Lesson 3: Elements of Short Story (Grade 8) PDF

Lesson 3: Elements of SHORT STORY ~Ma’am Florence Joy P. Fernandez Table of contents 01 Know the different parts of a SHORT STORY 02 Describe the different parts of the story To interpret the themes To identify the...

Lesson 3: Elements of SHORT STORY ~Ma’am Florence Joy P. Fernandez Table of contents 01 Know the different parts of a SHORT STORY 02 Describe the different parts of the story To interpret the themes To identify the major plot 03 and messages of the 04 points and how they are story. connected. Whoa! Before we start out presentation lets have a game. Once upon a time.  Elements of a 01 SHORT STORY  What is a short story? A short story is a work of prose fiction that can be read in one sitting—usually between 20 minutes to an hour. There is no maximum length, but the average short story is 1,000 to 7,500 words, with some outliers reaching 10,000 or 15,000 words. A short story has a plot, characters, a setting, and a theme. What are the elements of a short story? Theme Characters Setting Plot Conflict Point of View Theme You can think of theme as the “why” behind the story. What is the big idea? Why did the author write the story, and what message are they trying to convey? Some common themes in stories include: Good versus evil Coming of age Love Courage Redemption Themes can also be warnings, such as the dangers of seeking revenge or the effects of war. Sometimes themes are social criticisms on class, race, gender, or religion. Characters Every story needs characters. Your protagonist is your main character, and they are the primary character interacting with the plot and the conflict. You might have multiple protagonists or secondary protagonists. An antagonist works against your main character’s goals to create conflict. Setting The setting is the world in which your story will take place — this includes the broader locations and time, as well as more specific details like your characters’ school or workplace. Setting also includes time periods. This might be a year or an era. You can be less specific in your time period, like “modern-day” or “near future,” but it is still an important component of your setting. Plot The plot is the series of events that occur in a story. It’s the beginning, middle, and end. Plot is what happens, while conflict is the things standing in the way of different characters’ goals. The two are inextricably linked.  Plot Beginning/Exposition (introduction of setting and characters), Rising Action (events that build conflict for the protagonist), Climax (tension of conflict reaches highest, most intense point), Falling Action (the events following the climax), and Resolution/Denouement (the resolution of conflict).  Conflic t Conflict is the problem that drives a story’s plot There are seven major types of conflict in forward. The conflict is literature. They are: what is keeping your Man vs. man characters from achieving Man vs. nature their goals. There are Man vs. society internal conflicts, in which Man vs. technology the character must Man vs. supernatural overcome some internal Man vs. fate struggle. There are also Man vs. self external conflicts that the character must face. Man vs. Man involves Man vs. Society denotes a story in two characters struggling which an individual (or a small against each other. group of individuals) chooses to or is forced to fight against their Man vs. Nature an society or community. external struggle Man vs. Technology is a conflict positioning the character that explores the relationship against an animal or a between humans and technological force of nature, such as a innovations. It often involves storm or tornado or snow characters grappling with the consequences of technological advancements. Man vs. Supernatural occurs when your protagonist is fighting a foe with magical or mystical abilities. Man vs. Self is a type of conflict that takes place inside a character's mind. Usually involves the main character's inner struggle with self-doubts, a moral dilemma, or their own nature. Man vs. Fate is a type of conflict in literature where the main character fights against a prediction or fortune from a god, oracle, or supernatural entity. Point of View Every story needs a point of view (POV). This determines whether we’re seeing something from the narrator’s perspective or a character’s perspective. First person tells the story from a character’s perspective using first person pronouns (I, me, my, mine, we, our, ours). You can also use third person limited to show the story through the eyes of one character. This point of view uses third person pronouns (he, him, his, her, hers, their, theirs). If your story features alternating points-of-view, third  Point of  View In third person limited, the story follows only one character’s viewpoint throughout the entire piece. This means your reader sees only what the third person narrator sees and learns things at the same time the third person narrator does.  Other type of third person POV is third person omniscient. In this POV, the story is told from the perspective of an omniscient narrator, who can see inside the heads of all the characters in the story.