elements of short story assignment

9 Key Elements of a Short Story: What They Are and How to Apply Them

by Sarah Gribble | 1 comment

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If you're new to short story writing, it can be intimidating to think of fitting everything you need in a story into a small word count. Are there certain elements of a short story you'll need to know in order for your story to be great?

Writers struggle with this all the time.

You might want to develop deep character backgrounds with a huge cast of characters, amazing settings, and at least two subplots. And that's great. But that wouldn't be writing a short story.

You might try to cut some of these things, and then all the sudden you don't have a character arc or a climax or an ending.

Every story has basic elements; a short story's basic elements are just more focused than a novel's. But all those elements must be there, and yes, they need to fit into a short word count.

In this article, you'll learn what you need to make sure your short story is a complete story—with three famous short story examples. These story elements are what you should focus on when writing a short piece of fiction.

The Key to Compelling Stories: It's NOT Dun, Dun, DUUN!

When I first started writing, I mainly worked on horror short stories. I wanted to create that dun, dun, DUUUN! moment at the end of all of them. You know the one. In the movies it's where the screen goes to black and you’re left feeling goosebumps.

I remember the first writing contest I entered (right here at The Write Practice!), I submitted a story that I thought was pretty decent, but didn’t really think would win.

I was right; it did not win.

But mainly I wanted the upgrade I’d purchased: feedback from the judge. She was great and told me my writing was good and tight, but there was one major issue with my story.

The dun, dun, DUUN!

I’d tried to cultivate actually meant my story just . . . cut off. There was no ending. There wasn’t even a complete climax. I got it ramped up and then just . . . stopped.

That feedback changed me as a short story writer. It made me really pay attention to what needed to be in a story versus what was unnecessary.

I studied short stories. I made note of what an author did and where. I basically taught myself story structure.

This may seem obvious, but a short story, even though it’s short, still needs to be a story.

So let’s start with the basics.

P.S. If you want to learn more about the five major steps you need to complete to write a short story, read this article .

What Is a Story?

I know a man who consistently tells stories during parties. (Sort of like this guy !)

He starts out well but then goes off on tangent after tangent, ultimately not really getting to any sort of point.

New people (re: characters ) are introduced, then dropped. New events are mentioned, but not resolved. By the time he gets to the end of his “stories,” eyes have glazed over and the “punchline,” as it were, falls flat.

What this man is telling is a short story, and he’s doing it terribly.

A story, no matter the length, can be boiled down to a character wanting something, having a hard time getting it, and finally either getting it or not.

Stories are actually simple when you look at the basics. This is why writing short stories will make you a better writer.

Short stories force a writer to practice nailing structure and pace. If you nail those things, you’ll be able to write stories of any length (and not bore people at parties).

And like novel-length stories, short stories contain certain elements in order to hold up the structure and pace.

For each story element below, I'll use three classic stories as examples:

Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery”
Edgar Allen Poe's “The Cask of Amontillado”
O. Henry's “The Gift of the Magi”

Take a few minutes to refresh your memory by clicking on the links of each, if you wish.

9 Key Elements of a Short Story

When it comes down to the elements of a short story, focus on nine key elements that determine if the short story is a complete story or a half-baked one.

1. Character

Characters in books are well-drawn. There's a lot of time spent on character development and backstory. That's not needed for short stories.

Short stories need one central character and one or two other major characters. That’s about it. There isn't enough room to have a ton of characters and a story will veer away from the central plotline if a large cast is present.

The reader doesn't need to know everything about this character . They don't even need to know their physical appearance if it's not vital to the story. Your character traits in short stories can be so minimal, they don't even need a name.

This doesn't mean the protagonist is a static character who is basically a zombie on a couch. They still have to be a dynamic character, one that changes throughout the story.

When you're thinking of character creation for short stories, you don't need to dive into too much detail. Two to three character details are normally enough.

See how the three short story examples used in this article develop characters:

The Lottery

The main character is Tessie Hutchinson.

We don't know much about Tessie, other than she's unkempt and arrives late with a slew of jokes. You'll no doubt note here that this story has a lot of characters, not just two or three.

But notice only a few of the other characters are fleshed out much at all. The other characters of note here are:

Mr. Hutchinson
Mr. Summers
Old Man Warner.

The Cask of Amontillado

This short story has significantly fewer characters:

The main character

The Gift of the Magi

There are only two named characters:

Della, the main character
Jim, Della's husband

2. Want/Goal

The central character needs to want something—even if it’s a glass of water, as Kurt Vonnegut famously said. (They can also not want something. But they have to have an opinion either way.) The story is their quest to get said something.

Obviously, in real life people want multiple things, often at once and often in contrast to each other. But in a short story, the goal needs to be focused and relatively simple.

This want/goal is important to the story plot. This is what drives the character's decisions as they move throughout the space of your story. The goals in the short story examples are:

Tessie, as with every other person who shows up at the lottery, doesn't want to get chosen.

Montresor wants revenge for an insult Fortunato threw his way while drunk.

Della wants to give her husband a Christmas gift.

3. Conflict

Obstacles and complications need to make the protagonist's journey hard, and these types of conflicts should raise the stakes as the protagonist tries to achieve their want/goal.

In books, multiple things need to get in the way of the character completing the goal, but in short stories, there can be as little as one central conflict .

Conflict stems from the antagonist, whether that’s an external baddie (character conflicts with each other), an internal issue, forces of nature, or society being against them. Here's how conflict works in our three examples:

The Lottery

Tessie conflicts with the other townsfolk, her husband (who is more rule-abiding than she is), and the overall way of life the lottery is forcing.

The main conflict is this supposed insult Fortunato made to Montresor. Interestingly, even though this story is a rather brutal revenge story, there isn't much surface conflict happening.

Fortunato essentially walks to his own death without much protest. Montresor also goes through an internal conflict toward the end when he hesitates, only for a moment, over what he is doing.

The Gift of the Magic

Della has a more straightforward conflict with poverty: she's only got a dollar or two and wants to buy a nice gift for her husband.

4. Decisions

If characters sit around watching the world go by, there's no story plot. A character needs to make decisions at every turn to drive the story forward.

Your want/goal is the reason behind these decisions, but the conflict is what's driving the need to even make them.

Let's go back to Vonnegut's idea of a character wanting a glass of water (goal).

Say that character was lost in the desert (conflict). They'd do anything to get a glass of water, wouldn't they? That glass of water is the primary source of them living right at that moment, and everything revolves around that.

They're not going to make a move without it being in service of that ultimate goal.

In short stories, the protagonist's main goal is the driving force behind their decisions for the few thousand words we spend with them.

Among the decisions made in the three example stories are these:

Tessie decides to protest the results of the lottery in the hopes of not getting stoned to death.

Montresor decides to keep walling up Fortunato after his slight hesitation over whether this was really a good idea to get his revenge.

TheGift of the Magic

Della decides to cut her hair off and sell it in order to afford a gift.

This is the element of most stories that’s missing when someone tells a boring story at a party. This is the exciting part, the punchline, the ultimate point of the entire story.

This is where the character goes up against the baddie in a final showdown and either wins or loses. This is the ultimate answer to the What If Question we talked about before.

The climax for each of our examples is:

Tessie “wins” the lottery and fights the results (to no avail).

Montresor chains Fortunato in the wall and he realizes what's happening to him.

Della and Jim give each other the gifts and realize those gifts are currently “pointless” because each of them sold what they would use the gift for.

The ending is short, often only a couple of sentences in a short story. This is where everything is wrapped up.

It follows the climactic fight and winds down the remaining character and plot points, letting readers breathe and showing them what comes next for the character. (This is not the time to dun, dun, DUUN !)

This is often missing in short stories.

Ambiguous endings are fine, but the writer must give a glimpse of what happens to the main character.

Tessie is stoned to death so the townsfolk can go back to their normal lives.

Montresor decides to keep on sealing Fortunato behind the wall, despite the feeble protests from the man.

Della and Jim realize they really gave each other the gift of love and go about their Christmas.

When you encounter conflict in real life, you make decisions, which lead to change . It’s the same for the characters.

They change throughout this little adventure they’re on, and so do their circumstances.

If they’re in the same place at the end of the story they were at the beginning, did anything even happen?

Tessie's change is pretty obvious: she's dead. Before that, though, she changes from joking and disregarding this weird tradition to getting very scared and angry very quickly.

Montresor is freed from his irksome frenemy, and also knows a little bit more about himself and what he's capable of.

Della and Jim realize the true gift wasn't anything that could be bought and are happy with the love they've shared rather than worrying about material things.

8. Point of view (POV)

Choose one point of view and stick to it.

This is essential in a short story. You do not have enough room to go head-hopping or switching points of view with each paragraph.

You want your reader to be with your character the whole time, otherwise they will lose interest.

If you need a point of view refresher, read this article .

Here's the point of view in each of the short story examples:

Third-person omniscient

First person

Third-person limited

Even short stories should have a decently drawn setting .

This is tricky because, again, you don’t have room to be describing every little thing.

You’ll need to weave in the setting as you tell the story and stick to the essentials.

Notice the three example stories have something in common: a rather ambiguous setting.

We know Tessie lives in what seems to be an agrarian small town. We don't know where, what time period, or why the lottery exists.

Our wine lovers in “The Cask of Amontillado” are mostly in the family crypt.

We know Della and Jim live in a small, run-down apartment. We don't know where or when.

The reader doesn't know much about the setting in any of these stories, but they don't need to know much. The plot hums along just fine without all those details.

What a Short Story is Not

It's often the case that the writer lets the muse take over when story writing.

In this case, what ends up on the page is often flowy sentences that sound profound and a “story” that sounds more like the ramblings of poor Fortunato.

It's fine to let a story writing get loose and to play with language. Innovation is experiementation.

But when a writer does this, it's often not truly a short story, or a story at all. It might be profound. It might be quote-worthy.

But it also might not be a story.

A short story is not:

Short stories are not poems . Poetry doesn’t have the burden of having to tell a story (though it can, I know that, so don’t come at me). Short stories are stories with story structure. You can write them with poetic language, but there must be a story in there.
Short stories are not plotless . Stream of consciousness is a great way to write morning pages, to get in the mood to write, to journal, etc. It’s not a great way to write a short story. Again, short stories are stories. They have to have a plot.
Short stories do not have subplots . Remember that guy I talked about at the beginning of this article? When he went off on tangents, he was getting into subplot territory. There is no room in a short story for subplots.

Stick with one major event that’s happening to one main character.

A Note on “Rules”

I’ve been working with writers long enough to know that some of you reading this article are telling me off, especially with the last section.

I get it. You want to be creative. You want to follow your muse.

You want to do what I’ve just told you not to do.

Here’s the thing: rules are meant to be broken. I will give you that.

If you want to experiment and find a way to insert a new subplot and resolve it in every paragraph, do it. But in order to break the rules, you need to master them first.

Start by including each of these story elements in your short story.

When you can ensure you have each story element consistently, then you can get crazy.

Which element do you need the most practice on? Tell us in the comments .

Revisit a short story you've written. Take fifteen minutes to analyze the story.

Look for each of these nine elements. Choose one missing element and add it. (If one isn't missing, then choose one element to beef up.)

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Sarah Gribble

Sarah Gribble is the author of dozens of short stories that explore uncomfortable situations, basic fears, and the general awe and fascination of the unknown. She just released Surviving Death , her first novel, and is currently working on her next book.

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The short story is a fiction writer’s laboratory: here is where you can experiment with characters, plots, and ideas without the heavy lifting of writing a novel. Learning how to write a short story is essential to mastering the art of storytelling . With far fewer words to worry about, storytellers can make many more mistakes—and strokes of genius!—through experimentation and the fun of fiction writing.

Nonetheless, the art of writing short stories is not easy to master. How do you tell a complete story in so few words? What does a story need to have in order to be successful? Whether you’re struggling with how to write a short story outline, or how to fully develop a character in so few words, this guide is your starting point.

Famous authors like Virginia Woolf, Haruki Murakami, and Agatha Christie have used the short story form to play with ideas before turning those stories into novels. Whether you want to master the elements of fiction, experiment with novel ideas, or simply have fun with storytelling, here’s everything you need on how to write a short story step by step.

How to Write a Short Story: Contents

The Core Elements of a Short Story

How to write a short story outline, how to write a short story step by step, how to write a short story: length and setting, how to write a short story: point of view, how to write a short story: protagonist, antagonist, motivation, how to write a short story: characters, how to write a short story: prose, how to write a short story: story structure, how to write a short story: capturing reader interest, where to read and submit short stories.

