Cialaina Leigh O.

Ramirez BSA IV-1

IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF A SHORT STORY

A short story is a short work of fiction. Fiction, as you know, is prose writing about imagined events and characters.
Prose writing differs from poetry in that it does not depend on verses, meters or rhymes for its organization and
presentation.

What makes these authors such remarkable short story writers? They are true masters at combining the six key
elements that go into every great short story: character, setting, conflict, plot, theme, and point of view.

CHARACTER

A character is a person, or sometimes even an animal, who takes part in the action of a short story or other literary
work.

There are two meanings for the word character:

1) The person in a work of fiction.

2) The characteristics of a person.

Persons in a work of fiction - Antagonist and Protagonist

Short stories use few characters. One character is clearly central to the story with all major events having some
importance to this character - he/she is the PROTAGONIST. The opposer of the main character is called the
ANTAGONIST.

The Characteristics of a Person -

In order for a story to seem real to the reader its characters must seem real. Characterization is the information the
author gives the reader about the characters themselves. The author may reveal a character in several ways:

a) his/her physical appearance

b) what he/she says, thinks, feels and dreams

c) what he/she does or does not do

d) what others say about him/her and how others react to him/her

Characters are convincing if they are: consistent, motivated, and life-like (resemble real people)

Characters are...

1. Individual - round, many sided and complex personalities.

2. Developing - dynamic, many sided personalities that change, for better or worse, by the end of the story.

3. Static - Stereotype, have one or two characteristics that never change and are emphasized e.g. brilliant detective,
drunk, scrooge, cruel stepmother, etc.

SETTING
The setting of a short story is the time and place in which it happens. Authors often use descriptions of landscape,
scenery, buildings, seasons or weather to provide a strong sense of setting.

The time and location in which a story takes place is called the setting. For some stories the setting is very
important, while for others it is not. There are several aspects of a story's setting to consider when examining how
setting contributes to a story (some, or all, may be present in a story):

a) place - geographical location. Where is the action of the story taking place?

b) time - When is the story taking place? (historical period, time of day, year, etc)

c) weather conditions - Is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc?

d) social conditions - What is the daily life of the characters like? Does the story contain local colour (writing that
focuses on the speech, dress, mannerisms, customs, etc. of a particular place)?

e) mood or atmosphere - What feeling is created at the beginning of the story? Is it bright and cheerful or dark and
frightening?

PLOT

A plot is a series of events and character actions that relate to the central conflict.

The plot is how the author arranges events to develop his basic idea; It is the sequence of events in a story or play.
The plot is a planned, logical series of events having a beginning, middle, and end. The short story usually has one
plot so it can be read in one sitting. There are five essential parts of plot:

a) Introduction - The beginning of the story where the characters and the setting is revealed.

b) Rising Action - This is where the events in the story become complicated and the conflict in the story is revealed
(events between the introduction and climax).

c) Climax - This is the highest point of interest and the turning point of the story. The reader wonders what will
happen next; will the conflict be resolved or not?

d) Falling action - The events and complications begin to resolve themselves. The reader knows what has happened
next and if the conflict was resolved or not (events between climax and denouement).

e) Denouement - This is the final outcome or untangling of events in the story.

It is helpful to consider climax as a three-fold phenomenon: 1) the main character receives new information 2)
accepts this information (realizes it but does not necessarily agree with it) 3) acts on this information (makes a
choice that will determine whether or not he/she gains his objective).

CONFLICT

The conflict is a struggle between two people or things in a short story. The main character is usually on one side of
the central conflict.

On the other side, the main character may struggle against another important character, against the forces of nature,
against society, or even against something inside himself or herself (feelings, emotions, illness).

Conflict is essential to plot. Without conflict there is no plot. It is the opposition of forces which ties one incident to
another and makes the plot move. Conflict is not merely limited to open arguments, rather it is any form of
opposition that faces the main character. Within a short story there may be only one central struggle, or there may be
one dominant struggle with many minor ones.

There are two types of conflict:

1) External - A struggle with a force outside one's self.

2) Internal - A struggle within one's self; a person must make some decision, overcome pain, quiet their temper,
resist an urge, etc.

There are four kinds of conflict:

1) Man vs. Man (physical) - The leading character struggles with his physical strength against other men, forces of
nature, or animals.

2) Man vs. Circumstances (classical) - The leading character struggles against fate, or the circumstances of life
facing him/her.

3) Man vs. Society (social) - The leading character struggles against ideas, practices, or customs of other people.

4) Man vs. Himself/Herself (psychological) - The leading character struggles with himself/herself; with his/her
own soul, ideas of right or wrong, physical limitations, choices, etc.

THEME

The theme is the central idea or belief in a short story.

The theme in a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight. It is the author's underlying meaning or
main idea that he is trying to convey. The theme may be the author's thoughts about a topic or view of human nature.
The title of the short story usually points to what the writer is saying and he may use various figures of speech to
emphasize his theme, such as: symbol, allusion, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or irony.

Some simple examples of common themes from literature, TV, and film are:

- things are not always as they appear to be

- Love is blind

- Believe in yourself

- People are afraid of change

- Don't judge a book by its cover

POINT OF VIEW

Point of view, or p.o.v., is defined as the angle from which the story is told.

1. Innocent Eye - The story is told through the eyes of a child (his/her judgment being different from that of an
adult) .

2. Stream of Consciousness - The story is told so that the reader feels as if they are inside the head of one character
and knows all their thoughts and reactions.
3. First Person - The story is told by the protagonist or one of the characters who interacts closely with the
protagonist or other characters (using pronouns I, me, we, etc). The reader sees the story through this person's eyes
as he/she experiences it and only knows what he/she knows or feels.

