Forms and Features of a Story

1. Forms and Features of a Story When reading any short story, it is imperative that we pay attention to the parts of its tale. During our short stories unit, we will read every story and be thinking of how it uses each part of a story.

2. Genre: Short Story • “a brief fictional prose narrative designed to create a unified impression quickly and forcefully” (from Harris, et al. The Literacy Dictionary, IRA, 1995) • A well- written short story provides, “…rich characters, fascinating conflicts, thoughtful and thought-provoking themes. However, because they are short, they are often more focused on a single main character and a single conflict….” (Heather Lattimer. Thinking through Genre, Stenhouse, 2003)

3. Short Stories’ Purposes · To engage and entertain · To involve the reader in a single situation or conflict in a character’s life

4. Forms and Features of Short Stories Short stories have a definite plot structure with • Who? character(s) • Where and When? setting • Why? conflict, problem or goal

5. Plot A series of events related to a central conflict or struggle. A typical plot involves the introduction of a conflict, its development, and its eventual resolution.

6. Exposition or Introduction • Sets or introduces the tone or mood, introduces the characters and the setting, and provides necessary background information.

7. Inciting Incident/Complication • This is the catalyst that begins the major conflict and is often the problem or goal of the main character. This usually introduces the rising action of the story. • Conflict comes in four forms: • Person against self • Person against person • Person against nature • Person against society

8. Rising Action • This is typically the longest part of any story. This is where the story builds to the climax.

9. Climax, Crisis, or Turning Point • This is the turning point in a short story that occurs when characters try to resolve the complication/conflict (problem or goal). Climax is the most intense moment – either mentally or in the action.

10. Falling Action • Events that occur as the character works toward the resolution of the conflict.

11. Resolution • This is the set of events that bring the story to a close, tying together all of the threads. The characters resolve the conflict/problem, reach the goal, or come to terms with the situation.

12. Denoument • Any material that follows the resolution and that ties up loose ends.

13. A note about plotline • Plots rarely contain all these elements in precisely this order. Elements of exposition may be introduced at any time in the course of a work. A work may begin with a catastrophe and then use a flashback to explain it. The exposition, denouement, or resolution may be missing. The inciting incident may occur before the beginning of the action actually described in the work.

14. Conflict • Man v. Man • Man v. Nature • Man v. Society • Man v. Self • Man v. Supernatural • Man v. Technology • Man v. Destiny

15. Character Development in Plots Character can be developed or revealed in a number of ways: • Characters’ actions • Dialogue • Reactions • Thoughts • Character’s habits/idiosyncrasies • Character’s possessions • Physical descriptions • Background information

16. Theme • Theme of a short story is its view about life and how people behave – often a universal truth. The theme of a short story is not meant to teach or preach and is not usually presented directly. The reader must extract the theme from the characters, action, and setting of the story. To uncover the theme, the reader might refer to the title, notice repeating patterns and symbols, attend to allusions made throughout the story, and/or try to determine the greater meaning of the details and particulars of the story.