There’s no secret formula to writing a short story. However, a good short story will have most or all of the following elements:

A protagonist with a certain desire or need. It is essential for the protagonist to want something they don’t have, otherwise they will not drive the story forward.
A clear dilemma. We don’t need much backstory to see how the dilemma started; we’re primarily concerned with how the protagonist resolves it.
A decision. What does the protagonist do to resolve their dilemma?
A climax. In Freytag’s Pyramid , the climax of a story is when the tension reaches its peak, and the reader discovers the outcome of the protagonist’s decision(s).
An outcome. How does the climax change the protagonist? Are they a different person? Do they have a different philosophy or outlook on life?

Of course, short stories also utilize the elements of fiction , such as a setting , plot , and point of view . It helps to study these elements and to understand their intricacies. But, when it comes to laying down the skeleton of a short story, the above elements are what you need to get started.

Note: a short story rarely, if ever, has subplots. The focus should be entirely on a single, central storyline. Subplots will either pull focus away from the main story, or else push the story into the territory of novellas and novels.

The shorter the story is, the fewer of these elements are essentials. If you’re interested in writing short-short stories, check out our guide on how to write flash fiction .

Some writers are “pantsers”—they “write by the seat of their pants,” making things up on the go with little more than an idea for a story. Other writers are “plotters,” meaning they decide the story’s structure in advance of writing it.

You don’t need a short story outline to write a good short story. But, if you’d like to give yourself some scaffolding before putting words on the page, this article answers the question of how to write a short story outline:

https://writers.com/how-to-write-a-story-outline

There are many ways to approach the short story craft, but this method is tried-and-tested for writers of all levels. Here’s how to write a short story step-by-step.

1. Start With an Idea

Often, generating an idea is the hardest part. You want to write, but what will you write about?

What’s more, it’s easy to start coming up with ideas and then dismissing them. You want to tell an authentic, original story, but everything you come up with has already been written, it seems.

Here are a few tips:

Originality presents itself in your storytelling, not in your ideas. For example, the premise of both Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ostrovsky’s The Snow Maiden are very similar: two men and two women, in intertwining love triangles, sort out their feelings for each other amidst mischievous forest spirits, love potions, and friendship drama. The way each story is written makes them very distinct from one another, to the point where, unless it’s pointed out to you, you might not even notice the similarities.
An idea is not a final draft. You will find that exploring the possibilities of your story will generate something far different than the idea you started out with. This is a good thing—it means you made the story your own!
Experiment with genres and tropes. Even if you want to write literary fiction , pay attention to the narrative structures that drive genre stories, and practice your storytelling using those structures. Again, you will naturally make the story your own simply by playing with ideas.

If you’re struggling simply to find ideas, try out this prompt generator , or pull prompts from this Twitter .

2. Outline, OR Conceive Your Characters

If you plan to outline, do so once you’ve generated an idea. You can learn about how to write a short story outline earlier in this article.

If you don’t plan to outline, you should at least start with a character or characters. Certainly, you need a protagonist, but you should also think about any characters that aid or inhibit your protagonist’s journey.

When thinking about character development, ask the following questions:

What is my character’s background? Where do they come from, how did they get here, where do they want to be?
What does your character desire the most? This can be both material or conceptual, like “fitting in” or “being loved.”
What is your character’s fatal flaw? In other words, what limitation prevents the protagonist from achieving their desire? Often, this flaw is a blind spot that directly counters their desire. For example, self hatred stands in the way of a protagonist searching for love.
How does your character think and speak? Think of examples, both fictional and in the real world, who might resemble your character.

In short stories, there are rarely more characters than a protagonist, an antagonist (if relevant), and a small group of supporting characters. The more characters you include, the longer your story will be. Focus on making only one or two characters complex: it is absolutely okay to have the rest of the cast be flat characters that move the story along.

Learn more about character development here:

https://writers.com/character-development-definition

3. Write Scenes Around Conflict

Once you have an outline or some characters, start building scenes around conflict. Every part of your story, including the opening sentence, should in some way relate to the protagonist’s conflict.

Conflict is the lifeblood of storytelling: without it, the reader doesn’t have a clear reason to keep reading. Loveable characters are not enough, as the story has to give the reader something to root for.

Take, for example, Edgar Allan Poe’s classic short story The Cask of Amontillado . We start at the conflict: the narrator has been slighted by Fortunato, and plans to exact revenge. Every scene in the story builds tension and follows the protagonist as he exacts this revenge.

In your story, start writing scenes around conflict, and make sure each paragraph and piece of dialogue relates, in some way, to your protagonist’s unmet desires.

Read more about writing effective conflict here:

What is Conflict in a Story? Definition and Examples

4. Write Your First Draft

The scenes you build around conflict will eventually be stitched into a complete story. Make sure as the story progresses that each scene heightens the story’s tension, and that this tension remains unbroken until the climax resolves whether or not your protagonist meets their desires.

Don’t stress too hard on writing a perfect story. Rather, take Anne Lamott’s advice, and “write a shitty first draft.” The goal is not to pen a complete story at first draft; rather, it’s to set ideas down on paper. You are simply, as Shannon Hale suggests, “shoveling sand into a box so that later [you] can build castles.”

5. Step Away, Breathe, Revise

Whenever Stephen King finishes a novel, he puts it in a drawer and doesn’t think about it for 6 weeks. With short stories, you probably don’t need to take as long of a break. But, the idea itself is true: when you’ve finished your first draft, set it aside for a while. Let yourself come back to the story with fresh eyes, so that you can confidently revise, revise, revise .

In revision, you want to make sure each word has an essential place in the story, that each scene ramps up tension, and that each character is clearly defined. The culmination of these elements allows a story to explore complex themes and ideas, giving the reader something to think about after the story has ended.

6. Compare Against Our Short Story Checklist

Does your story have everything it needs to succeed? Compare it against this short story checklist, as written by our instructor Rosemary Tantra Bensko.

Below is a collection of practical short story writing tips by Writers.com instructor Rosemary Tantra Bensko . Each paragraph is its own checklist item: a core element of short story writing advice to follow unless you have clear reasons to the contrary. We hope it’s a helpful resource in your own writing.

Update 9/1/2020: We’ve now made a summary of Rosemary’s short story checklist available as a PDF download . Enjoy!

Click to download

Your short story is 1000 to 7500 words in length.

The story takes place in one time period, not spread out or with gaps other than to drive someplace, sleep, etc. If there are those gaps, there is a space between the paragraphs, the new paragraph beginning flush left, to indicate a new scene.

Each scene takes place in one location, or in continual transit, such as driving a truck or flying in a plane.

Unless it’s a very lengthy Romance story, in which there may be two Point of View (POV) characters, there is one POV character. If we are told what any character secretly thinks, it will only be the POV character. The degree to which we are privy to the unexpressed thoughts, memories and hopes of the POV character remains consistent throughout the story.

You avoid head-hopping by only having one POV character per scene, even in a Romance. You avoid straying into even brief moments of telling us what other characters think other than the POV character. You use words like “apparently,” “obviously,” or “supposedly” to suggest how non-POV-characters think rather than stating it.

Your short story has one clear protagonist who is usually the character changing most.

Your story has a clear antagonist, who generally makes the protagonist change by thwarting his goals.

(Possible exception to the two short story writing tips above: In some types of Mystery and Action stories, particularly in a series, etc., the protagonist doesn’t necessarily grow personally, but instead his change relates to understanding the antagonist enough to arrest or kill him.)

The protagonist changes with an Arc arising out of how he is stuck in his Flaw at the beginning of the story, which makes the reader bond with him as a human, and feel the pain of his problems he causes himself. (Or if it’s the non-personal growth type plot: he’s presented at the beginning of the story with a high-stakes problem that requires him to prevent or punish a crime.)

The protagonist usually is shown to Want something, because that’s what people normally do, defining their personalities and behavior patterns, pushing them onward from day to day. This may be obvious from the beginning of the story, though it may not become heightened until the Inciting Incident , which happens near the beginning of Act 1. The Want is usually something the reader sort of wants the character to succeed in, while at the same time, knows the Want is not in his authentic best interests. This mixed feeling in the reader creates tension.

The protagonist is usually shown to Need something valid and beneficial, but at first, he doesn’t recognize it, admit it, honor it, integrate it with his Want, or let the Want go so he can achieve the Need instead. Ideally, the Want and Need can be combined in a satisfying way toward the end for the sake of continuity of forward momentum of victoriously achieving the goals set out from the beginning. It’s the encounters with the antagonist that forcibly teach the protagonist to prioritize his Needs correctly and overcome his Flaw so he can defeat the obstacles put in his path.

The protagonist in a personal growth plot needs to change his Flaw/Want but like most people, doesn’t automatically do that when faced with the problem. He tries the easy way, which doesn’t work. Only when the Crisis takes him to a low point does he boldly change enough to become victorious over himself and the external situation. What he learns becomes the Theme.

Each scene shows its main character’s goal at its beginning, which aligns in a significant way with the protagonist’s overall goal for the story. The scene has a “charge,” showing either progress toward the goal or regression away from the goal by the ending. Most scenes end with a negative charge, because a story is about not obtaining one’s goals easily, until the end, in which the scene/s end with a positive charge.

The protagonist’s goal of the story becomes triggered until the Inciting Incident near the beginning, when something happens to shake up his life. This is the only major thing in the story that is allowed to be a random event that occurs to him.

Your characters speak differently from one another, and their dialogue suggests subtext, what they are really thinking but not saying: subtle passive-aggressive jibes, their underlying emotions, etc.

Your characters are not illustrative of ideas and beliefs you are pushing for, but come across as real people.

Your language is succinct, fresh and exciting, specific, colorful, avoiding clichés and platitudes. Sentence structures vary. In Genre stories, the language is simple, the symbolism is direct, and words are well-known, and sentences are relatively short. In Literary stories , you are freer to use more sophisticated ideas, words, sentence structures, styles , and underlying metaphors and implied motifs.

Your plot elements occur in the proper places according to classical Three Act Structure (or Freytag’s Pyramid ) so the reader feels he has vicariously gone through a harrowing trial with the protagonist and won, raising his sense of hope and possibility. Literary short stories may be more subtle, with lower stakes, experimenting beyond classical structures like the Hero’s Journey. They can be more like vignettes sometimes, or even slice-of-life, though these types are hard to place in publications.

In Genre stories, all the questions are answered, threads are tied up, problems are solved, though the results of carnage may be spread over the landscape. In Literary short stories, you are free to explore uncertainty, ambiguity, and inchoate, realistic endings that suggest multiple interpretations, and unresolved issues.

Some Literary stories may be nonrealistic, such as with Surrealism, Absurdism, New Wave Fabulism, Weird and Magical Realism . If this is what you write, they still need their own internal logic and they should not be bewildering as to the what the reader is meant to experience, whether it’s a nuanced, unnameable mood or a trip into the subconscious.

Literary stories may also go beyond any label other than Experimental. For example, a story could be a list of To Do items on a paper held by a magnet to a refrigerator for the housemate to read. The person writing the list may grow more passive-aggressive and manipulative as the list grows, and we learn about the relationship between the housemates through the implied threats and cajoling.

Your short story is suspenseful, meaning readers hope the protagonist will achieve his best goal, his Need, by the Climax battle against the antagonist.

Your story entertains. This is especially necessary for Genre short stories.

The story captivates readers at the very beginning with a Hook, which can be a puzzling mystery to solve, an amazing character’s or narrator’s Voice, an astounding location, humor, a startling image, or a world the reader wants to become immersed in.

Expository prose (telling, like an essay) takes up very, very little space in your short story, and it does not appear near the beginning. The story is in Narrative format instead, in which one action follows the next. You’ve removed every unnecessary instance of Expository prose and replaced it with showing Narrative. Distancing words like “used to,” “he would often,” “over the years, he,” “each morning, he” indicate that you are reporting on a lengthy time period, summing it up, rather than sticking to Narrative format, in which immediacy makes the story engaging.

You’ve earned the right to include Expository Backstory by making the reader yearn for knowing what happened in the past to solve a mystery. This can’t possibly happen at the beginning, obviously. Expository Backstory does not take place in the first pages of your story.

Your reader cares what happens and there are high stakes (especially important in Genre stories). Your reader worries until the end, when the protagonist survives, succeeds in his quest to help the community, gets the girl, solves or prevents the crime, achieves new scientific developments, takes over rule of his realm, etc.

Every sentence is compelling enough to urge the reader to read the next one—because he really, really wants to—instead of doing something else he could be doing. Your story is not going to be assigned to people to analyze in school like the ones you studied, so you have found a way from the beginning to intrigue strangers to want to spend their time with your words.

Whether you’re looking for inspiration or want to publish your own stories, you’ll find great literary journals for writers of all backgrounds at this article:

https://writers.com/short-story-submissions

Learn How to Write a Short Story at Writers.com

The short story takes an hour to learn and a lifetime to master. Learn how to write a short story with Writers.com. Our upcoming fiction courses will give you the ropes to tell authentic, original short stories that captivate and entrance your readers.