4. Omniscient- The author can narrate the story using the omniscient point of view. He can move from character to
character, event to event, having free access to the thoughts, feelings and motivations of his characters and he
introduces information where and when he chooses. There are two main types of omniscient point of view:

a) Omniscient Limited - The author tells the story in third person (using pronouns they, she, he, it, etc). We know
only what the character knows and what the author allows him/her to tell us. We can see the thoughts and feelings of
characters if the author chooses to reveal them to us.

b) Omniscient Objective – The author tells the story in the third person. It appears as though a camera is following
the characters, going anywhere, and recording only what is seen and heard. There is no comment on the characters
or their thoughts. No interpretations are offered. The reader is placed in the position of spectator without the author
there to explain. The reader has to interpret events on his own.

THE ELEMENTS OF POETRY

Poetry, as man's inherited possession, is the expression of strong feeling and thought which leads to a communion
between the individual and his surroundings, but most usually between a person and nature, the world, or the
universe. Poetry is the means of universalizing and perpetuating a thought, an idea, a feeling, sensation, or internal
experience.

FORM

Whenever we look at a poem, the first thing we will probably notice is its form. In other words, poems have a given
FORM. One poem will look very different from another, and still another poem will look very distinct from the
second one, and so on. Each poet uses the "form" which will most effectively EXPRESS what he wants to convey to
other human beings.

Traditional poetry used to follow very strict forms. People who still follow these forms nowadays are following the
traditional manner and style. But nowadays we know that there is a strong tendency to break from the traditional and
to become even very unorthodox, unconventional or even unusual. This kind of poetry is called FREE VERSE. It is
most often used in modern times and presents a multitude of possibilities. The poet uses free form to make the poem
fit the contents and to express the mood or feeling of his work.

LINES

After looking at a poem and seeing that it has some sort of FORM, we often notice that it also consists of LINES.
These are the vehicle of the authors thoughts and ideas. These are the building blocks with which to create a poem.
The WORDS of each line proceed as usual from left to right, but they curiously end where the poet wants them to
stop. Therefore, you may have some lines that are of equal length and others which are not.

Besides the length and margining of the first word in each line, the PUNCTUATION at the end of each is also a
major tool for the poet. At times he will want us to make a full stop, other times a gentle or slight pause, and even
others perhaps a sudden break, and so on. Ultimately, then, poetry creates sensations, moods, and images in the
reader's mind.

STANZAS
The lines in a poem are most often divided into sections looking as some sort of paragraphing. These we call
STANZAS. A stanza, therefore, is the grouping of the lines, sort of like a paragraph.

RHYME

Rhyme is the SONIC imitation usually of end syllables of words. There are basically two kinds of rhyme used in
poetry. The first is the most typical and best known by young people, END RHYME, in which the words at the end
of a given line rhyme. The second kind of rhyme is called INTERNAL RHYME. This kind of rhyming is different
from end rhyme in that the rhyming takes place somewhere within the line and not at the end. But most of us find it
more natural to use rhyming at the end and not in the middle of our poem's lines. Still, the most widely read and
enjoyed poetry artfully combines these and other patterns and techniques for the creation of the poems.

(Internal Rhyme):

It won't be LONG before my SONG ends the day,

And the FLOWERS near the TOWERS reach the sky.

PATTERN:

Rhyme contributes in creating a pattern when read appropriately. It creates a special effect which results in being
pleasant and motivating. Humans in general are susceptible to patterns. As a matter of fact, we live with all sorts of
patterns every day of our lives. Our very lives are patterns themselves. The human mind itself has an inherent
(internal) patterning force and capacity which allows the individual to perceive and create the patterns inherent in
poems. And it is rhyme which is one of the contributors to the pattern created in reading or writing a poem:

SQUEEZE ... TEASE;

RUN ... FUN;

DEMONSTRATE ... WHAT SHE ATE.

Another contributor to pattern is the number of syllables, as can be seen in the third set of the examples given right
above. DE-MONS-TRATE as imitated by WHAT-SHE-ATE. Still another element which contributes to pattern is
the accomodation and distribution of the lines. The reader is thus led or even forced into following a given pattern,
and BEAT.

But the ultimate creator of pattern is the combination of the STRESSED SYLLABLES IN ANY PARTICULAR
LINE of a poem.

RHYTHM

This brings us to the topic of RHYTHM, perhaps the pivot point of all the elements, because it is rhythm which
creates the pleasant gliding effect when we read a poem. It helps us as readers to travel along the lines of the poem
with a certain enjoyable tempo created by the components of rhythm.

Never in my lonely life,

Could you make it -- be my wife.

or,

If only then she had seen,

That crime and anger were to have been.

The length of the lines are different, but it is the combination that creates a certain rhythm.

Now, if the poet just repeats the same pattern with every set of lines in a stanza, and from stanza to stanza, then he
will be effectively creating a rhythm. It is the REGULARITY of the REPETITION that tends to create the
rhythmical pattern. A BEAT is created when we analyze the STRESSED and UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES within
the lines of a poem.

Observe the following lines from a poem:

And as she WALKED to the MOON,

We could ALL hear her SWOON,

To the MARvelous SIGHTS,

In which she NOW so deLIGHTS,

EUPHONY

EUPHONY is simply the combination of agreeable and melodious sounds which make a poem pleasant to listen to.
It is the nice- sounding tone of a poem when read. This is the reason why a poem is never as effective as when read
aloud -- simply because poetry in general deals a lot with the euphonic sounds contained within it. EUPHONY is
perhaps one ultimate aim of poetry. The esthete -- the beautiful. It is poetry which allows mankind to express such
beauty from within. Poetry itself is beauty created.