The Short Story

Short Story Elements

1. Setting2. Character3. Point of view4. Theme5. Plot

Short Story Elements

1. SettingSetting is the time and the place of the story’s action.

Setting includes ideas, customs, values and beliefs

Short Story Elements

2. CharactersCharacters are the actors in the story’s plot.

They can be people, animals or whatever the author chooses.

Short Story Elements

Characters, continuedProtagonist-main characterAntagonist-is in conflict with the main character. Not all stories have antagonists.

Short Story Elements 3. Point of View

Point of view refers to the relationship of the narrator (storyteller) to the story.

First-person point of view- narrator is a character in the story, referred to as “I”

Second-person point of view- narrator addresses an audience directly as “you”

Short Story Elements Third-person limited point of

view-The narrator reveals the thoughts of only one character, referring to the character as “he” or “she”

Third-person omniscient point of view-Narrator knows everything about story’s events and reveals the thoughts of all the characters

Short Story Elements

4. ThemeTheme is the central idea or message of a story, often a perception about life or human nature.

Short Story Elements

Stated Themes-Are directly presented in the story

Implied Themes-Must be inferred by considering all the elements of a story and asking what message about life it conveys

Short Story Elements

5. PlotPlot is the sequence of events in a story. Each event causes or leads to the next. Plot is often created through conflict, a struggle between opposing forces.

Short Story Elements

External Conflict- Between a character and an

outside force, such as another character, nature, society or life

Internal Conflict- Takes place within the mind of a

character who is torn between opposing feelings or between different courses of action.

Short Story ElementsMost plots develop in 5

stages:Exposition-introduction (very brief in a short story unlike in a novel)

Rising Action- complications of the conflict occur (short stories establish this right away)

Climax-emotional high-point of the story (reached quickly in short stories)

Short Story Elements

Falling Action- logical result of the climax (brief or often nonexistent in short stories)

Resolution- presents the final outcome of the story (sometimes understated in short stories)

Novel Plot

Exposition

Rising

Action

Climax

Fallin

g A

ction

Resolution

Short Story Plot

Exposition

Ris

ing

Act

ion

Climax

Fallin

g A

ctio

n

Resolution