Rosemary – Is there any chance you could add a little something to your checklist? I’d love to know the best places to submit our short stories for publication. Thanks so much.

Hi, Kim Hanson,

Some good places to find publications specific to your story are NewPages, Poets and Writers, Duotrope, and The Submission Grinder.

“ In Genre stories, all the questions are answered, threads are tied up, problems are solved, though the results of carnage may be spread over the landscape.”

Not just no but NO.

See for example the work of MacArthur Fellow Kelly Link.

[…] How to Write a Short Story: The Short Story Checklist […]

Thank you for these directions and tips. It’s very encouraging to someone like me, just NOW taking up writing.

[…] Writers.com. A great intro to writing. https://writers.com/how-to-write-a-short-story […]

Hello: I started to write seriously in the late 70’s. I loved to write in High School in the early 60’s but life got in the way. Around the 00’s many of the obstacles disappeared. Since then I have been writing more, and some of my work was vanilla transgender stories. Here in 2024 transgender stories have become tiresome because I really don’t have much in common with that mind set.

The glare of an editor that could potentially pay me is quite daunting, so I would like to start out unpaid to see where that goes. I am not sure if a writer’s agent would be a good fit for me. My work life was in the Trades, not as some sort of Academic. That alone causes timidity, but I did read about a fiction writer who had been a house painter.

This is my first effort to publish since the late 70’s. My pseudonym would perhaps include Ahabidah.

Gwen Boucher.

5 Elements Of a Story Explained With Examples (+ Free Worksheet)

What do all good stories have in common? And no it’s not aliens or big explosions! It’s the five elements of a story: Characters, Setting, Plot, Conflict and Resolution. Story elements are needed to create a well-structured story. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a short story or a long novel, the core elements are always there.

What are Story Elements?

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This short video lesson explains the main points relating to the five story elements:

Story elements are the building blocks needed to make a story work. Without these blocks, a story will break down, failing to meet the expectations of readers. Simply put, these elements remind writers what to include in stories, and what needs to be planned. By understanding each element, you increase the chances of writing a better story or novel.

Over the years, writers have adapted these elements to suit their writing process. In fact, there can be as few as 4 elements in literature all the way up to 12 elements. The most universally used story elements contain just five building blocks:

These five elements are a great place to start when you need help planning your story. You may also notice that these story elements are what most book outlining techniques are based on.

5 Elements Of A Story

Below we have explained each of the five elements of a story in detail, along with examples.

Characters are the most familiar element in stories. Every story has at least one main character. Stories can also have multiple secondary characters, such as supporting characters and villain/s. The main character should be introduced at the beginning. While introducing this character it is a good idea to include key information about this character’s personality, past and physical appearance. You should also provide a hint to what this character’s major conflict is in the story (more on conflict later).

The main character also goes through changes throughout the story. All the challenges and obstacles they face in the story allow them to learn, grow and develop. Depending on your plot, they might become a better person, or even a worse one – if this is a villain’s origin story. But be careful here – Growth should not be mistaken for a personality change! The main character must stay true to who they are. Deep inside their personality should stay more or less the same. The only thing that changes is the lessons they learn, and how these impact them.

Check out this post on 20 tips for character development for more guidance.

Settings in stories refer to three things: Location, Time Period and Mood. The easiest element to understand is location . Location is the physical place/s the story takes part in mostly. For example, the tale of Cinderella takes part in two main locations: Cinderella’s Palace and the Ballroom at the Prince’s Palace. It is a good idea to explain each new location in great detail, so the readers feel like they are also right there with the characters. The physical location is also something that can be included at the beginning of the story to set the story’s tone.

Next comes the time period . Every story is set in some time period. Some stories especially about time travel may be set across multiple time periods. You don’t always have to include the exact date or year in your story. But it is a good idea that during the planning phase, you know the year or even dates the story is set in. This can help you include accurate details about location and even key events. For example, you don’t want to be talking about characters using mobile phones in the 18th century – It just wouldn’t make sense (Unless of course, it’s a time travel story)!

The final part of the setting is the mood . The mood is the feeling you want readers to feel when reading your story. Do you want them to be scared, excited or happy? It’s the way you explain and describe a particular location, object or person. For example in horror stories, you may notice dark language being used throughout, such as gore, dismal, damp or vile. While a fairy tale such as Cinderella uses light and warm language like magical, glittering, beautiful or happily ever after. The choice of words sets the mood and adds an extra layer of excitement to a story.

The plot explains what a story is about from beginning to end. It can contain multiple scenes and events. In its simplest form, a plot has a beginning, middle and end. The beginning introduces the characters and sometimes shows a minor conflict. The middle is where the major conflict occurs. And the ending is where all conflicts are resolved, and the story comes to a close. The story mountain template is a great way to plan out a story’s plot.

A story is not a story without conflict. Conflict is also a key part of a story’s plot (see section above). The purpose of conflict in stories is to challenge your characters and push them to their limits. It is only when they face this conflict, do they really grow and reach their full potential. Conflicts can be internal, external or both. Internal conflicts come from inside your main character, such as not having the confidence in themself or having a fear of something. While external conflicts are created elsewhere, such as natural disasters or evil villains creating havoc.

The resolution is a solution to the main conflict. Without a resolution, the conflict would be neverending, and this could lead to a disappointing ending to your story. Resolutions could include huge battle scenes or even the discovery of new information which changes everything. Sometimes in stories resolutions don’t always solve the conflict 100%. This normally leads to cliffhanger endings, where a small piece of conflict still exists somewhere. But the important thing to remember is that all conflicts need some kind of resolution in stories to make them satisfying to the reader.

Story Elements Examples

We explained each story element above, and now it’s time to put our teachings into practice. Here are some common story element examples we created.

The fox and the crow is one of Aesop’s most famous fables . It tells the story of a sly fox who tricks a foolish crow into giving her breakfast away. You can read the full fable on the read.gov website .

Here are the elements of a story applied to the fable of the fox and the crow:

Characters: A sly fox and a foolish crow.
Setting: Bright Morning in the woods.
Plot: A hungry fox is looking for food. The fox notices the crow with cheese in its beak. Using his charming words, the fox tricks the crow into dropping the cheese into the fox’s mouth. The story ends with the fox feeling satisfied, and the crow left with nothing to eat.
Conflict: The Fox wants the cheese that the Crow has.
Resolution: Using his charming words, the fox is able to trick the crow into singing. When she starts to sing, the cheese drops into the fox’s mouth.

the fox and the crow elements of the story

Cinderella is one of the most famous fairy tales of all time. It tells the tale of a poor servant girl who is abused by her stepmother and stepsisters. One night with the help of her fairy godmother, she attends the ball. It is at the ball that the prince falls in love with Cinderella. Eventually leading to a happy ending.

Here are the elements of a story applied to the short story of Cinderella:

Characters: Cinderella, the stepsisters, the stepmother, the fairy godmother, and the prince.
Setting: Long time ago in a kingdom. Physical locations include Cinderella’s Palace and the ballroom at the Prince’s Palace.
Plot: Cinderella’s father passes away leaving her with her horrible stepmother and two stepsisters. They abuse her and make her clean the house all day. One day, an invite comes from the Prince’s palace inviting everyone to the ball. Cinderella is forced to stay at home, while her stepmother and sisters attend. Suddenly Cinderella’s fairy godmother appears and helps her get to the ball. But she must return home by midnight. At the ball, Cinderella and the Prince fall in love. The clock nearly strikes twelve and Cinderella runs away leaving a glass slipper behind. The prince then searches the kingdom to find Cinderella. Eventually, he finds her. The two get married and live happily ever after.
Conflict: Cinderella must find a way to get away from her stepmother and stepsisters.
Resolution: Cinderella and the prince get married.

cinderella example of short story with elements

Put everything you learned into practice with our free story elements worksheet PDF. This PDF includes a blank story elements anchor chart or graphic organiser, two completed examples and an explanation of each of the story elements. This worksheet pack is great for planning your own story:

Common Questions About Story Elements

Writing a story is a huge task. Simply just putting pen to paper isn’t really going to cut it, especially if you want to write professionally. Planning is needed. That’s where the story elements come in. Breaking a story down into different components, helps you plan out each area carefully. It also reminds you of the importance of each element and the impact they can have on the final story.

Some writers have expanded the traditional 5 elements to 7 elements of a story. These 7 elements include:

Theme: What is the moral or main lesson to learn in your story?
Characters: Who are your main and supporting characters?
Setting: Where is your story set? Think about location and time period.
Plot: What happens in your story?
Conflict: What is the main conflict? Is this conflict internal or external?
Point of View: Is this story written in first, second or third person view?
Style: What kind of language or tone of voice will you use?

The 5 elements of a story include:

Setting: Where is your story set? Think about location, time period and mood.
Plot: What are the key events that happen in your story ?
Resolution: How is the main conflict solved?

The longest version of the story elements includes 12 elements:

Protagonist: Who is the main character or hero of the story?
Antagonist : Who is the villain of the story?
Setting : Where is your story set? Think about location and time period.
Conflict : What is the main conflict? Is this conflict internal or external?
Sacrifice : What will the main character lose if they fail?
Rising Action : What action/s lead up to the main conflict?
Falling Action: What happens after the conflict had ended?
Message: What is the key message of your story?
Language : What kind of words would you use? Think about the tone of voice and mood of the story.
Theme: What is the overall moral or main lesson to learn in your story?
Reality: How does your story relate to the real world?

Some versions of the story elements, completely remove the conflict element. In the 6 elements structure, conflict is included in the plot element:

Plot: What happens in your story? Think about the main conflict.

We could consider the order of events, in this 9 story elements structure:

Tension: What is the source of conflict?
Climax: The moment when the main conflict happens.
Plot: What happens in your story?
Purpose: Why do certain events happen in your story?
Chronology: What is the order of main events in your story?

The story elements can also be adapted to contain 8 elements:

Style: What kind of language or words will you use?
Tone: What is the overall mood of the story? Is it dark, funny or heartfelt?

Got any more questions about the key elements of a story? Share them in the comments below!

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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6 Elements of Short Stories You SHOULD Teach

May 9, 2023

I am a huge fan of short stories. And let’s be real, most of our students prefer reading short stories to pretty much anything else. My personal favorites include “The Most Dangerous Game,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Lottery,” particularly because they include elements of short stories like developed plots, interesting and compelling conflicts, important themes, well-developed characters, and engaging topics!

Too often, we keep short stories to a unit. I get it. Teaching the elements of short stories within our favorite texts can be appealing. However, I am a bigger fan of teaching thematically. I love to include short stories in larger thematic units that include a novel or play, nonfiction texts, and poetry.

Students learn by making connections, so when we link texts to topics or themes, we are helping them to make connections throughout the year! These units can include a focus on dystopias, mysteries, dramas, comedies, etc.

Keep reading below for “Elements of Short Stories You Should Teach” with helpful tips and activity ideas for each element!

Need help with Test Prep? Check out this FREE Pack of 3 Test Prep Activities to help students achieve success on standardized tests!

Table of Contents

Elements of Short Stories You SHOULD Teach

1. plot & basic elements of short stories.

A plot is simply a series of events within a story. Don’t make it too complicated. You should definitely start here when teaching Elements of Short Stories!

Now, there are very basic elements of a plot.

EXPOSITION- the introduction of the setting, characters, and conflict.
RISING ACTION- the events that develop the conflict and characters, which lead up to the climax.
CLIMAX- the most important, usually tension-filled event in the story that causes a character and/or characters to change, learn a lesson, experience a theme, etc.
FALLING the events leading to the resolution of the story.
RESOLUTION- the end of the story that fills in the gaps for the reader allowing the audience to draw some sort of conclusion about the characters, themes, conflicts, etc.

Have you thought about teaching elements of short stories by using movies? Click here for help!

2. Conflict

The conflict of a story is a problem, disagreement, struggle, or clash. Super simple, right?

There are 2 Major Types of Conflict:

External: exists outside of the character, character vs. character, character vs. society, character vs. nature, internal: exists within the character, character vs. self.

Well, it can be tough to teach conflict, because some conflicts take time to develop within a story. Plus, there could be multiple types of conflict within a single story.

In “The Scarlet Ibis,” we see the conflict involving the two brothers, one of whom resents the other. Only over the course of several pages, do we see the problem the older brother has with the younger brother. By the end of the story, the conflict is resolved, but it is not resolved in the way the protagonist and reader are happy about…

In this story, one could argue that the brother has a conflict with the other brother, so this conflict may be called Character vs. Character. Throughout the story, you can also make the argument that the protagonist is struggling within himself and his feelings toward his brother. If you see the story this way, one can argue that this story uses a Character vs. Self type of conflict.

