Short story elements

1. Short story elements

2. This is how the author develops/describes the characters. CHARACTERIZATION

3. When the author tells you about the character No guessing You can actually point to the description on the page Direct characterization For example: “His face was round and he was chubby. His hair was straw-colored and his cheeks were always red.”

4. The author gives hints/clues about the characters Description is not specifically stated You must INFER INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION For example: “Now there was a cold silence between my mother and my father. Lately, it had been happening more and more often.” We can infer that there is conflict between his parents, even though the author does not say it directly.

5. A problem There are two types: internal and external conflict

6. A problem outside of the character Man vs. man, man vs. nature, etc. External conflict For example: Timothy and Phillip vs. the storm

7. A problem the character has within his or herself (in their mind) Internal conflict For example: Phillip was wondering whether he should trust Timothy.

8. Exposition Inciting incident Rising action Climax Falling action Resolution plot

9. Exposition- The beginning of the story, before any conflict happens Inciting incident- When the conflict first begins Rising action- The conflict/problem begins to increase Climax- The peak of the problem- the conflict does not get any worse from here Falling action- The problem begins to wrap up - Resolution- The problem is solved and/or the story ends

10. For example: Exposition: Mary stretches and begins to wake up. Inciting incident: She rolls over and sees 8:30 on the alarm clock. Rising action: Mary jumps out of bed as she realizes she’s late for work. Climax: Ten minutes later she is in her car driving to work but gets stuck in a major traffic jam. No one is moving. Falling action: The DJ on the radio wishes everyone a happy Saturday. Mary realizes it’s actually the weekend! Resolution: Mary turns the car around and heads home to enjoy the rest of her weekend.

11. Time and place setting For example: The Cay took place in 1942 in Curacao.

12. A lesson/message Cannot be summed up in just one word- needs to be a statement or sentence Universal: something that most people can relate to theme For example: “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a theme we could learn from The Cay after Phillip forms a friendship with Timothy.

13. How a story is told The narrator 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person limited, 3rd person omniscient Point of view

14. Told using “I” The narrator is a character in the story 1st Person point of view For example: The Cay uses 1st person p.o.v. Timothy is telling the story using “I.”

15. Almost never used Told saying “you” For example: You walk through a forest and encounter a magical, talking fox. It takes you to a cabin in the woods that you swear was not there a minute ago… 2nd Person point of view

16. The narrator is not a character in the story Told using “he,” “she,” etc. NOT “I” The narrator may have access to one character’s thoughts 3RD PERSON LIMITED POINT OF VIEW For example: He decided to steal the five dollars that was sticking out of his mom’s bag. She won’t even know it’s missing, he thought to himself.

17. - The same as 3rd person limited EXCEPT the narrator has access to all character’s thoughts 3rd person omniscient point of view For example: The classroom was silent. Maddie thought the silence was creepy but Rebecca found it relaxing. She could finally concentrate long enough to complete the difficult math problem they’d been assigned.

18. Something that represents/stands for something else Emojis are symbols on your phone/online but NOT a symbol in literature! symbol • For example, two common symbols in literature are: • A dove represents peace • Green represents greed, money