  story whom we cannot identify or name.)
• Ask what is the narrators attitude towards
  events and characters? This is the point of view
  held by the narrator. The narrator and his/her
  point of view shapes the readers response.

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• First-person narrator uses I is a character
  in the story, usually directly involved in the
  action. This narrators point of view about
  events or other characters would be subjective or
  slanted.
• Third-person narrator cannot be identified.
  Usually offers a more objective point of view.
  May be omniscient, i.e. can see into the hearts
  or minds of all characters, and knows everything
  about all conflicts and events.

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Short stories contain characters

• Characters are central without characters there
  is usually no story.
• Because of economy of form (brevity), there are
  usually few characters sometimes only one.
• Short story characters must leap off the page
  there is no time for gradual revelations.
• Main characters can be static (they dont change)
  or developing (they change as they come into
  conflict with others or are caught up in events).

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• We get to know characters through
• their interactions with one another and their
  situations
• their responses to events
• dialogue, actions, or exploration of inner
  thoughts and feelings.

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Short stories use language and style

• Short stories may entertain, inform, shock,
  challenge, protest, surprise, express the self
• Short stories use different diction or language.
  They may
• tell it like it is in simple or realistic
  language
• experiment with language in fanciful or
  fantastical ways
• use poetic language full of imagery and/or
  symbolism.
• The use of language and narrative point of view
  determine the style of the short story, which
  should reinforce or suit the content, i.e. the
  situations, settings and characters it contains.

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Short stories are located in a setting

• Events unfold in a setting in a particular
  space and time.
• Stories may be set anywhere a real world that
  the reader can recognise or an imaginary world,
  such as a planet in outer space.
• Settings may include reference to a busy social
  environment that is, the social world, culture,
  and attitudes of a broader community.
• Setting shapes events or the destinies of
  characters.