As long as students use evidence to support their ideas and the ideas make sense when analyzing elements of short stories, then they have identified the conflict(s) correctly!

The setting is the description of the time and place of a story. Authors use settings purposefully. They are most certainly not random.

Let’s look at Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.” The story takes place during the season of carnival in an Italian city. Throughout the story, the characters move from the main city streets down into the deep, dark catacombs.

Clearly, the impact of the setting and the development of the setting within the story has an impact on Fortunato as well as the audience. We can feel death approaching with every step the two characters take. Teaching these two elements of short stories is so important to helping students grow their comprehension skills!

4. Characterization

One of the most significant elements of short stories to teach is characterization. When it comes to characterization, students seem to struggle. They might see what a character does or says at a specific moment, but that may be all. The real questions involving characterization connect to meaning and purpose.

Ex. How do a character’s actions, traits, or speech lead to meaning?

To get to the higher-level questions, we need to go step by step.

Introduce the definition of “character traits.” Check out this FREEBIE for help!
Differentiate between internal and external traits.
Identify what a character says or does.
Determine what traits a character has based on the evidence.
Analyze how a character changes or stays the same.
Examine how the characterization contributes to the meaning or message of the story.

Ultimately, there are 4 types of characters:

Flat- a character with one or two traits; the character is either good or evil, nice or mean, important or unimportant.
Round- a character with many traits; the character has a complex personality and makes diverse, more complicated decisions/actions.

The above traits apply to most characters in some way.

Static- a character that doesn’t change; there are many characters in stories that simply do not change. The audience may learn from the character; however, the character doesn’t develop or learn any lessons.
Dynamic- a character that does change in some way; the change can be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. Usually, there is a resulting action involved.

Ultimately, there should be a character within a story who is dynamic, but sometimes an author will keep a character static so the reader learns an important lesson!

Do you want EASY-TO-TEACH characterization activities for Thank You, Ma’am ? Click the link!

All stories depict some sort of mood, and most commonly, the mood changes in some way throughout the story.

The mood is the emotion evoked by the setting, plot, or characters’ actions. It is a feeling that the audience should experience.

Consider “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe . At the start of the story, the reader might feel uncertain because the speaker’s thoughts are so fantastical and seemingly unrealistic. I mean, who is really going to kill an old man because of an odd eye?

Well, the speaker of this story becomes more and more consumed by his dark thoughts, kills the man, and hides his body. With increasing mania, he evokes more and more suspense and horror in the audience.

Recognizing the mood is necessary because it leads to comprehension and analysis of an author’s message/theme.

A theme is a one-sentence message/lesson within a story. Well, I guess you could expand the theme into 2 or 3 sentences, but by requiring only one sentence, your students will be better able to answer the question regarding the theme in a clear, succinct way.

Let’s use “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury as an example for delving into elements of short stories.

At the beginning of the story, we find ourselves involved in the life of Leonard Mead. He is an unassuming man who simply walks every day. Instead of spending his free hours watching television, he ambles outside. Unlike his neighbors, he enjoys the outdoors away from the confines of his house. Ultimately, because he does not conform, he suffers the consequences. “The Pedestrian” personifies the world we live in now, although we are not quite to the point of being sent off to an asylum.

CREATING A THEME BASED ON THE PEDESTRIAN (The Pedestrian Theme)

MAJOR IDEA: Technology
TOPIC: Being consumed by technology
THEME: Consuming too much technology can lead to a superficial life.

I am not saying that the process of coming up with a theme is EASY; however, it can be simple if you use the structure above.

Want a quick and easy way to teach theme while reinforcing elements of short stories? Click to read for ideas HERE!

Hi, I’m KRISTIN!

I primarily focus on integrating multiple disciplines and subjects. The goal is to make teaching simplified and effective!

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The 8 Elements of a Story – Explained for Students!

The 8 elements of a story are: character, setting, plot, conflict, theme, point-of-view, tone and style.

These story elements form the backbone of any good novel or short story. If you know the 8 elements, you can write and analyze stories more effectively.

Teacher Resource: Elements of a Story Worksheet for Students: ‘Planning your Short Story’ (Google Doc)

The 8 Elements of a Story

The first of the story elements is the story setting. All stories have a setting. The setting includes the time and place in which the story will be taking place.

There may be just one story setting, such as in a short story that only takes place in a single room of a house. Or, there may be many different settings spanning many locations and times, such as stories that span generations or that have characters who travel the globe.

Common setting considerations are:

Alternative reality

In regards to time, stories can be set in the past, present, future, or even a mix of the three. For example, Back to the Future uses all three settings. Marty McFly travels back and forward in time, capturing the audience’s imagination as settings and time zones change from scene to scene.

Authors also need to create compelling place-based settings in their stories. Things to consider when looking at the sense of place in a novel or short story include:

Some stories may also choose to have alternative realities . Alternative reality books followed the true history of the world to a point. Then, they diverge after a fictional event occurs such as a war or natural disaster.

Lastly, some authors want to make the setting of a story ambiguous. This works well in sci-fi and fantasy stories which want to detach themselves from our current world. With such an ambiguous setting, the author could create their own technologies, religions and planets without the need to refer to any contexts of the ‘real’ world here on earth.

2. Characters

The next of the elements of a story is the characters. Of course, characters are one of the most important elements of a novel or short story.

The characters are the people (or sometimes animals!) who are featured in a story. The different characters in a story that you need to know about are: the protagonist, antagonist, static character, dynamic character, and confidante character.

The protagonist is the hero of the story and central character. We’ll also usually call them the ‘main character’. They will get most of the attention of the author. Every narrative – whether it’s a novel or short story – will have a protagonist.

The antagonist is the opponent of the main character. This person stirs trouble and is often the main cause of tension in the plot line. The hero’s role is often to prevent the antagonist from doing harm to people.

There can also be peripheral and dynamic characters . Peripheral characters who don’t change much throughout a story but set the context are often called ‘static characters’. Parents are often seen as static characters in books and movies. They are reliable, always there, but don’t do much to compel the plot forward. By contrast, a dynamic character might start out as an unassuming peripheral person in the story. As the story progresses, they move toward the center of the storyline, become closer to the main character, and increase in importance.

Lastly, the confidante is the sidekick for the main character. It often takes the role of a wise or philosophical character, although not always. In The Lion King , Timon and Pumba act as confidantes to Simba during his exile years. Other confidantes in that story include Rafiki and Nala.

Also Consider Character Conflicts and Fatal Flaws

Often times a character will have their own inner conflicts, challenges or struggles to overcome. By giving characters inner conflicts they are made more realistic. Flaws in personality traits also humanizes them. A good book will have a range of realistic and flawed characters. For example:

Edmund from the Narnia series m ust overcome jealousy to help save Narnia and protect his family;
Professor Snape from Harry Potter suffers from an inability to get past his grudges from the past.

3. Conflict

Nobody wants to read a novel or short story without conflict – so you’ll find every story will have some sort of conflict.

What would be the point? The conflict in a story is the main challenge to overcome. It compels the plot forward and is usually resolved during the plot’s climax.

The main types of conflict you will come across in a story are:

Protagonist vs Antagonist
Protagonist vs Nature
Protagonist vs Self
Protagonist vs Society

In the protagonist vs antagonist conflict , t he protagonist (hero) must challenge the antagonist in order to prevent the antagonist from doing something harmful. For example, this occurs in Harry Potter. Harry (protagonist) must defeat Voldermort (antagonist). Harry is the only person who can save the world from Voldermort and represents the child savior .

In the protagonist vs nature conflict , the protagonist goes up against a challenge that occurs in nature. This may involve a main character taking on a natural challenge like escaping the jungle, or a natural disaster like a tsunami or asteroid coming at earth.

In the protagonist vs self conflict , the protagonist may have inner struggles to overcome in order to succeed. The protagonist may need to get over a lost love, learn courage, or achieve a personal goal that they set out for themselves in the beginning. For example, this happens in The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy and her companions each has to learn that the characteristics they most desire are within them. The Cowardly Lion seeks courage, the Tin Man seeks the ability to love, and the Scarecrow seeks intellect.

In the protagonist vs society conflict , the protagonist may identify an enemy or problem in society that they must overcome, often single-handedly. In children’s books, this model is often recast as Child (protagonist) vs. Adults (Society) where the child must save adults from themselves. We see this in the ‘child savior’ complex such as in The Hunger Games .

The next of the story elements is theme. The theme is the author’s central argument or big idea they want to convey.

Themes are often associated with a ‘moral of a story’ or an analogy (a hidden meaning in the text). They attempt to convey a piece of wisdom or fundamental truth about human nature for us to think about. Even in a short story there will be a key theme.

Common types of themes, also known as central ideas , include:

Good vs. evil
The absurdity of life
The pain of war
Seeking freedom
Political corruption
The power of redemption
The importance of faith

Most contemporary American movies tell stories of good vs. evil , with good usually triumphing thanks to a heroic protagonist. For example, in Spiderman.

Similarly, love has been a theme throughout millennia in stories. What is true love, how can it be found, and how can we keep it? Perhaps the most famous example is in Romeo and Juliet.

Existentialist literature attempts to expose the absurdity of life , e.g. how life is futile, pointless and meaningless. Two great examples are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Catch 22 .

Many stories throughout history have been cautionary tales about the pain of war and its devastating effects on life. A compelling example is The Diary of Anne Frank.

The desire for freedom is another common motif in stories and movies. This often involves the struggles in escaping oppression, war or nature. One example of this theme that I love is The Truman Show’s theme .

Stories of political corruption usually highlight how fascism, communism or other political systems lead to concentration of power and corruption. A famous example is Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Often based on Christian beliefs, redemption stories show how characters can come back from sin and shame to redeem themselves through good deeds and repentance. A great example of this is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Many tales have morals about religion and faith and the importance of penance to a god as their central theme. A famous example is the short story sets of Sinbad the Sailor’s Seven Voyages.

The next of the story elements is the plot line. The plot is the sequence of events that tell the story.

Sometimes we call it the ‘narrative structure’. Another way to use the term ‘plot’ is to make a plan. For example, “There is a plot to rob a bank.”

Plots usually follow a familiar structure. We tell children that plots have a ‘Beginning’, ‘Middle’ and ‘End’ – and that might be true for a short story:

Beginning: Introduce the characters and set the scene;
Middle: Introduce a complication and tell the story of how it is overcome
Ending: Resolve each character’s individual story and provide a sense of closure.

As students get older, we go into a bit more depth and use more formal terms:

Exposition: The exposition begins the story. It provides the necessary background information like the setting and character details. It may also outline the relationships between characters and any other important information. This section should set the scene but also entertain the reader from page one.
Rising Action: The rising action part is the part of the story where “the plot thickens”. Challenges, conflicts and complications are introduced during the rising action segment. This is often the longest part of the story. Authors aim to create and build tension as long as possible to entertain the reader and create a true ‘page turner’ of a story.
Climax: After rising action comes climax. This is the turning point of the story where the tensions in the plotline come to a head. A good climax may involve a twist or a big reveal. Other examples of a climax might be a big battle, police chase or exposure of a love affair.
Falling Action: After the climax comes falling action. I often find the falling action segment is brief but may be necessary to conclude the key scenes that occurred in the climax. During the falling action, tension starts to dissolve
Resolution (denoument): The resolution gives a sense of closure to the reader. It may tie up loose ends in character plotlines and explain what becomes of the key characters after the story. To use The Lord of the Rings example, the resolution shows Frodo sailing to the Grey Havens and Sam marrying Rosie Cotton.

6. Point of View

The next of the story elements is point of view. The point of view of a story has a big impact on how the story will be told.

Point of view also influences how the audience will respond to it. There are three common points of view: first person, second person and third person.

First person stories are told by the protagonist. You can tell a first person story from the use of first person phrases like ‘I’ and ‘We’. A benefit of first person point of view is that you can get inside the head of the main character. They can talk about what they’re thinking and what their opinion is of all the other characters throughout the piece.

Second person stories are narrated by an outsider (not a character in the story), but talk directly to the reader. It is like we are in a conversation with the author. This is called ‘breaking the fourth wall’. An example of second person is when the author directly says ‘you’ to the reader.

Third person stories do not talk directly to the reader and do not insert themselves into the story either. This is the most common type of point of view. Most third person books have an omniscient narrator. This means the narrator is an all-knowing person who can get into characters’ heads and explain their thoughts. The author tells the story as if looking through a looking glass. They refer to the characters (including the protagonist) using terms like ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘they’.

Authors choose a tone to act as the backdrop to a story. The tone often overlaps with the protagonist’s mood or circumstance.

Tones include moods like:

Intellectual

Some examples of tones in books include:

Brave New World: Dystopian
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Funny
Tuesdays with Morrie: Heartwarming

Tone can be conveyed through elements like weather conditions, time of day, and a soliloquy.

