Short Stories

What is a short story?What are the elements of a short

story?What is Freytag’s Pyramid?

What is a short story?

• Short work of fiction.

• Generally centers on one climactic event.

• Usually develops a single main character.

• Can be read in one sitting.

Elements of a Short Story

•Setting•Character•Conflict•Plot•Point of View•Theme

Setting

Establishes mood or atmosphere.Sometimes it’s very specific and important. Others, it’s very vague and

unimportant – as if the story could take place anywhere, anytime.

• Historical: Time period. When. Past, present, or future. WWII, 2012, present day. EAP stories take place in mid-1800s.

• Geographical: Place. Where. Country/state/city, landscape, weather. Environment/climate. Africa, London, deserted hotel, tornado, blizzard, jungle, mountains.

• Socio-economical: The social and economic situation or climate. Wealthy, elite prep school, impoverished camp of migrant workers.

Character

Characterization:• The creation and development of a character through actions, speech,

thoughts, appearance, and the other characters’ opinions of him/her.• Establishes who a character is, what conflicts s/he faces, and how they

act/react to conflicts.

• Round vs. Flat:Round: well-developed, multi-dimensional, complex characters with

many traits, convincing and true to life.Flat: one-dimensional, stereotypical, shallow, often symbolic. Not major

players in the story.

• Dynamic vs. Static:Dynamic: character changes, grows, learns, or develops. Not the same

at the end as s/he was at beginning.Static: no change, growth, or development.

Character

• Protagonist: Main character. Not necessarily the “good guy.”

• Antagonist: Character who opposes the protagonist. Character with whom the protagonist is in conflict. Not necessarily the “bad guy.”

• Foil: Character whose personality/attitude/traits are opposite the personality/attitude/traits of another character. The CONTRAST highlights the differences. The traits of one, by contrast, highlights the traits of the other.

Conflict(Human vs. _____ or Protagonist vs. _____)

Dramatic struggle between two forces in a story. Without it, there’s no plot.

EXTERNAL• Physical (human vs. nature) – Has to

survive in a threatening situation. Into Thin Air, “To Build a Fire.” Climbing Mt. Everest, finding the way home, living in a war zone.

• Classical (human vs. human) – In conflict with another person/group of people. Being outcast from a group of friends, dealing with a bully, hunting down a criminal, being chased across the world.

• Social (human vs. society) – Challenging the status quo or going against what is considered “normal.” Going against custom and refusing an arranged marriage, refusing to take part in tradition, standing up for something everyone else dislikes/rejects.

INTERNAL• Psychological (human vs. self) –

Facing something within himself or herself. Conflict within the character’s mind, body, and/or spirit. Facing cancer, facing one’s fears, having to decide between right and wrong, living with regret, dealing with a tragedy.

Plot

Plot: The structure of the story. The arrangement of actions and events in the story.

Other literary terms related to plot:• Causality: “Cause and Effect,” meaning one event causes another or

one event occurs because of another.

• Foreshadowing: Hints or suggestions as to what is going to happen.

• Suspense: A sense of worry or tension established by the author.

Freytag’s Pyramid

Freytag’s Pyramid• Exposition: The setting and mood or atmosphere are established at

the beginning of the story. We meet the main characters and learn about their positions, circumstances, and relationships to one another. – Part of the Exposition is the “Conflict” or the “Inciting Incident,” also

called the “complication” or the “narrative hook.” The Inciting Incident is the event that sets off the conflict that continues throughout the story.

• Rising Action: This is the series of events, conflicts, and crises in the story that lead up to the climax, providing the progressive intensity, and complicate the conflict.

• Climax: This is the turning point of the story. A crucial event takes place and from this point forward, the protagonist moves toward his/her inevitable end. The event may be either an action or a mental decision that the protagonist makes.

Freytag’s Pyramid• Falling Action: This is the events occurring from the time of the climax to the

end of the story. The main character may encounter more conflicts in this part of the story, but the end is inevitable.

• Resolution, which includes the “Denouement”: Resolution is the tying up of loose ends and all of the threads in the story. It’s the conclusion. The protagonist either emerges triumphant or is defeated at this point. The Denouement is the opposite of Exposition: instead of getting ready to tell us the story by introducing the setting and characters, the author is getting ready to end it with a final explanation of what actually happened and how the characters think or feel about it. In the resolution, we often come to understand how the protagonist has changed after facing the conflict. We see how the protagonist’s life is different now at the end story from how it was at the beginning of the story. (This is the growth, development, or change that makes the protagonist a dynamic character.)

