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Elements of Short Stories

Elements of Short Stories. November 2010. Characters. Are the people or animals who take part in a story’s action. Characters are directed by motivation – the reason or reasons that explain why characters act as they do. Characters.

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Elements of Short Stories

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  1. Elements of Short Stories November 2010

  2. Characters • Are the people or animals who take part in a story’s action. Characters are directed by motivation – the reason or reasons that explain why characters act as they do.

  3. Characters • Antagonist: character or a force in conflict with a main character, or a protagonist. • Protagonist: is the main character in a literary work. Often, the protagonist is the person, but sometimes it can be an animal.

  4. Characterization • Is the way a writer reveals a character’s personality and qualities. • Direct Characterization: the writer describes the character. • Indirect Characterization: the writer reveals the character through speech and actions.

  5. Theme • Central message expressed in a story. • Universal Theme: recurring theme that expresses a message about life in different cultures and time periods. • Example: Hard work always pays off in the end.

  6. Plot Triangle (Freytag’s Pyramid) Climax: Conflict Falling Action: Rising Action: Exposition: Resolution:

  7. Literary Devices • Tools writers often use to enhance their writing.

  8. Foreshadowing • Is the use of clues early in a story to hint at events that are going to occur later.

  9. Flashback • Is the placement of a scene within a story that interrupts the sequence of events to reveal past occurences.

  10. Irony • Is the general name given to literary techniques that involve surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions. When a story includes irony, something unexpected happens.

  11. Dialect • Is the form of a language spoken by people in a particular region or group. The use of dialect gives a short story a more authentic feel and helps a character’s words sound more realistic.

  12. Ticket out the Door • 3 New things you learned about short stories • 2 Things you learned about Flashback and Foreshadowing • 1 thing you learned about irony

  13. Check Your Understanding • 1. A deserted beach at dawn • A. Setting B. Plot • 2. A student struggles to pass an exam • A. dialect B. Conflict • 3. A wisecracking grandmother • A. character B. Setting • 4. An unlikely hero saves another person • A. plot B. Flashback • 5. An airplane bound for Hawaii • A. conflict B. setting

  14. Freytag’s Pyramid/Plot Triangle Freytag’s Pyramid uses a five-part system to describe a story’s plot. This graphic organizer matches the way stories are constructed: The climax is the high point, and it’s surrounded by rising and falling action.

  15. Plot:Plot is the literary element that describes the structure of a story. Climax: The turning point. The most intense moment, either mentally or in action. Rising Action: the series of conflicts and crisis in the story that lead to the climax. Falling Action: all of the action which follows the Climax. Exposition: The start of the story. The way things are before the action starts. (characters and setting) Resolution: The conclusion, the tying together of all of the threads.

  16. Plot: Conflict Conflict is the dramatic struggle between two forces in a story. Without conflict, there is no plot.

  17. Man vs Man Man vs Nature Man vs Society Man vs Self Plot: Types of Conflict

  18. Plot: Character vs. Character Conflict This type of conflict finds the main character in conflict with another character, human or not human. “The new one is the most beautiful of all; he is so young and pretty.” And the old swans bowed their heads before him. Then he felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his wing; for he did not know what to do, he was so happy, and yet not at all proud. He had been persecuted and despised for his ugliness, and now he heard them say he was the most beautiful of all the birds. The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson

  19. Plot: Character vs. Nature Conflict This type of conflict finds the main character in conflict with the forces of nature, which serve as the antagonist. It´s a Truffula Seed. It´s the last one of all! You´re in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds. And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs. Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

  20. Plot: Character vs. Society Conflict This type of conflict has the main character in conflict with a larger group: a community, society, culture, etc. “I’m tired of living in a hole,” said Jenny. “Let’s fight for freedom!” cried Bouncer. “We’ll be soldiers! Rough-riding Rowdies! I’ll be the general and commander-in-chief!” The Island of the Skog by Steven Kellogg

  21. Plot: Character vs. Self Conflict In this type of conflict, the main character experiences some kind of inner conflict. Finally, Sam’s father said, “Go to bed now. But before you go to sleep, Sam, tell yourself the difference between REAL and MOONSHINE.” Sam, Bangs & Moonshine by Evaline Ness

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