Tone is often conveyed through the weather conditions . Some stories are set in long, endless summers. Others are anticipating an endless winter to come (e.g. Game of Thrones ). Rain is a good idea for when a character is sad or moody. By contrast, sunshine will signify happy times.

Similarly, you might want to define the time of day , particularly for one scene or a simple short story Night time might show that the tone is eerie and full of mystery and magic. A warm Evening might set a tone of drowsiness. A morning setting might convey a tone signifying starting afresh and heading out excited for a day’s adventures.

Tone is often also set through the soliloquy of the narrator of a first-person text. A soliloquy is a piece of writing (or speaking) where the author reflects on their moods and thoughts.

Writing style is one of the most important elements of a story, but very personal to each author.

We also tend to find authors whose styles we like and continue to read their works whenever they publish something new. A style is simply a way of speaking about our subjects.

Below are a range of styles to consider:

Short sentences: I first came across very short sentences in Hemmingway ’s For Whom the Bell Tolls . Hemminway’s curt writing style comes across as masculine, but is often very easy to read.
Highly Descriptive: When reading The Lord of the Rings , I was bemused at just how long it took JRR Tolkein to describe a fireplace. While I personally prefer a short story, many of the classics have this descriptive style.
Fast-Paced: If you like entertaining books, ensure your writing is always compelling the plot forward and not getting into the weeds.

Final Thoughts on Story Elements

Every story should contain the above 8 elements of a story. The eight elements of a story are: character, setting, plot, conflict, theme, point-of-view, tone and style. Make sure you include all 8 elements of a story in the next story you write . For every short story I write, I will start with character, setting and plot then go on from there. Similarly, you can use the 8 story elements as a framework to critique a film or book of your choice.

infographic listing the 8 elements of a story

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Social-Emotional Learning (Definition, Examples, Pros & Cons)
Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is Educational Psychology?
Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is IQ? (Intelligence Quotient)
Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University

How to Write a Short Story in 9 Simple Steps

This post is written by UK writer Robert Grossmith. His short stories have been widely anthologized, including in The Time Out Book of London Short Stories , The Best of Best Short Stories , and The Penguin Book of First World War Stories . You can collaborate with him on your own short stories here on Reedsy .

The joy of writing short stories is, in many ways, tied to its limitations. Developing characters, conflict, and a premise within a few pages is a thrilling challenge that many writers relish — even after they've "graduated" to long-form fiction.

In this article, I’ll take you through the process of writing a short story, from idea conception to the final draft.

How to write a short story:

1. Know what a short story is versus a novel

2. pick a simple, central premise, 3. build a small but distinct cast of characters, 4. begin writing close to the end, 5. shut out your internal editor, 6. finish the first draft, 7. edit the short story, 8. share the story with beta readers, 9. submit the short story to publications.

But first, let’s talk about what makes a short story different from a novel.

The simple answer to this question, of course, is that the short story is shorter than the novel, usually coming in at between, say, 1,000-15,000 words. Any shorter and you’re into flash fiction territory. Any longer and you’re approaching novella length .

As far as other features are concerned, it’s easier to define the short story by what it lacks compared to the novel . For example, the short story usually has:

fewer characters than a novel
a single point of view, either first person or third person
a single storyline without subplots
less in the way of back story or exposition than a novel

If backstory is needed at all, it should come late in the story and be kept to a minimum.

It’s worth remembering too that some of the best short stories consist of a single dramatic episode in the form of a vignette or epiphany.

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A short story can begin life in all sorts of ways.

It may be suggested by a simple but powerful image that imprints itself on the mind. It may derive from the contemplation of a particular character type — someone you know perhaps — that you’re keen to understand and explore. It may arise out of a memorable incident in your own life.

For example:

Kafka began “The Metamorphosis” with the intuition that a premise in which the protagonist wakes one morning to find he’s been transformed into a giant insect would allow him to explore questions about human relationships and the human condition.
Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” takes the basic idea of a lowly clerk who decides he will no longer do anything he doesn’t personally wish to do, and turns it into a multi-layered tale capable of a variety of interpretations.

When I look back on some of my own short stories, I find a similar dynamic at work: a simple originating idea slowly expands to become something more nuanced and less formulaic.

So how do you find this “first heartbeat” of your own short story? Here are several ways to do so.

Experiment with writing prompts

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that the story premises mentioned above actually have a great deal in common with writing prompts like the ones put forward each week in Reedsy’s short story competition . Try it out! These prompts are often themed in a way that’s designed to narrow the focus for the writer so that one isn’t confronted with a completely blank canvas.

Turn to the originals

Take a story or novel you admire and think about how you might rework it, changing a key element. (“Pride and Prejudice and Vampires” is perhaps an extreme product of this exercise.) It doesn’t matter that your proposed reworking will probably never amount to more than a skimpy mental reimagining — it may well throw up collateral narrative possibilities along the way.

Keep a notebook

Finally, keep a notebook in which to jot down stray observations and story ideas whenever they occur to you. Again, most of what you write will be stuff you never return to, and it may even fail to make sense when you reread it. But lurking among the dross may be that one rough diamond that makes all the rest worthwhile.

Like I mentioned earlier, short stories usually contain far fewer characters than novels. Readers also need to know far less about the characters in a short story than we do in a novel (sometimes it’s the lack of information about a particular character in a story that adds to the mystery surrounding them, making them more compelling).

Yet it remains the case that creating memorable characters should be one of your principal goals. Think of your own family, friends and colleagues. Do you ever get them confused with one another? Probably not.

Your dramatis personae should be just as easily distinguishable from one another, either through their appearance, behavior, speech patterns, or some other unique trait. If you find yourself struggling, a character profile template like the one you can download for free below is particularly helpful in this stage of writing.

FREE RESOURCE

Reedsy’s Character Profile Template

A story is only as strong as its characters. Fill this out to develop yours.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman features a cast of two: the narrator and her husband. How does Gilman give her narrator uniquely identifying features?
“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe features a cast of three: the narrator, the old man, and the police. How does Poe use speech patterns in dialogue and within the text itself to convey important information about the narrator?
“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor is perhaps an exception: its cast of characters amounts to a whopping (for a short story) nine. How does she introduce each character? In what way does she make each character, in particular The Misfit, distinct?

He’s right: avoid the preliminary exposition or extended scene-setting. Begin your story by plunging straight into the heart of the action. What most readers want from a story is drama and conflict, and this is often best achieved by beginning in media res . You have no time to waste in a short story. The first sentence of your story is crucial, and needs to grab the reader’s attention to make them want to read on.

One way to do this is to write an opening sentence that makes the reader ask questions. For example, Kingsley Amis once said, tongue-in-cheek, that in the future he would only read novels that began with the words: “A shot rang out.”

This simple sentence is actually quite telling. It introduces the stakes: there’s an immediate element of physical danger, and therefore jeopardy for someone. But it also raises questions that the reader will want answered. Who fired the shot? Who or what were they aiming at, and why? Where is this happening?

We read fiction for the most part to get answers to questions. For example, if you begin your story with a character who behaves in an unexpected way, the reader will want to know why he or she is behaving like this. What motivates their unusual behavior? Do they know that what they’re doing or saying is odd? Do they perhaps have something to hide? Can we trust this character?

As the author, you can answer these questions later (that is, answer them dramatically rather than through exposition). But since we’re speaking of the beginning of a story, at the moment it’s enough simply to deliver an opening sentence that piques the reader’s curiosity, raises questions, and keeps them reading.

“Anything goes” should be your maxim when embarking on your first draft.

FREE COURSE

How to Craft a Killer Short Story

From pacing to character development, master the elements of short fiction.

By that, I mean: kill the editor in your head and give your imagination free rein. Remember, you’re beginning with a blank page. Anything you put down will be an improvement on what’s currently there, which is nothing. And there’s a prescription for any obstacle you might encounter at this stage of writing.

Worried that you’re overwriting? Don’t worry. It’s easier to cut material in later drafts once you’ve sketched out the whole story.
Got stuck, but know what happens later? Leave a gap. There’s no necessity to write the story sequentially. You can always come back and fill in the gap once the rest of the story is complete.
Have a half-developed scene that’s hard for you to get onto the page? Write it in note form for the time being. You might find that it relieves the pressure of having to write in complete sentences from the get-go.

Most of my stories were begun with no idea of their eventual destination, but merely an approximate direction of travel. To put it another way, I’m a ‘pantser’ (flying by the seat of my pants, making it up as I go along) rather than a planner. There is, of course, no right way to write your first draft. What matters is that you have a first draft on your hands at the end of the day.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of the ending of a short story : it can rescue an inferior story or ruin an otherwise superior one.

If you’re a planner, you will already know the broad outlines of the ending. If you’re a pantser like me, you won’t — though you’ll hope that a number of possible endings will have occurred to you in the course of writing and rewriting the story!

In both cases, keep in mind that what you’re after is an ending that’s true to the internal logic of the story without being obvious or predictable. What you want to avoid is an ending that evokes one of two reactions:

“Is that it?” aka “The author has failed to resolve the questions raised by the story.”
“WTF!” aka “This ending is simply confusing.”

Like Truman Capote said, “Good writing is rewriting.”

Once you have a first draft, the real work begins. This is when you move things around, tightening the nuts and bolts of the piece to make sure it holds together and resembles the shape it took in your mind when you first conceived it.

In most cases, this means reading through your first draft again (and again). In this stage of editing , think to yourself:

Which narrative threads are already in place?
Which may need to be added or developed further?
Which need to perhaps be eliminated altogether?

All that’s left afterward is the final polish . Here’s where you interrogate every word, every sentence, to make sure it’s earned its place in the story:

Is that really what I mean?
Could I have said that better?
Have I used that word correctly?
Is that sentence too long?
Have I removed any clichés?

Trust me: this can be the most satisfying part of the writing process. The heavy lifting is done, the walls have been painted, the furniture is in place. All you have to do now is hang a few pictures, plump the cushions and put some flowers in a vase.

Eventually, you may reach a point where you’ve reread and rewritten your story so many times that you simply can’t bear to look at it again. If this happens, put the story aside and try to forget about it.

When you do finally return to it, weeks or even months later, you’ll probably be surprised at how the intervening period has allowed you to see the story with a fresh pair of eyes. And whereas it might have felt like removing one of your own internal organs to cut such a sentence or paragraph before, now it feels like a liberation.

The story, you can see, is better as a result. It was only your bloated appendix you removed, not a vital organ.

It’s at this point that you should call on the services of beta readers if you have them. This can be a daunting prospect: what if the response is less enthusiastic than you’re hoping for? But think about it this way: if you’re expecting complete strangers to read and enjoy your story, then you shouldn’t be afraid of trying it out first on a more sympathetic audience.

This is also why I’d suggest delaying this stage of the writing process until you feel sure your story is complete. It’s one thing to ask a friend to read and comment on your new story. It’s quite another thing to return to them sometime later with, “I’ve made some changes to the story — would you mind reading it again?”

So how do you know your story’s really finished? This is a question that people have put to me. My reply tends to be: I know the story’s finished when I can’t see how to make it any better.

This is when you can finally put down your pencil (or keyboard), rest content with your work for a few days, then submit it so that people can read your work. And you can start with this directory of literary magazines once you're at this step.

The truth is, in my experience, there’s actually no such thing as a final draft. Even after you’ve submitted your story somewhere — and even if you’re lucky enough to have it accepted — there will probably be the odd word here or there that you’d like to change.

Don’t worry about this. Large-scale changes are probably out of the question at this stage, but a sympathetic editor should be willing to implement any small changes right up to the time of publication.

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Teaching The 5 Story Elements: A Complete Guide for Teachers & Students

What Are Story Elements?

Story Elements,teaching | File 0016 1 1 | Teaching The 5 Story Elements: A Complete Guide for Teachers & Students | literacyideas.com

Developing a solid understanding of the elements of a story is essential for our students to follow and fully comprehend the stories they read. However, before students can understand how these elements contribute to a story’s overall meaning and effect, they must first be able to identify the component parts confidently.

So, what are the elements of a story, then? For the purpose of teaching our students, we can usefully divide these elements into two groups.

The first group comprises the basic components of a story and is generally taught to elementary and middle school students, while the second group consists of more complex elements taught to more advanced students.

Though the elements identified below provide a comprehensive overview, they are not an exhaustive analysis of every possible element of a story.

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING STORY ELEMENTS

Story Elements,teaching | Story Elements Teaching Unit | Teaching The 5 Story Elements: A Complete Guide for Teachers & Students | literacyideas.com

☀️This HUGE resource provides you with all the TOOLS, RESOURCES , and CONTENT to teach students about characters and story elements.

⭐ 75+ PAGES of INTERACTIVE READING, WRITING and COMPREHENSION content and NO PREPARATION REQUIRED.