• Stories can start and stop in any place on Freytag’s Pyramid. Not every story has all five parts. For example, a story could start right in the middle of the action, so it doesn’t have Exposition, but rather begins with the Rising Action. A story could also cut out right after the Climax, meaning it has no Falling Action or Resolution. The reader has to fill in the gaps using his/her imagination.

Types of Plot• Linear: Straightforward. Most basic type of plot, following a sequence of

events with causality, building through exposition to a climax and then resolution.– Chronological: Follows the events in the order in which they occurred.– Flashback: Looks back at events that have already happened.– In Medias Res: Starts in the middle of the action without exposition.

• Circular: Follow a “round” pattern; begin and end in the same way or at the same point. Like the cycles of seasons or the life cycle. Follow a predictable series of events that returns to the starting point.

• Episodic: Look at events as if they are episodes. Not one long story that flows together, but instead separate moments that can stand alone. Moments in a character’s life. Do not necessarily develop according to the rules of cause and effect – one scene does not always lead to the next.

• Hypertextual: Reader chooses what to click on next, determining where to go next or what to read next. Like reading online. Like “Choose Your Own Adventures.” Can read differently every time you read it.

Point of View

• The "vantage point" of the narrative.

• The voice or consciousness through which we understand the story and that shapes what we think and how we feel about everything in the story.

• Someone is always between the reader and the action of the story; that someone is telling the story from his/her point of view.

• Who tells the story and how it is told are critical issues for the author to decide. Everything can change radically depending upon who is telling the story.

The perspective through which the story is told.

Types of Point of View

• Objective PoV: Also called “Impersonal Narration.” The writer tells what happens without stating more than can be inferred from the story's action and dialogue. The narrator never discloses anything about what the characters think or feel, remaining a detached observer.

• First Person PoV: The narrator tells his/her own story. We read about what is happening to him/her and share his/her own thoughts. We know only what the narrator knows, and we really only understand his/her perspective.

• Third Person PoV: Here the narrator does not participate in the action of the story as one of the characters, but rather is an outside observer who lets us know exactly what the characters think and how the characters feel. We learn about the characters through this outside voice.– Omniscient: The narrator knows everything about all the characters; the

narrator is all-knowing or “omniscient.” The narrator can get inside all the characters’ heads.

– Limited Omniscient: The narrator’s knowledge is limited to one character, either major or minor, so the narrator only knows what that one character thinks and feels. The narrator can get inside only that one character’s head.

Point of View

Questions to help you read interpret, and analyze the point of view of a story:

• How does the point of view affect our responses to the characters?• How does the point of view shape our understanding and

interpretations? • How is our response influenced by how much the narrator knows and

how objective and reliable he/she is? • What might happen if another point of view took charge and told the

story his/her way?

The Narrator

Narrator: The storyteller. The filter through whom the story passes from the text to the reader. The character who most influences our understanding of the story.

• Questions to help determine who the narrator of the story is:– Who tells the story?– Through whose eyes do we see the events?– Whose thoughts, feelings, and opinions do we know?– Who analyzes the events? – What are the narrator’s intentions and motives in telling the story?

Unreliable Narrators• First Person PoV: We know

only what the narrator wants us to know.

• What if the narrator isn’t telling us the whole story?

• What if the narrator cannot be trusted?

• Is the narrator credible?• Narrator may not be telling the

objective truth! Question the trustworthiness of the narrator and his/her story.

• EAP’s narrators are notoriously unreliable, untrustworthy, and incredible!

Unreliable Narrators

Why might a narrator be unreliable?

• S/he may have something to lose or something to gain by telling only a specific version of the story.

• S/he may be under the influence of something or someone.

• S/he may be incompetent in some way.

Theme• Controlling idea or central

insight.• Underlying meaning or main idea.• Thoughts about a topic.• View of human nature.• Commentary on society or

culture.

• It offers some kind of insight into the human condition, meaning it says something about human nature and life. It can also give a social commentary, meaning it says something about our society and culture or current events.

• Themes can be stated directly or implied by the characters and events in the story.

QUESTIONS?

What is a short story?What are the elements of a short story?What is Freytag’s Pyramid?