This document provides an overview of key elements for writing novels and short stories, including plot structure, characters, setting, point of view, dialogue, and conflict. It encourages outlining novels using a worksheet with sections for title, characters, setting, events, and resolution. For short stories, it emphasizes a limited timeframe, fewer main characters, and one main event, and provides worksheets to develop characters and structure a story around questions of who, what, when, where, why, and how.

1. A Novel Idea
Presented By:
Reyes/Tugadi/Bela-ong/Costemiano/Centeno

2. Fiction
 Writing that tells about made-up events and
characters. Novels and short stories are
examples of fiction.

3. Its time to get a story!

4. Plot
 Plot is the arrangement of events in a work of
fiction.

5. Plot can be divided as follows:
 Exposition: introduces the characters, setting
and conflict.
 Rising action: builds the conflict and develops
the characters.
 Climax: highest point of the action.
 Denouement: resolves the story and ties up all
the loose ends.

6. Jot down ideas in each of these boxes to
arrange the events in your novel.
 Characters Setting Conflicts Resolution

7. Foreshadowing
 Is a novelistic technique used to prepare the
reader for future events.

8. Point of View
 Position from which the story is told.
 First person POV: the narrator is one of the
characters in the novel and explains the
events through his or her own eyes.
 Third person omniscient POV: the narrator
is not a character in the novel.
 Third person limited POV: narrator tells
the story through the eyes of only one
character.

9. Characters
 First of all, keep the usual suspects to a
minimum. We don’t have to meet the whole
family. Use only as many characters as you
need to tell the story.
 Find a names that convey a sense of each
character’s personality.

10. Dialogue
 Dialogue not only draws you immediately into
the story, but its one of the best ways to reveal
characters. Dialogues helps you show your
characters’
 Educational level
 Geographic background
 Ethnic background
 Emotional state
 Motives

11. Suggestions to get started on your novel!
 Make yourself a “writing appointment”.
 Schedule breaks.
 Delegate, delegate, delegate.
 Set priorities.
 Reward yourself.
 Avoid isolation.

12. Activity 1
 Let’s take it one step further.
 Complete the following worksheet to arrange
the framework of your novel.

13.  Working title:_______________________________________
 Main Characters:____________________________________
 Minor Characters: ___________________________________
 Setting: ___________________________________________
 Conflicts:__________________________________________
 Events
______________________________________________
 Resolution:_________________________________________

14. Short Stories
Presented By:
Reyes/Tugadi/Bela-ong/Costemiano/Centeno

15. Short Story
 Is a prose narrative that has fewer than 30,000
words. On average, a short story tends to run
between 2,000 to 7,000 words.
 Flash – a micro-mini story, that runs about 750
words.

16. A Short Story has:
 A limited time frame
 One to two main characters
 One main event

17. Conflict
 A conflict in a fiction is a struggle or fight. It
makes a short story interesting because readers
want to discover the outcome.
 External conflicts: characters struggle against a
force outside themselves.
 Internal conflicts: characters battle a force within
themselves.

18. Developing Realistic Characters
 Protagonist: main character in a work of
fiction.
 Antagonist: force or person in conflict with the
main character.

19. Start by writing the character’s name in the middle
of the web. Then add details and examples.
EXAMPLE
TRAIT
EXAMPLE TRAIT CHARACTER
TRAIT
EXAMPLE
TRAIT
EXAMPLE

20. Setting
 The setting of a story is the time and place
where the events take place.
 The setting will be a major player if the main
character is:
 Challenging the elements
 Attempting to conquer the environment
 Escaping from a specific place
 Staying alive in a dangerous place.

21. Structure
 Traditional short stories follow a very specific
structure. They open by introducing the
setting, character and conflict. As the story
unfolds, the action builds to the point of
highest interest, the climax. Next, the events
down through the falling action. And last the
writer ties up all the loose ends in the
denouement.

22. Titles
 5 main types of short story titles:
1. Labels
2. Statements
3. Questions
4. Commands
5. “Combo Platters”

23. It all comes out in the End
 Your readers will hate you if your story’s
resolution isn’t logical. Don’t depend on
coincidence to resolve the conflict.

24. Asked and Answered
 Answer each of these questions to structure your short story.
 Who? Characters
 What? Conflict
 When? Time
 Where? Place
 Why? Characters’ motivation
 How? Resolve the conflict

25. Story Triangle
 Follow these directions.
1. Name of main character
2. Two words describing the main character
3. Three words describing the setting
4. Four words describing the main problem.
5. Five words describing first problem.
6. Six words describing second problem.
7. Seven words describing third problem.
8. Eight words describing the solution.