BASIC STORY ELEMENTS

these are the five key elements of a story

Character: Depending on the nature of the story, characters are most often people or animals. Writers use characters to perform the actions and speak the dialogue of a story. They move a story’s plot forward. They are the who of a story. Be sure to read our complete guide to writing great characters here.
Setting: A story’s setting refers to the physical location and the time the action takes place. It is the where and the when of a story.
Plot: The plot relates to the events that happen in a story. The plot can be further divided into sub-elements: introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. It is the what of the story. The plot usually begins with a problem and ends in the story’s resolution. Be sure to read our complete guide to writing a great plot here.
Conflict: Every story worth its salt requires conflict. This conflict can be considered a challenge or problem that drives the story’s action. No conflict, no story. Setting up a series of cause and effect events, conflict gives these events their why.
Theme: a little more abstract than the previous elements, the theme refers to the underlying insight, moral or idea the writer expresses through the story. It is often thought of as the ‘message’ of the story.

THE ULTIMATE STORY ELEMENTS VIDEO (6 minutes)

Story Elements,teaching | STORY ELEMENTS 1920 x 1080 | Teaching The 5 Story Elements: A Complete Guide for Teachers & Students | literacyideas.com

More Advanced Elements

When students have gained sufficient experience in recognizing these essential story elements, they can then begin work on the story elements that are more advanced, regardless of their age.

Let’s take a brief look at four of these more advanced story elements.

Point of View: To identify the POV in a story, students must ask, “who is telling the story?” Is it a first, third, or even second (rare!) person narrator? Are they omniscient or limited in their perspective? Does the perspective shift between different characters?
Tone: A writer’s tone is established through word choices, use of literary devices , grammar, rhythm, rhyme etc. The tone is the overall ‘flavour’ of the story that is created by using all of these combined techniques. It is the attitude the writer displays towards their subject or theme.
Style: Related to tone in many regards, style is the individual author’s unique voice, which is again evidenced in their word choices, plot patterns, sentence structures etc. The writer’s personal style is a strong contributor to a writer’s tone.
Mood: This is about the effect the writer creates in the reader and how they evoke it through their use of language.

These more advanced elements are a little more difficult to define than those on the basic list and, therefore can be confusing for students who are new to them. All these elements pertain to how words are used, but style also pertains to the purpose of the text, tone to the author’s attitude to the subject, with the mood being concerned with the reader’s attitude to the subject.

Why Are Story Elements Important?

There are many reasons students need to be well-versed in identifying the elements of a story, not least of which is the deeper levels of comprehension and enhanced appreciation this brings. Understanding how a story is organized is necessary for students to access the highest levels of comprehension of that story. Understanding how a story is organized also provides students with a frame of reference that significantly assists with recall. Often necessary, especially where exams are concerned, the implications here for subjects outside the English classroom are apparent too.

Being familiar with the various elements that combine in good storytelling also helps students in their writing. It helps students to organise their thoughts and competently weave together the various threads of their own stories. No small feat for an experienced writer, let alone a novice!

HOW TO HELP STUDENTS IDENTIFY STORY ELEMENTS

Getting to grips with the various elements of a story begins very early on with the first stories children hear. Often even before they begin elementary school. Students will have learned to identify the essential elements in stories by answering simple questions about the people in the story and the events that happened.

As students grow confident in identifying the key elements in their favorite stories, they begin to move on to more complex stories. They begin to recognize the more complex elements that require more advanced critical thinking skills .

In their simplest forms, activities to aid students in identifying story elements start with answering basic guided questions before students begin to move on to more focused reading activities, a few of which we will look at here.

Story Elements,teaching | Story2BMap2BImage | Teaching The 5 Story Elements: A Complete Guide for Teachers & Students | literacyideas.com

STORY ELEMENTS GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

Graphic organizers are a great way to assist students in extracting the elements of a story and organizing them in a visual way that helps them to comprehend the story better. They can further assist students in recalling, retelling, and summarizing. One of the best-suited graphic organizers for identifying story elements is the story map.

Story maps help students organize the elements of the story in a visual manner that assists in gaining fuller comprehension. Students examine the assigned text and extract the information related to each element. They can then record this information on their copy of the story map.

Story maps easily lend themselves to being differentiated, as the teacher can select the elements most appropriate for the age and ability of the students. In the beginning, students should gain experience identifying the basic elements in simple stories – fairy tales for example – before moving on to more sophisticated stories employing a wider range of elements.

Practice in the use of story maps will see students develop the ability to efficiently summarize the characters, setting, theme etc., of any reading material instinctively. Story maps can also be used as a valuable prewriting planning exercise.

Eventually, in regards to reading , students will be able to identify a story’s elements naturally, without the aid of a story map or graphic organizer of any sort – though this option will always remain for those who require the additional support a story map offers.

THE STORY TELLERS BUNDLE OF TEACHING RESOURCES

Story Elements,teaching | story tellers bundle 1 | Teaching The 5 Story Elements: A Complete Guide for Teachers & Students | literacyideas.com

A MASSIVE COLLECTION of resources for narratives and story writing in the classroom covering all elements of crafting amazing stories. MONTHS WORTH OF WRITING LESSONS AND RESOURCES, including:

Story Elements ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

As we have noted, for the advanced student, there are a lot of different component parts of a story to identify and work with. We could isolate each element and build a series of discrete lessons around each. The possibilities are endless, and it is obviously impossible to cover every possibility here. However, it is worth looking at three more general activities to ensure students understand story elements and how they work.

Activity 1: Read, Roll, and Retell

Story Elements,teaching | writing dice task | Teaching The 5 Story Elements: A Complete Guide for Teachers & Students | literacyideas.com

This simple activity is a fun way for students in a group to review material they have recently read. It begins with a student rolling a die or dice. The number they roll corresponds to a list of questions on each story element.

For example, the student rolls a three, which corresponds to a question on the setting, such as Where and when did this story take place? The student then answers in as much detail as possible regarding the text.

This activity can easily be differentiated by increasing the number and complexity of the questions and broadening the range of elements included. More than one question about each element can be included too.

Activity 2: Pick a Part

This activity works well with students working in pairs. Each student has a copy of the story. The various story elements are written on pieces of card: character, setting, mood, tone etc. Students take turns picking out a piece of card, ensuring their partner does not know which element they selected. They must then read a brief extract from the story corresponding to that element. Their partner must attempt to identify the element. When their partner has successfully identified the story element, it is their turn to pick a card.

Activity 3: Story graph

Story Elements,teaching | story graphs | Teaching The 5 Story Elements: A Complete Guide for Teachers & Students | literacyideas.com

This activity works best for recording the sub-elements of the plot, such as exposition, rising action, conflict, falling action, climax and resolution. The storygraph works as a straightforward graph with the various elements above listed on the x-axis, according to their chronological appearance in the text. The y-axis represents excitement, with the most dramatic points plotted higher. Students plot these points for each element. For example, the exposition of the story (usually corresponding to the setting of the scene, the introduction of the characters etc.) will be plotted relatively low in the excitement stakes, with the excitement gradually rising to the crescendo of the climax before dipping slightly for the resolution.

Students can further label these points on the graph with details of the corresponding events in the story.

Denouement

And so our story draws to a close, but let’s review the takeaways so that our students can live happily ever after – at least as far as story elements are concerned!

Many elements are at play when we drill down into how stories work. To comprehend a story, students must understand how the major elements interact. To do this, they will need to first be able to identify these elements accurately. This will require practice in the form of discrete lessons on story elements that are progressive in difficulty.

The ideas on story maps and other activities above represent a good starting point for these discrete lessons. But, it is crucial to reinforce this learning through reference and repetition in other lessons, where the main focus is not on the elements of a story themselves.

No magic is at play here; just practice, practice, practice. All very element -ary, my dear teacher!

Download our FREE Character Trait Lists now

327 DIFFERENT CHARACTER TRAITS broken into POSITIVE, NEGATIVE & NEUTRAL .

These lists are excellent for helping students to describe characters and objects when writing and help students get to know and understand different character traits.

Story Elements,teaching | 1 Slide1 | Teaching The 5 Story Elements: A Complete Guide for Teachers & Students | literacyideas.com

STORY WRITING

Once you have developed a strong understanding of story elements, it’s time for your students to use them to become story creators and write grand narratives .

Ensure your students invest time in planning the essential elements (Setting, Character, Plot, Conflict and Theme) of a narrative and really flesh those elements out before chasing down a single idea they may have had, such as a story about a cowboy in space.

You can find our complete guide to narrative and story writing here , which is a must-read before you, and your students consider writing their next bestseller.

Be sure to flip many of the activities in this article around story elements so that they come at them from the author’s perspective more than the audience’s.

7 ways to write great Characters and Settings | Story Elements

Elements of Literature

The Writing Process

Short Story Writing for Students and Teachers

How to Write a Scary Story

Narrative Writing: A Complete Guide for Teachers and Students

7 Great Narrative Lesson Plans Students and Teachers Love

Story Elements,teaching | Narrative2BWriting2BStrategies2Bfor2Bjuniors2B28129 | Narrative Writing for Kids: Essential Skills and Strategies | literacyideas.com

Narrative Writing for Kids: Essential Skills and Strategies

Top 7 Narrative Writing Exercises for Students

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Story Analysis: How to Analyze a Short Story Step-by-Step

Table of contents

Have there been times that you have read a short story in class and tried to analyze its meaning by deep-diving into the text to understand it better? If yes, this article is for you.

Short stories are relatively much shorter and less complex than most novels or plays. But that does not mean that they don’t require an in-depth analysis of what is written in the text and what messages the author of the book intends to convey to its readers.

In this article, you will learn how to analyze a short story step-by-step, along with the essential elements of a short story.

What are the Elements of a Short Story

In order to analyze a short story step-by-step, it is important to know the basics of story analysis. Let’s take a look at the five key elements of a short story.

Characters (both major and minor) are what bring life to a story. Writers use them to transcend important messages throughout the plotline.

Every character has a purpose, a particular personality, and a developmental arc. To analyze these characters for your short story, you must have the answer to the following questions:

Who is the plotline’s protagonist?
Do you have your antagonist? If yes, who is it? What antagonistic qualities do they have?
Are the characters dynamic (changing) or static (unchanging)?
How does the author describe the character's appearance, personality, mindset, and actions?
What are your thoughts, feelings, or opinions about the characters?
What is the relationship between all the characters?

People get invested in fictional characters, relate to them, and see them as real individuals with real personalities, going through real hardships in life.

That's the key motive of the author, and that's what needs to be analyzed.

Setting or Theme

The setting of a short story depicts the theme of the plot through key metaphors. It revolves around three important points:

Circumstances

This also aids the flow of the plotline, distinguishes the characters, influences viewpoints, and creates an aura for your story.

Even if a story is placed in a historic time and place, from when and where it was originally written, it can influence the entire context of the narrative.

Many stories would seem different and altered if their original setting was changed completely and is thus very crucial in interpreting the concept of the story.

Thus, try to assess how the setting affects the story and how it motivates its characters. Analyze why the author has chosen this particular setting, how the readers respond to it, as well as if there’s any symbolic meaning behind it.

The plotline makes a story by giving it a pattern and a structure to the events that are about to happen. Identifying and analyzing these plotlines will help in giving insights into the explanation of the story.

In short stories, the plot is majorly centered around one important character and their actions, or around one key experience that impacts the story greatly.

Usually, a short story plot has one major storyline, unlike novels, which have multiple trajectories of storylines. Thus, short stories are easier to analyze.

Authors use symbolism to convey messages poetically or indirectly, through their stories, making them more interesting and complex pieces.

Symbolism is depicted using a physical object or even a person to be an abstract idea. For example, a dove represents love and peace and a storm represents hostility and turmoil.

Symbolism can also be used as a metaphor in the narrative, such as life is a roller coaster which portrays life to have its ups and downs.

Similarly, in short story novels, authors symbolize certain conflicts and important issues by using a metaphor or a simile in their story. For example, in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the officials dismantled the coronations of Caesar's statues, foreshadowing their plan to topple him.

Lastly, the reason you are reading the short story is to identify what you have learned from it and what the moral of the narrative is.

Even though short story novels are crisp, interesting, and entertaining, there is always a life lesson behind each of them. This moral is implied to help the readers understand the author’s perspective, what they want to convey, and what lesson you should learn from the text.

How to Analyze a Short Story Step-by-Step

Now that we know the major elements that are involved in crafting an exceptional story analysis, let's take a look at five tips for how to analyze a short story step-by-step.

Read and summarize

As you prepare to analyze the short story assigned to you, it is recommended to read and re-read it multiple times. Since it is a short story, you’ll have plenty of time to understand all the details included within the story and the context of the plot.

