Constructing a Short Story

1. Constructing a Short Story The do’s and Don'ts of creative writing Year Nine English Miss Cobby Justin Tronerud

2. Today • Review yesterday • We will begin to explore what makes a short story • Audience • Free writing exercise • Share some of our ideas • Register and voice • Planning your story – mind map and story boarding • Discussion – free writing versus planning

3. Yesterday • Genre – a way to categories different types or writing • Ghost stories : • fiction that includes a ghost or the possibility of ghosts • uses our fear of the unknown to create suspense • merges the living with the dead • draw on out experiences of what happens to those left behind after a death • commonly deal with a violent or early death of the ghost or spirit • place, time , objects or scents may take on symbolic experience • LEAVE THE READER GUESSING!

4. Yesterday • Crime and Detection: • fictionalises crime, detection, criminals and their motives • usually leaves a trail of clues • will often try to mislead the reader by leaving false clues – Red Herrings • will often deal with the idea of crime bringing chaos and disorder to an otherwise ordered world • threatens the comfort and calm world of the middle class • offer reassurance that the crime will always be solved in the end

5. Yesterday • Love Stories: • usually deal with love • love of a parent and child, platonic love, or the intense feeling between lovers. • central love story – usually centres around two people trying to make their love work • emotionally satisfying love story – risk or struggle rewarded with emotionally satisfying ending

6. What will our writing need to include • The audience – Thinking about writing • Register and voice • Narrative perspective • Plot • Image and symbol • Editing and revising

7. Who is your Audience? • When we write we must consider: • Why do we write? • Who is our audience? • What is its purpose? • What are we trying to achieve? (feelings/emotional response) • Free writing exercise – WRITE, write anything that springs into you head. Get it on paper, quickly and unedited! • N.B. This could be the beginning of you short story but it doesn’t have to be!

8. Register and Voice • Real Speech Sentences • are sometimes left unfinished • jump from one thought to another • are sometimes ungrammatical • need physical gestures to make the meaning clear • are sometimes rambling • are sometimes repetitious

9. Register and Voice • Dialogue in Fiction • a story can have no dialogue at all or can be virtually all dialogue • dialogue should be consistent with the characters and personalities of the speakers • dialogue should advance the action, and should not be used as padding • you can set out dialogue conventionally, on a separate line between quotation marks, or it can blend with the rest of the text • dialogue should vary from speaker to speaker, varying in vocabulary, pace, rhythm , phrasing and sentence length

10. Register and Voice • A Few Do Not’s With Dialogue • try not to have too many characters talking in a scene • do not use dialogue to convey information about setting or plot! • don’t use dialogue to convey the mundane realities of everyday communication • DON’T use ‘he said’ or ‘she said; all of the time • Exercise : Read ‘The Father’ then write five pieces of dialogue that don’t use ‘he said’ or ‘she said’! • Start thinking about which genre you are going to use for the summative task!

11. Last Time • Why do we write? • to pass on knowledge and information • entertainment • convey emotions and feelings • Remember: Consider your audience and make your writing appropriate.

12. Last Time • Register and Voice • keep you dialogue real, some sentences don’t finish properly, can use improper grammar, can be rambling and repetitious. • need physical gestures to make the meaning clear • a story can have no dialogue at all or can be virtually all dialogue • dialogue should be consistent with the characters and personalities of the speakers • you can set out dialogue conventionally, on a separate line between quotation marks, or it can blend with the rest of the text • dialogue should vary from speaker to speaker, varying in vocabulary, pace, rhythm , phrasing and sentence length

13. Last Time • Register and Voice - A Few Don’ts • try not to have too many characters talking in a scene • do not use dialogue to convey information about setting or plot! • don’t use dialogue to convey the mundane realities of everyday communication • DON’T use ‘he said’ or ‘she said; all of the time

14. Narrative perspective • “Point of view” • When we read we hear an imagined voice telling, or transmitting, the story to us. • We ask questions about the voice which will help us understand the ways in which the “voice” was created. • Who’s telling the story? • In what form do they speak? • Who are they speaking to? • How much do they know? • Are they telling the truth?

