SHORT

STORY
(NARRATIVE)
ENGLISH 9
SHORT STORY & ITS ELEMENTS
FICTION
* Fiction or fictional prose is a form of prose that describes
imaginary events or people. In fiction, the narrator talks about
feelings, thoughts and internal things.
* There is no limit in length. It can be filled no matter how weighty
and plenty the complications are because the reader decides the
pacing.
 SHORT STORY
A. DEFINITION AND FEATURES

- Is a work of fiction that can be read in one sitting.

Generally, a short story develops one major conflict.
A short story must be unified because it must have
unity in conversation, action and idea focusing in one
predominant effect. All the elements must work
together to produce a total effect reinforced by
appropriate title and use of literary devices.
 B.ELEMENTS OF SHORT STORY
1. CHARACTER

Refer to real or imaginary individuals who take part on the action of the story.

Kinds of characters:

Main Characters- the center of the story’s action (protagonist and antagonist)

Dynamic / round character- character that grows or changes as the plot unfolds.

- considered as well-developed, has many traits, both good or bad.

Static/flat character- remains unchanged in the story

Foil- the secondary or minor characters whose traits are indirect contrast to the central character.
CHARACTERIZATION
It is the development of characters in fiction.
Example:
A. physical description of the character
B. Description by another character
C. character’s speech
D. explanation of the character’s thoughts
E. character’s actions, responses and reactions
 SETTING

It is the time and place in which the event

occur at a particular day, a season, and a period of
history, or even the future. It includes also
atmosphere when something readers sense or feel.
The place can be real or imaginary
*ATMOSPHERE- is something readers feel or sense.
 SETTING

* Relative to the element of setting is the term milieu. If the main focus of a story is to take the
reader on a tour of an imaginary place, the most logical way to tell it is to start the story with a
character in the reader’s world, and have the character travel to the imagined world, wander about to
look at all the interesting places and then return to the reader’s world. It is equivalent to tourism and
the reader’s chief pleasure.
 3. POINT OF VIEW- POV
Refers the relationship between the narrator and the events which he/she narrates.
1st point of view – when the narrator is one of the character in the story.
- He/She participtes in the story’s action.
( I, me, my, our, us, we, myself and ourselves) – these are in the first person pronouns for first
person point of view (POV)
2nd person – when the story is told to a character in the story- (YOU, YOUR/S)
- when the story is told to character in the story.
3rd person- the narrator is outside the story describes the events or character who sees all of the
action.
( he, she, them, they, him, her, their)
 3. POINT OF VIEW- POV
From what point of view is the story told?

Ex. Title: Old like Walls of Intramuros

By Eubert Lennard Torreliza

The wind was blowing through my skin. It was kind of

breeze that always gave me chills. Starlight shined like a
disco ball refracting every ray of luminosity. The night
was so young but it felt so old.
 3. POINT OF VIEW- POV
From what point of view is the story told?

ADULTING
By Eubert Lennard Torreliza

Do you ever wish that you can turn back the time and stay as a kid?

Your shirt can be sweaty with the dirt you intentionally ate. You copy the gestures and catchphrases of your
favorite anime character. When you were tired and slept in the couch, you are puzzled on how you are
transferred to your own bed. The only thing that gives you anxiety is when your mother leaves you to fall in line
at the cashier in a supermarket because she forgot to buy some other things she needed.
 SEVERAL TYPES 3RD PERSON POV

3rd person Dramatic or Objective Narration- the narrator tells a third-person’s story (he, she,
him, her) but the narrator only describes characters’, behavior and dialogue. The narrator
does not reveal any character’s thoughts and feelings. The narrator renders explicit,
observable details and does not have access to the internal thoughts of the characters or
background, referred only by what is expressed openly.We do not know the thoughts and
feeling of the character.s

3rd person Limited – when the narrator perspective is limited revealing the thoughts and
feelings of one character through explicit narration.
 SEVERAL TYPES 3RD PERSON POV

3rd person Omniscient- the narrator grants readers the most access to character’s
thoughts and feelings. Revealing more than one character’s thoughts and feelings.

OMNI – means all and SCIENT –means knowing

- the narrator is allowed to roam freely in the story’s setting and beyond.
Reveals everything (settings and characters)

-
 4. PLOT
Refers to the chain of related events that take place in a story.
a. Exposition- provides needed background information
b. Rising Action- refers to the part of the plot in which the conflict
intensifies
c. Climax- refers to the turning point of the action and when the
reader's interests as it highest point.
d. Falling action or denouement- refers to the action after the climax
in which the conflict of often resolved.
 5. CONFLICT
The reason a story develops in tension and suspense
as it builds to a climax, the struggle between two opposing
forces, is increased by each event. Conflict in the story
maybe man against man, man against nature and man
against self and society or a combination of two or more of
these types. It can be external conflict (physical) that is
easy to recognize, especially in an adventure story which
emphasizes a vivid physical struggle.
6. THEME

It is the central idea or message in a

work of literature. It is not the work’s
subject, but a perception about life or
human nature that the writer wants to
communicate.
 7. IRONY

This element in fiction writing may be classified into three: verbal,

situational and dramatic. Verbal irony - is the use of words to mean
something different than what they appear to.
Situational irony- the difference between what is expected to happen
than what actually happens
Dramatic irony- when the audience or reader is more aware of what is
happening than a character.
C. TECHNIQUES AND LITERARY
DEVICES
1.TONE AND MOOD
TONE- is the attitude a writer takes toward a subject. The language add details a
writer chooses help to create the tone, which maybe sorrowful, sentimental, angry,
ironic, sympatic, or impersonal, among others.

MOOD- it refers to the emotional response of the reader to a work which may be joy,
sadness, sympathy, fear, anger, or affection among others.
Mood and tone are developed in a short story through the author’s words, through
careful selection of words, the author is able to communicate his tone to the reader,
and invoke the intended mood from the readers.
C. TECHNIQUES AND LITERARY
DEVICES
2. SYMBOLISM
It is something that represents or suggests a relationship or association.
Example: a flag symbolizes patriotism; lamp represents knowledge or wisdom;
a cross stands for the Christian church

3. HINTS
These are statements that have deeper meaning. This is an indirect way
of saying an intended meaning. In Filipino this is termed as pahiwatig.
C. TECHNIQUES AND LITERARY
DEVICES
4. FLASHBACK
- Interrupts that chronological sequence, the front line action or
“present” line of the story, to show readers a scene that unfolded in
the past.

5. FORESHADOWING
- It is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what
is to come later in the story to create dramatic tension.