To analyze the book, divide the narrative into sections. Read each of these sections and write down key points and essential details that are related to these portions of the story. As you do that, summarize your interpretation of the plot into a more understandable and easy piece.

Brainstorm and take notes

While reading the text, if you come across an interesting subplot, a challenging character arc, or even a major theme that isn't showcased through the text, make it a point of writing them down.

These notes will be your crutch as you begin analyzing your short story for your class assignment. Taking notes brings organization to your thoughts and ideas, as well as gives you proper knowledge about every detail you find in the short story.

Brainstorm multiple ideas and write down the concepts that you find fascinating while reading the book. Always pay close attention to the details to understand the purpose of the text, as well as the author’s point of view on multiple important situations or events.

Here’s an interesting video by Jesse on how to take notes while reading

Identify crucial concepts

Identifying important concepts in the short story, such as the main conflict that helps with creating the primary argument for the thesis statement, the characters’ personalities, their defining traits, the choices they make, and also the point of view of the narrator.

The point of view is an essential aspect of the storyline as it creates a lens for the reader to understand and analyze themes, details, characters, and important events in the story.

While examining these concepts, you will realize the intention of the author, how the story was significant to them, and why they made certain choices while writing the short story.

Similarly, exploring the literary devices of the short story, such as the setting, mood, tone, and style of the text, will help further in analyzing the plotline in a more notable way.

Include examples and evidence

When you state an argument in your story analysis, it is always better to back it up with credible sources and accurate evidence. For example, you can paraphrase or directly quote a sentence from your assigned story to claim your point.

However, quotations cannot become evidence unless it is explained how it proves the claims that are being made.

Having good sources for your story analysis gives you a higher level of authority over the book that you are writing about and also makes it easier for the reader to understand the author’s perspective.

Craft the thesis statement

It is important to make sure that all the points that have been made for the analysis tie together and ultimately support your thesis.

Keep in mind that the thesis for your short story should not just summarize the plot, and neither should it be a review of the book. Your thesis statement should be an interpretation of the text or an argument that is based on the storyline.

Writing a quality analysis for short stories requires a solid thought process, an organized structure , and the ability to dive deep into the literary meaning of a text.

Here, you understand and think through the author's perspective of the book and why they have chosen to write their thoughts and ideas through this narrative.

Hence, to know how to analyze a short story step-by-step for your class assignments and also score high, you need proper guidance, key steps, and other tips and tricks that put your analysis at the front of the line. This article is here just for that!

If you still find yourself to be stuck, reach out to our analytical essay writing service . Our team of professional writers are experts in analyzing stories and will help you deliver a 100% original short story analysis written from scratch.

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Short Story

Short story definition.

A short story is a fully developed story that is shorter than a novel and longer than a fable . It typically takes just a single sitting for reading. Short Story focuses on the incidents bigger or smaller and evokes strong feelings from its readers. A short story often has a few characters in the plot .

Features of a Short Story

As a short story is mostly a short narrative and has few features. The standard features include exposition , complication, crisis, climax , and resolution of the crisis. However, it is not essential that all short stories follow the same pattern.

Difference between Short Story, Novella, and Novel

Writers do not agree on the exact length of a story but some say that it presents only one aspect of life and is reasonably beyond or within a 3,000 to 7,000-word count. However, a novelette is a bit longer and typically presents several aspects of the life of a character or some character such as Animal Farm by George Orwell and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway . However, novels are divided into chapters, are longer, and are usually above 50,000 words. Some novels are in higher volumes like Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities or Judge the Obscure by Thomas Hardy .

How to Write and Plot a Short Story?

When writing a short story or creating a plot of a short story, keep these points in your mind.

Create lifelike characters and move them fast in the story. It’s also called pace.
Keep the number of characters quite limited, if and when possible. Ideally, they should be more than one and less than five. Especially when you are just in the learning stage.
Create a conflict between characters or between a character and nature.
Put a resolution or mystery by the end or In Medias Res .
Use figurative language .

Five (5) Major Elements of a Short Story

Although there are several elements and it could depend on the writer what to include or what not to include, these five are fundamental elements of a short story.

Examples of Short Stories from Literature

The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde

The Happy Prince is one of the best stories written in English Literature written by Oscar Wilde. The story shows how the elites of that kingdom neglect the poor. And the statue of the Happy Prince takes the help of a Swallow to help the poor of the city. One by one, the Prince starts losing his precious stones, rubies, and gold leaves when the Swallow starts plucking them to give to the poor that the Prince can see from his high pedestal. The dramatic irony of the story reaches the climax when the city mayor sees the dead bird and the ugly broken statue. When the statue is sent to a furnace, God invites the Prince and the Swallow to live in the City of Gold in heaven.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

In the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte sheds light on the difficulties faced by the narrator of the story, due to depression after childbirth. Her husband John, a physician, takes her to a countryside home for the cure and assumes that she is suffering from hysteria. He doesn’t allow her to do her favorite activities , like writing which helps her escape reality. She is also distant to her child. After a while, she is obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her room and imagines that a woman, like her, is stuck in it and wants to come out. To help the imaginary woman, the narrator starts peeling the wallpaper. By the end of the story, John, sees her creeping around the room and faints. The story also highlights how many women are ignored by their spouses, leading them to depression.

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” is another wonderful example of a short horror story. In the story, the anonymous narrator tells about the murder of an old man that he has committed in cold blood because he had ‘vulture eyes’. The story is told in the first-person narrative and explores the state of mind of a person. The narrator has hallucinations after the murder when he feels guilty. He convinces the readers that he is not insane. By the end of the story, he continues to hallucinate and asks what to do to make the old man’s heart stop. This is an excellent example of a short story having a few characters and a complicated theme .

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

This story is an extraordinary piece of its time. Louise Mallard, probably oppressed by her husband, is relieved when she sees the prospects of freedom after the death of her husband. She rejoices and imagines a bright future after receiving the news. However, Brently Mallard, Louise’s husband returns home. The pain of her failing dreams causes her to suffer a heart attack and death. The doctor assumes that she has died of heart failure as she couldn’t absorb the happiness at her husband’s arrival.

The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant

The Necklace is one of the best short stories. It revolves around the life of a clerk in the ministry of education and his extraordinarily beautiful wife, Mathilda. She borrows an expensive necklace from her friend for a ball but loses it when they are returning home. They, somehow, arrange to replace it after purchasing the original necklace with borrowed money and spend their lives in the struggle to pay back the loan. After several years, they met the same friend again. To their horror, she tells them that her necklace was fake.

To Build a Fire by Jack London

To Build a Fire is the story of an anonymous character who leaves home for a destination on the Yukon trail but faces heavy snow which makes him fall. He tries to kill his dog to keep himself alive, but the dog also senses his intentions. Later, he tries to make the fire but does not succeed and dies. His struggle and his wrong notion about his strength and thinking power prove fatal for him. This is one of the best short stories without the names of the characters.

Short Story Meaning and Function

A short story presents one aspect of the life of a character. It could be an incident, an event, a description of a feeling, or even a simple act. A short story can also impact a reader and even inspire them. For persons who cannot read novels, enjoy reading the short stories. Moreover, in a short story, the characters also share their innermost thoughts, their motives, their feelings, their emotions, and different notions.

Synonyms of Short Story

The nearest synonyms for the short story are narrative, novella , tale, yarn, story, and novelette.

By The Short Hairs
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Comic Relief
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Narrative Poem
Dramatic Monologue
Existentialism
In Medias Res
Romanticism
Feminine Rhyme
Metaphysical
Auditory Imagery
Sensory Language
Implied Metaphor
Rhetorical Device
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Exact Rhyme
Deuteragonist
Equivocation
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Turning Point
Supporting Sentence
Urban Legend
Antonomasia

EH -- Researching Short Stories: Strategies for Short Story Research

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Strategies for Short Story Research

Page Overview

This page addresses the research process -- the things that should be done before the actual writing of the paper -- and strategies for engaging in the process. Although this LibGuide focuses on researching short stories, this particular page is more general in scope and is applicable to most lower-division college research assignments.

Before You Begin

Before beginning any research process, first be absolutely sure you know the requirements of the assignment. Things such as

the date the completed project is due
the due dates of any intermediate assignments, like turning in a working bibliography or notes
the length requirement (minimum word count), if any
the minimum number and types (for example, books or articles from scholarly, peer-reviewed journals) of sources required

These formal requirements are as much a part of the assignment as the paper itself. They form the box into which you must fit your work. Do not take them lightly.

When possible, it is helpful to subdivide the overall research process into phases, a tactic which

makes the idea of research less intimidating because you are dealing with sections at a time rather than the whole process
makes the process easier to manage
gives a sense of accomplishment as you move from one phase to the next

Characteristics of a Well-written Paper

Although there are many details that must be given attention in writing a research paper, there are three major criteria which must be met. A well-written paper is

Unified: the paper has only one major idea; or, if it seeks to address multiple points, one point is given priority and the others are subordinated to it.
Coherent: the body of the paper presents its contents in a logical order easy for readers to follow; use of transitional phrases (in addition, because of this, therefore, etc.) between paragraphs and sentences is important.
Complete: the paper delivers on everything it promises and does not leave questions in the mind of the reader; everything mentioned in the introduction is discussed somewhere in the paper; the conclusion does not introduce new ideas or anything not already addressed in the paper.

Basic Research Strategy

How to Research From Pellissippi State Community College Libraries: discusses the principal components of a simple search strategy.
Basic Research Strategies From Nassau Community College: a start-up guide for college level research that supplements the information in the preceding link. Tabs two, three, and four plus the Web Evaluation tab are the most useful for JSU students. As with any LibGuide originating from another campus, care must be taken to recognize the information which is applicable generally from that which applies solely to the Guide's home campus. .
Information Literacy Tutorial From Nassau Community College: an elaboration on the material covered in the preceding link (also from NCC) which discusses that material in greater depth. The quizzes and surveys may be ignored.

Things to Keep in Mind

Although a research assignment can be daunting, there are things which can make the process less stressful, more manageable, and yield a better result. And they are generally applicable across all types and levels of research.

1. Be aware of the parameters of the assignment: topic selection options, due date, length requirement, source requirements. These form the box into which you must fit your work.

2. Treat the assignment as a series of components or stages rather than one undivided whole.

devise a schedule for each task in the process: topic selection and refinement (background/overview information), source material from books (JaxCat), source material from journals (databases/Discovery), other sources (internet, interviews, non-print materials); the note-taking, drafting, and editing processes.
stick to your timetable. Time can be on your side as a researcher, but only if you keep to your schedule and do not delay or put everything off until just before the assignment deadline.

3. Leave enough time between your final draft and the submission date of your work that you can do one final proofread after the paper is no longer "fresh" to you. You may find passages that need additional work because you see that what is on the page and what you meant to write are quite different. Even better, have a friend or classmate read your final draft before you submit it. A fresh pair of eyes sometimes has clearer vision.

4. If at any point in the process you encounter difficulties, consult a librarian. Hunters use guides; fishermen use guides. Explorers use guides. When you are doing research, you are an explorer in the realm of ideas; your librarian is your guide.

A Note on Sources

Research requires engagement with various types of sources.

Primary sources: the thing itself, such as letters, diaries, documents, a painting, a sculpture; in lower-division literary research, usually a play, poem, or short story.
Secondary sources: information about the primary source, such as books, essays, journal articles, although images and other media also might be included. Companions, dictionaries, and encyclopedias are secondary sources.
Tertiary sources: things such as bibliographies, indexes, or electronic databases (minus the full text) which serve as guides to point researchers toward secondary sources. A full text database would be a combination of a secondary and tertiary source; some books have a bibliography of additional sources in the back.

Accessing sources requires going through various "information portals," each designed to principally support a certain type of content. Houston Cole Library provides four principal information portals:

JaxCat online catalog: books, although other items such as journals, newspapers, DVDs, and musical scores also may be searched for.
Electronic databases: journal articles, newspaper stories, interviews, reviews (and a few books; JaxCat still should be the "go-to" portal for books). JaxCat indexes records for the complete item: the book, journal, newspaper, CD but has no records for parts of the complete item: the article in the journal, the editorial in the newspaper, the song off the CD. Databases contain records for these things.
Discovery Search: mostly journal articles, but also (some) books and (some) random internet pages. Discovery combines elements of the other three information portals and is especially useful for searches where one is researching a new or obscure topic about which little is likely to be written, or does not know where the desired information may be concentrated. Discovery is the only portal which permits simul-searching across databases provided by multiple vendors.
Internet (Bing, Dogpile, DuckDuckGo, Google, etc.): primarily webpages, especially for businesses (.com), government divisions at all levels (.gov), or organizations (.org). as well as pages for primary source-type documents such as lesson plans and public-domain books. While book content (Google Books) and journal articles (Google Scholar) are accessible, these are not the strengths of the internet and more successful searches for this type of content can be performed through JaxCat and the databases.

