Elements

of a
Short Story
 Overview
A Short Story is similar to your dish. It needs
the best ingredients for you to enjoy its delectable taste.

Stories are made up of four important

elements:

Setting
Characters, Plot,
and Theme
Elements of a Short Story
Plot
• chain of related events in a
story
• built around conflict, which is
a struggle between opposing
forces.
• The plot is the sequence or order of events in a story.
• The plot includes:

Exposition PLOT DIAGRAM

background information- setting, characters’ back stories, events before the main
plot
Inciting Incident
single incident that begins main conflict
Rising Action
related incidents leading up to the climax
Climax
highest point in the development or resolution of conflict

Falling action
events from the climax
Resolution
main conflict is resolved
Denouement- ending of story where author answers remaining questions
 Characters and
Characterization
The people, and in some stories,
the animals that take part in
the story.
The description of the personalities
of the characters in the story and
the way in which an author
reveals their personalities.
Types of Characters

1. Protagonist –
the hero of the story

2. Antagonist –
the villain in the story
who is always
opposing the
protagonist
Types of Characters

1. Flat – don’t develop or change w/in the

story

2. Round – develop, change, interact like real

people in the story
 Methods of Characterization
Creating Believable Characters
• Indirect • Direct
– physical appearance
– the narrator’s
– speech, thoughts, direct
feelings, or actions of comments
the character about a
character
– speech, thoughts,
feelings, or actions of
other characters
Setting
where and when the story takes
place.
 Conflict
• problem faced by the characters
 Point of View
• The vantage point from which a
selection is written.
• perspective from which author
tells the story
• 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person
 Point of View
• First-person point of view ( I, me,
my) ex: Hunger Games series, To
Kill a Mockingbird
• Second-person point of view ( you,
your)
 Point of View
• Third-person point of view ( they,
them, their)
third-person omniscient (The
Scarlet Letter, Pride and Prejudice)
third-person limited (The Giver)
third –person objective
 Theme
• main idea of a story.
• underlying idea/message author wants to
convey
• It is not a moral, lesson, or a rule for living.
Ex.
Love
Family Feud
Themes from ‘The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet’
 Bibliography
Dinneen, K. Elements of the Short Story. Retrieved Jun.
19, 2003, from Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute:
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1983/3/83.03.09.x.html

Five Elements of a Story. Retrieved Jun. 19, 2003,

http://www.teachervision.com/lesson-plans/lesson-2277.html

Guevin, D. Short Story Elements. Retrieved Jun. 19, 2003,

http://www.uvm.edu/~dguevin/Elements.html
 Performance Task
1. Start writing a story about your lockdown journey.
2. Make sure that the basic elements are incorporated in
your story.
3. The rubric shall be provided inext week.