Short Story Unit9th grade

Mrs. Leach and Mrs. Hight

What is a short story?

• Your life, like mine, is surrounded by all kinds of stories. We collect them, and we tell them. Think how you are always hungry for stories that inspire or scare you.

• EVERYONE’s life is an assemblage of short stories!

Deepening of awareness

• A fine short story will always focus on a fragment of truth that matters to you. It can usually be a brief incident, to create unity –a harmony of details– that will expose you to a deeper experience in life.

The Climax

• In a good short story, this can flash inside you like a bolt of lightening or gently glow like a candle.

You may discover . . .

• that short stories can powerfully disturb and awaken you!!!!!!!!!!!!

From “Credo of a Storyteller”by W. Somerset Maugham

• “It is not hard to state what Poe meant by a good short story: it is a piece of fiction, dealing with a single incident, material or spiritual, that can be read at a sitting; it is original, it must sparkle, excite or impress; and it must have a unity of effect or impression.”

Elements of a Short Story

• Short story: a brief work of fiction meant to be read in one sitting. Due to the length of a short story (usually between 500 and 10,000 words), it must be crafted in a concise, compact manner that accomplishes its purpose in a relatively few words.

Plot

• the series of related events in a story.

climax

• Events in the story unfold, build to a climax (or high point), and then are brought to a conclusion during the RESOLUTION.

External conflict

• A struggle between two characters, between an individual and a group, or between a character and a force of nature.

Internal conflict

• A struggle within the mind of one character.

characters

• The personalities who participate in the action. Usually, story characters are human beings, but they can also be animals or even objects.

characterization

• The methods that writers use as a way to tell readers about characters.

• 1. providing character descriptions (looks)• 2. describing character words or actions• 3. showing interacting with others• 4. sharing thoughts and feelings.

setting

• Is the time and place of the action.• 1. It can be past, present, or future.• 2. It may include a specific year, date, or hour

of the day.• 3. It can refer to the social, economic, or

cultural environment, as well as a geographical location.

Theme

• The theme of a short story is its CENTRAL MESSAGE or INSIGHT into life. This message may be stated or implied.

Stated theme v. implied theme

• A STATED THEME is expressed directly by the author.

• An IMPLIED THEME is suggested indirectly through the experiences of the characters or through events and the setting of the work.

Put yourself in the picture• Use these sentence starters to relate this picture to the story

elements. This external conflict could be about

___________________.• I sympathize with the character who is _____________

because ________________.• I would expect the resolution of the conflict pictured to be

____________________________.