ELEMENTS OF A SHORT STORY POWERPOINT.ppt
- 2. Why do we read 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.
- 3. Novels are another example of fictional prose and are much longer than short stories. Some short stories, however, can be quite long. If a short story is a long one, say fifty to one hundred pages, we call it a novella. American literature contains some of the world's best examples of the short story. Readers around the world enjoy the finely crafted stories of American writers such as O. Henry, Stephen Crane, Jack London, Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe.
- 4. What makes these authors such remarkable short story writers? They are true masters at combining the five key elements that go into every great short story: character, setting, conflict, plot and theme.
- 5. The Elements of Fiction Plot and Structure Characterization Theme Setting Point of View Style Symbol, Allegory, and Fantasy Humor and Irony While these elements are not all found in every work, they are critical to the understanding of each piece you read.
- 6. Plot and Structure PLOT: The sequence of incidents or events through which an author constructs a story. The plot is not merely the action itself, but the way the author arranges the action toward a specific end (structure).
- 7. Important Elements of Plot: Conflict - A clash of actions, ideas, desires, or wills Types of Conflict: 1. Person vs. Person, 2. Person vs. Environment, 3. Person vs. Self. Protagonist - The central character in a conflict
- 8. Antagonist - Any force arranged against the protagonist - whether persons, things, conventions of society, or the protagonists own personality traits. Suspense - The quality in a story that makes readers ask “what’s going to happen next?”. In more literary forms of fiction the suspense involves more “why” than “what”. Usually produced through two devices; either mystery (an unusual set of circumstances for which the reader craves an explanation) or dilemma (a position in which a character must choose between two courses of action, both undesirable.)
- 9. Artistic unity- Essential for a good plot. There must be nothing in the story that is irrelevant, that does not contribute to the meaning. Each event should grow out of the preceding one and lead logically to the next. The work should have a quality of natural inevitability, given the specific set of characters and the initial situation. Deus Ex Machina - Latin for “God from a machine”. The saving of the protagonist from an impossible situation. A form of plot manipulation.
- 10. Endings: • Happy Ending - Everything ends well for our protagonist. More often used in commercial fiction. • Unhappy Ending- Most instances in life do not have pleasant ends, so literary fiction that tries to emulate life is more apt to have an unhappy conclusion. These endings force the reader to contemplate the complexities of life. • Indeterminate Ending- No definitive ending is reached. This leaves the reader to ponder the many issues raised through the story without being handed a neat solution.
- 11. Characterization A character is a person, or sometimes even an animal, who takes part in the action of a short story or other literary work. o Analyzing characterization is more difficult than describing plot; human nature is infinitely complex, variable and ambiguous. It is much easier to describe what a person has done instead of who a person is.
- 12. o In commercial fiction, characters are often two-dimensional, and act as vessels to carry out the plot. The protagonist must be easily identified with and fundamentally decent, if he has vices they are of the more ‘innocent’ type, the kind the reader would not mind having. o In literary fiction, the protagonists are less easily labeled. Because human nature is often not entirely good or bad literary fiction is made up of three-dimensional characters; ‘real people’.
- 13. o Characters are presented in two different ways- directly and indirectly. a. Direct Presentation - The reader is told straight out what the character is like. b. Indirect Presentation - The author shows the character through their actions; the reader determines what the character is like by what they say or do. Dramatization - Characters are shown speaking and behaving, as in a play.
- 14. Types of Characters • Flat Characters - Usually have one or two predominant traits. The character can be summed up in just a few lines. • Round Characters - Complex and many faceted; have the qualities of real people. • Stock Characters - A type of flat character. The type of character that appears so often in fiction the reader recognizes them right away.
- 15. • Static Character - A character that remains essentially the same throughout. • Developing Character - A character that undergoes a significant change during the story.
- 16. There are three conditions that regulate change: 1. It must be consistent with the individual’s characterization as dramatized in the story. 2. It must be sufficiently motivated by the circumstances in which the character is placed. 3. The story must offer sufficient time for the change to take place and still be believable.
- 17. Theme The theme of a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight. It is the unifying generalization about life stated or implied by the story. Not all stories have significant themes. Theme exists only when the author has seriously attempted to record life accurately or to reveal some truth about it, or when the author has deliberately introduced as a unifying element some concept or theory of life that the story illuminates.
- 18. While theme is central to a story, it is not the whole purpose. The function of a literary writer is not to state a theme by to vivify it. Theme does not equal “moral”, “lesson”, or “message”. Commercial themes uphold things we would like to believe are true. Literary themes are more true to life. There is no prescribed method for uncovering a theme, however, focusing on the protagonist, the central conflict and other pieces will make the task easier.
- 19. Always keep in mind the following principals concerning theme: 1. Theme should be expressible in the form of a statement with a subject and predicate. 2. The theme should be stated as a generalization about life. 3. Be careful not to make the generalization larger than is justified by the terms of the story. Avoid terms like, every, all, always, in favor of words such as, some, sometimes, may.
- 20. 4. Theme is the central and unifying concept of a story. Therefore it accounts for all the major details of the story, is not contradicted by any detail of the story, and cannot rely upon supposed facts. 5. There is no one way of stating the theme of a story. As long as the above requirements are met the statement is valid. 6. Avoid any statement that reduces the theme to a familiar saying that we have heard all our lives.
- 21. Setting The setting of a story is its overall context - where, when and in what circumstances the action occurs. • Setting as Place - The physical environment where the story takes place. The description of the environment often points towards its importance. • Setting as Time - Includes time in all of its dimensions. To determine the importance, ask, “what was going on at that time?”
- 22. • Setting as Cultural Context - Setting also involves the social circumstances of the time and place. Consider historical events and social and political issues of the time. • Effects of Setting - Creates atmosphere, gives insight to characters, and provides connections to other aspects of the story.
- 23. Point of View Point of View is simply who is telling the story. To determine POV ask, “who is telling the story”, and “how much do they know?” 1. Omniscient POV - The story is told in third person by a narrator who has unlimited knowledge of events and characters.
- 24. 2. Objective POV - Records only what is seen and heard. In its purest form, objective POV would consist of only dialogue. Forces the author to refrain from interpretation. 3. First Person POV- The author disappears into one of the characters. Shares the limitations of third person limited. Uses the pronouns “I” and “we”.
- 25. 4. Second Person POV - Uses the pronoun “you”. Infrequently used. 5. Third Person Limited POV - The story is told in third person but from the view point of a character in the story. POV is limited to the character’s perceptions and shows no direct knowledge of what other characters are thinking, feeling, or doing. Stream of Consciousness- presents the random thoughts going through a character’s head within a certain period of time.
- 26. THANKS!