Elements of a Short Story

Character Presentation Direct: - The author tells you straight out exactly what the character is like - He/she gives us the physical appearance and perhaps a little of the personality
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For example: For he was a quiet man, not given to talking about himself.

Indirect: - The character is presented speaking, thinking and acting (in other words dramatized)
- You have to infer (guess) what the character is like from: - His/her name

Indirect continued
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His/her appearance What he/she says What he/she thinks What other people think of him/her
- In other dialogue do they speak highly of the character - How do other characters treat him/her - With respect? - With disdain (they sneer and mock him/her)

- How do animals treat him/her - How does a character act - How does the character treat others?
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Respectfully and politely Rudely and never says please and thank you Doesnt take others into consideration?

Types of Character
Flat Character:
- This character can be summed up into one or two sentences
- Not a developed character (2D) - Character does not change - May be many of these characters in a story

Round Character: - Complex and many-sided - This character has depth and dimension (3D), just like a real human - There will only be one or two of these in a story

Characters continued
Stock Character: - this is a stereotyped character who we see often in fiction - This character is immediately recognizable; villain, bad step-mother, nerdy teacher Static Character: - this character stays the same throughout the story - Even if something horrible or great happens, this person does not change

Characters continued
Dynamic Character:
- This character undergoes a major change
- In personality - In outlook of the world

- To be convincing this character he/she must be:

- Believable - Motivation must come from the story - Change must be given time to happen (not over night)

Character Foil:
- this characters sole purpose is to highlight another character in the

story - Smart character and dumb best friend (foil)

How to Analyse a Character

There are questions that you can ask to help figure out the personality of the character.
Why does the character behave the way he/she does? What motivates the character to act the way he/she

does? Is he/she believable, life-like, emotionally convincing? What kind of change does he/she go through? Does the character go through a change at all?

Elements of a Character Mental

Quick-witted, brilliant, average, stupid, dull
Academically smart or street smart

Emotional
Always a steady mood or unpredictable? Affectionate, confident, gloomy, happy? Does the character have a sense of humour? How does he/she respond to events that happen?

Does the character fly off the handle at every little thing? Is the character indifferent (doesnt care) to what happens? Is everything treated like a joke?

Elements continued
Spiritual Beliefs
What are his/her ideals or code of ethics? What attitude towards life does the character have?

Does he/she treat all life with respect? Does the character care about people or the world at all?

Does the character have a spiritual belief?

Physical Traits Hair colour, eye colour, weight, skin colour, posture, height? Is the character clumsy, slow, alert or fast moving? What is the characters general appearance; sloppy, neatly dressed, well-groomed, messy hair etc.

What factors make up the character?

Family: Brothers, sisters, only child, childhood experiences, home atmosphere Community: Social standing (high or lower class), financial standing What kind of work does the character do? What kind of friends does/he/she have? Education: Schooling, hobbies, traveling, volunteer work

Conflict
Conflict is the basis of the plot

Can be clash of ideas, desires or wills Can be a physical clash or emotional a protagonist (main character) the antagonist; this may be a person, society, an animal, fate, God, the characters conscience Antagonist is anything that stands in the way of the protagonist

Conflict involves

3 main types of conflicts:

Person vs. person Person vs. self Person vs. environment (society or nature)

Endings
Happy:
The protgaonist resolves his/her conflict in a satisfactory manner

Unhappy:
The protagonist fails to resolve the conflict, reader is left feeling

unhappy

Indeterminate:
The conflict is not resolved in favour of either the protagonist or

antagonist Reader is left to wonder what happened

Surprise:
A sudden twist happens that is unexpected

Endings continued
Endings can only be plausible (believable) if:
Foreshadowing has done a great job of anticipation Are the characters plausible and the preceding events are believable? Do events happen in a logical manner? Ending should seem logical and natural as you take a look back over

the story Ending should serve to reinforce the central meaning of the story (theme)

What happens to a story if the characters and ending are not believable?