15. Narrative perspective • “Point of view” • Has been described as the relation in which the narrator stands in the story. • The idea of ‘point of view’ helps us to understand which vantage point the action is being viewed from. • Therefore which ‘narrative perspective’ is being used • In your books write the following headings: • First person • Second Person • Omniscient

16. Narrative perspective • First Person • The narrator is a character • Uses the ‘I’ form of address • The oldest form or story-telling and still very popular • The first person can be the all-important character, and the main interest in the story (first person participant) • OR • Act as a recording pair of eyes, memory and the central interest is what he/she sees (first person observer)

17. Narrative perspective • First Person • The first person perspective creates intimacy, a voice speaking directly to the reader. • First person narratives give the illusion of seeming closest to ‘real life’ storytelling.

18. Narrative perspective • Second Person • The author creates a character to tells the story using the ‘you’ form of address. • Rarely used as the author obviously knows little about the reader. • Can give the reader a feeling of overpowering intimacy.

19. Narrative perspective • Omniscient Narrative • The narrator is usually an uninvolved, uncharacterised voice. • Tells the story using the ‘he’ or ‘she’ form of address. • Third person total omniscient relates external events (action, dialogue) with God-like power. Is all-seeing and all-knowing. • Third person selective omniscient offers a narrator who reveals thoughts of one or two characters • Third person limited omniscient offers a narrator whose knowledge is limited to ordinary human powers of observation

20. Last time • ‘Point of view’ • Who’s telling the story? • In what form do they speak? • Who are they speaking to? • How much do they know? • Are they telling the truth?

21. Last time • ‘Narrative Perspective’ • First Person - The first person perspective creates • intimacy, a voice speaking directly to the reader. • Second Person - The author creates a character to tells • the story using the ‘you’ form of address. • Use caution! Second person narratives can give the reader a feeling of overpowering intimacy. • Omniscient Narrative - The narrator is usually an uninvolved, uncharacterised • voice. Tells the story using the ‘he’ or ‘she’ form of address. • Third person total omniscient relates external events (action, dialogue) with God-like power. Is all-seeing and all-knowing. • Third person selective omniscient offers a narrator who reveals thoughts of one or two characters • Third person limited omniscient offers a narrator whose knowledge is limited to ordinary human powers of observation

22. Plot – Telling good stories • Plot – may be defined as the arrangement of events in a • Story • how events are arranged • what connects these events • Types of plot • Linear Plot • Non-linear Plot

23. Plot – Telling good stories • Linear Plot – represents a common-sense idea about time. • it is chronological • follows a sequence • of events

24. Plot – Telling good stories • Non-linear Plot – represents a common-sense idea about time. • Less emphasis on events being chronological • events are not in order, they must be connected • is useful for omens, prophecies, visions and dreams. • ‘story within a story’

25. Image and Symbol • Imagery - in literature is used to paint a mental image of • something. The techniques used are descriptive and paint a picture • that allows the reader to visualize the setting, person, or image that • is intended to be conveyed. • ‘The old farm encrusted with barren soil and remnants of long • decayed crops stood lonely and isolated as the wind pounded its • walls.’ • Try writing your own sentence using imagery

26. Image and Symbol • Symbolism - is often used by writers to enhance their writing. • Symbolism can give a literary work more richness and colour and can • make the meaning of the work deeper. • In literature, symbolism can take many forms including: • A figure of speech where an object, person, or situation has another meaning other than its literal meaning. • The actions of a character, word, action, or event that have a deeper meaning in the context of the whole story.

27. Image and Symbol • Symbolismis found in colours: • Blackis used to represent death or evil. • White stands for life and purity. • Redcan symbolize blood, passion, danger, or immoral character. • Purple is a royal colour. • Yellow stands for violence or decay. • Bluerepresents peacefulness and calm.

28. Image and Symbol • Metaphors As Symbolism • A metaphor is a figure of speech that uses symbolism. • It compares two things that are not similar and shows that they actually do have something in common. • In a metaphor, there is an additional meaning to a word. This makes it an example of symbolism. • He is a rock: This is symbolic because it signifies that he is strong and dependable. • Love is a jewel: This is symbolic because it suggests that love is rare and pressure.

29. Editing and Revision