NOTE: There is no predetermined hierarchy among these information portals as regards which one should be used most or gone to first. These considerations depend on the task at hand and will vary from assignment o assignment.

The link below provides further information on the different source types.

Research Methods From Truckee Meadows Community College: a guide to basic research. The tab "What Type of Source?" presents an overview of the various types of information sources, identifying the advantages and disadvantages of each.
<< Previous: Find Books
Last Updated: Apr 19, 2024 7:27 AM
URL: https://libguides.jsu.edu/litresearchshortstories

The Daring English Teacher on Teachers Pay Teachers Secondary ELA resources Middle School ELA High School English

Teaching Short Stories with a Close Reading Perspective

One of my favorite units to teach is my short story unit. Teaching students about the elements of fiction and literary devices is so much fun. Helping students closely read the stories and analyze the stories on a deeper level is also extremely rewarding.

When I teach short stories, I typically focus on just one short story a week. We read the short story, go back and reread it, and really spend some time with it.

Here is a look at how I teach short stories in my secondary ELA classroom.

Getting Started with Teaching Short Stories

Teaching Short Stories with a Close Reading Perspective in the Middle School ELA and High School English Class

The first thing to do when starting a short story unit is to teach students about essential elements of fiction including plot, characterization, conflict, setting, etc. Once students have a fundamental understating of fiction elements, I like to engage my students in an elements of fiction escape room activity to review these elements. Since I teach high school and most of these elements are a review, I usually quickly review the elements of fiction and then spend a day with the escape room.

After the students understand the elements of fiction, I teach various literary elements, and we read our first short story together.

One of the most important things to remember when teaching a short story is to make sure that you aren’t throwing too much at students at once. Yes, we can analyze a story for its theme, symbolism, figurative language, conflict, and character development. Still, I think it is best to stick with just a couple of literary devices per short story. This way, students are less overwhelmed, and they can focus more on the analysis.

I typically start with my literary analysis sticky unit . This resource includes direct instruction materials and student activities. It also comes in a digital and print and digital bundle .

Teaching a Short Story in a Week.

With the first short story in the unit, I usually provide a bit more guidance and scaffolding. I also do a lot of thinking aloud to help model how to approach literary analysis. Here is a look at the breakdown for teaching a short story in one week.

I first review some of the critical literary devices that we will focus on for that particular story. This can be done through quick direct instruction, a do now, or even a quick video. After that, I like to introduce the students to the story. I’ll do this by sharing pictures, providing context for the story, or providing them with some time to explore key concepts and important information. Then, we read the story.

If necessary, we continue reading the story on Tuesday. I don’t like to read the story in one fell swoop, but I also try not to interrupt the reading every three lines to explain every single literary significance and nuance. It’s a tough balance.

Once we finish reading the story, I like to group the students together to discuss and review the story. During this time, I’ll have them work on a group poster analyzing critical ideas from the story, answering comprehension and analysis questions, or doing an activity related to the story.

After spending two days with the text, I like to refocus my students and do some literary analysis. I will usually do this with one of the sticky note organizers from the literary analysis sticky note unit. Students will work either independently, in pairs, or in small groups to find examples of the literary elements we are focusing on.

Another way to do this is to assign students or student groups a passage from the text and analyze it. With my short story close reading units , I’ve carefully curated several passages from the short stories we read. Each passage includes a literary element of focus, and students go through the passage, read it, read it again, and then identify and analyze the literary element.

On Thursdays, I like to assign a literary analysis writing prompt. My short story writing assignments are never more than one paragraph, and before we build up to a paragraph, I only assign three sentences. You can read more about why I stick with the three-sentence writing assignment in this blog post.

Once I assign the writing prompt, it is important to make sure students understand the prompt and know how to answer the prompt. To make sure this happens, I usually have students annotate the prompt by underlining or highlighting the prompt’s action words and then circling the key ideas that students need to respond to.

After students have a good grasp on the prompt, I then have them work on a group brainstorming exercise to gather ideas and quotes. Group brainstorming, whether it be whole-class brainstorming or small-group collaborative brainstorming, is so beneficial for students. It helps struggling students build content knowledge and ideas. This is one of the many literary analysis scaffolding techniques I like to use in the classroom.

On Fridays, we write. I have my students write in class. On those days, I rarely ever sit. I usually ping pong around the room, checking students’ work, providing them feedback as they write, and encouraging my students to keep up their amazing work.

Once I make it through a week, I start the process over with a new story. With each new story, I focus on different literary elements.

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IMAGES

STORY ELEMENTS
IdENtIfy ElEmENts of sHoRt stoRIEs
Short Story Assignment 1
ELEMENTS OF A SHORT STORY
PPT
Short Story Elements Handout

VIDEO

What is story writing? /What are Elements of story?
Elements of Short Story B.A 1st Year in Hindi/ Elements of Short Story in Hindi
Elements|Short Fake trailer|Roblox|@TheChickenFam
short story assignment
CMPE258 Short Story Presentation
Difference between s and p block elements and transition elements. short question.exercise 2nd chap

COMMENTS

9 Key Elements of a Short Story: What They Are and How to Apply Them
Climax. This is the element of most stories that's missing when someone tells a boring story at a party. This is the exciting part, the punchline, the ultimate point of the entire story. This is where the character goes up against the baddie in a final showdown and either wins or loses.
How to Write a Short Story: The Short Story Checklist
Your short story is 1000 to 7500 words in length. The story takes place in one time period, not spread out or with gaps other than to drive someplace, sleep, etc. If there are those gaps, there is a space between the paragraphs, the new paragraph beginning flush left, to indicate a new scene.
PDF Short Story Grading Rubric2018
Microsoft Word - Short Story Grading Rubric2018.docx. Ms. Gondringer English 7. Writing a Short Story - Assignment. • You will write a descriptive, fictional short story. • To begin the story, use one of the introductory lines below. This line MUST appear in the first paragraph of the story, although it does not have to be the first line.
Short Story Writing for Students and Teachers
In short story writing, you'll find the key story elements such as characterization, plot development, themes explored, etc., but all within a word count that can usually be comfortably read in one sitting. Short stories are just one of many storytelling methods; like the others, they help us derive meaning from our world.
5 Elements of a Story Explained (Free Worksheet)
And no it's not aliens or big explosions! It's the five elements of a story: Characters, Setting, Plot, Conflict and Resolution. Story elements are needed to create a well-structured story. It doesn't matter if you're writing a short story or a long novel, the core elements are always there. Table of contents [ Hide]
PDF Creative Writing: Short Stories
The Short Story, Fall 2020. 1 of 6 Creative Writing: Short Stories This handout will help you understand and analyze the formal craft elements used by writers in the creation of short stories so that you can effectively employ them in your own. Definition of the Short Story By its very nature, the short story is difficult to define.
6 Elements of Short Stories You SHOULD Teach
Elements of Short Stories You SHOULD Teach. 1. Plot & Basic Elements of Short Stories. 2. Conflict. There are 2 Major Types of Conflict: External: exists outside of the character. Character vs. Character. Character vs. Society.
The 8 Elements of a Story
By Chris Drew (PhD) / July 16, 2023. The 8 elements of a story are: character, setting, plot, conflict, theme, point-of-view, tone and style. These story elements form the backbone of any good novel or short story. If you know the 8 elements, you can write and analyze stories more effectively.
5 Elements of a Short Story & 6 Stages of a Plot
Climax: The conflict reaches a peak, which then leads to a change in the course of events, giving the reader a new understanding of the story either through an event or an insight. 5. Falling action: The conflict gets resolved and the action slows down. 6. Resolution: The conflict ends, leaving the reader fulfilled.
Elements of a Short Story
A short story is a story made up of anywhere from 1,000 to 20,000 words, and contains five main elements. The first element is characters ; short stories typically include just one main character ...
How to Write a Short Story in 9 Simple Steps
9. Submit the short story to publications. But first, let's talk about what makes a short story different from a novel. 1. Know what a short story is versus a novel. The simple answer to this question, of course, is that the short story is shorter than the novel, usually coming in at between, say, 1,000-15,000 words.
Teaching Story Elements: A Guide for Teachers and Students
Activity 1: Read, Roll, and Retell. This simple activity is a fun way for students in a group to review material they have recently read. It begins with a student rolling a die or dice. The number they roll corresponds to a list of questions on each story element.
Story Analysis: How to Analyze a Short Story Step-by-Step
Read and summarize. As you prepare to analyze the short story assigned to you, it is recommended to read and re-read it multiple times. Since it is a short story, you'll have plenty of time to understand all the details included within the story and the context of the plot. To analyze the book, divide the narrative into sections.
Short Story Analysis
Short stories are narratives typically between 1,000 and 20,000 words long. They are much shorter than novels and deal with much simpler stories. The goal of a short story analysis is to get a ...
Short Story Examples and Definition of Short Story
Example #1. The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. The Happy Prince is one of the best stories written in English Literature written by Oscar Wilde. The story shows how the elites of that kingdom neglect the poor. And the statue of the Happy Prince takes the help of a Swallow to help the poor of the city. One by one, the Prince starts losing his ...
Elements of the Short Story
Instruct the students to press F4: Next to access the first story element note file. This activity provides several files for you to use in taking notes about different elements used in Poe's short story. The first of these files, Character, is shown to the right. The last of the story element files is entitled Your Choice.
Strategies for Short Story Research
EH -- Researching Short Stories: Strategies for Short Story Research This Library Guide offers assistance in writing research papers on short stories. It provides information on short fiction as a literary genre, important elements of short fiction including things to look for in reading a story, and other information.
5 Elements of a Short Story & 6 Stages of a Plot
Climax: The conflict reaches a peak, which then leads to a change in the course of events, giving the reader a new understanding of the story either through an event or an insight. 5. Falling action: The conflict gets resolved and the action slows down. 6. Resolution: The conflict ends, leaving the reader fulfilled.
Teaching Short Stories with a Close Reading Perspective
One of the most important things to remember when teaching a short story is to make sure that you aren't throwing too much at students at once. Yes, we can analyze a story for its theme, symbolism, figurative language, conflict, and character development. Still, I think it is best to stick with just a couple of literary devices per short story.
10th Grade Assignment
Assignment Explanation and Topic Overview. This assignment is intended to help 10th grade students analyze a short story. After selecting and reading a short story from a given list, the student ...
10th Grade Assignment
Assignment Overview. Students working on this assignment will learn to recognize different elements of novels, short stories, poems, and drama. Students will review the ways that authors use ...
PDF Short Story Analysis Assignment
Short Story Analysis Assignment: For most of the emphasized short story elements (plot/structure, setting, characterization, point of view, symbolism, tone, style, irony), you'll have to write a short analysis for one of the selected stories (your choice) for that element (also your choice). These analyses should be between 300-550 words and
Quiz 1: Short Story Elements Flashcards
knowing all things. point of view. the position from which the author presents the story (usually first person or third person) prose fiction. imaginary story written in ordinary language, without rhyme or meter. The short story is a form of. prose fiction. the short story is designed to be read at one sitting. single problem or idea, single plot.

9 Key Elements of a Short Story: What They Are and How to Apply Them

The Key to Compelling Stories: It's NOT Dun, Dun, DUUN!

9 Key Elements of a Short Story

1. Character

2. Want/Goal

3. Conflict

4. Decisions

8. Point of view (POV)

What a Short Story is Not

A short story is not:

A Note on “Rules”

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The Core Elements of a Short Story

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5 Elements Of a Story Explained With Examples (+ Free Worksheet)

What are Story Elements?

5 Elements Of A Story

Story Elements Examples

Common Questions About Story Elements

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Elements of Short Stories You SHOULD Teach

2. Conflict

There are 2 Major Types of Conflict:

4. Characterization

Ultimately, there are 4 types of characters:

CREATING A THEME BASED ON THE PEDESTRIAN (The Pedestrian Theme)

Other Elements of Short Stories You Might Want To Consider

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The 8 Elements of a Story – Explained for Students!

The 8 Elements of a Story

2. Characters

Also Consider Character Conflicts and Fatal Flaws

3. Conflict

6. Point of View

Final Thoughts on Story Elements

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How to Write a Short Story in 9 Simple Steps

1. Know what a short story is versus a novel

Experiment with writing prompts

Turn to the originals

Keep a notebook

Bring your short stories to life

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Teaching The 5 Story Elements: A Complete Guide for Teachers & Students

What Are Story Elements?

BASIC STORY ELEMENTS

THE ULTIMATE STORY ELEMENTS VIDEO (6 minutes)

More Advanced Elements

Why Are Story Elements Important?

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STORY ELEMENTS GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

Story Elements ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

Activity 1: Read, Roll, and Retell

Activity 2: Pick a Part

Activity 3: Story graph

Denouement

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