The document outlines 6 basic elements of short stories: characters, setting, plot, conflict, point of view, and theme. It provides descriptions of each element and some sub-elements. For characters it describes methods of characterization, types of characters, and roles of major vs minor characters. For setting it defines key components like place, time, weather, and mood. It then explains the stages of a plot including exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. It also defines the types of conflict and points of view used in stories. Finally, it provides a brief definition of theme.

1. Elements of Fiction
Short Stories

2. 6 Basic Elements
• Characters
• Setting
• Plot
• Conflict
• Point of View
• Theme

3. Characterization
 A writer reveals what a character is like and how the
character changes throughout the story.
Two primary methods of characterization:
Direct- writer tells what the character is like.
Indirect- writer shows what a character is
like by describing what the character looks
like, by telling what the character says and
does, and by what other characters say about
and do in response to the character.

4. CHARACTERS
• Actors in the story’s plot
• May be human, animal, object, etc.
• Major/Minor
▫ Major- character who plays a large role in the
story
▫ Minor- character who provides support to the
main character of the story

5. • Protagonist/Antagonist
▫ Protagonist- main character
▫ Antagonist- person in conflict with the main
character
*Not all stories have an antagonist

6. Character Types
• Round or Flat
• Round – more description, fully developed
• Flat – two-dimensional; uncomplicated
• Dynamic or Static
• Dynamic – undergoes change through complication
• Static – stays basically the same throughout
• *Stereotypes=Stock Characters*

7. SETTING - Time and location where the
story take place
• Place - geographical location
• Time - historical period, time of day, year, etc.
• Weather conditions
• Social conditions - customs, status
• Mood or atmosphere - the feeling created in the
reader

8. Elements of Setting

9. Plot – what happens and how it happens in the story
Stages of Plot:
• Exposition – introduce characters, setting, conflict
• Rising Action – events that intensify conflict
• Climax – emotional highpoint
• Falling Action – subsequent events caused by climax
• Resolution (or Denouement)– ending, outcome

10. Special Techniques of Plot
Suspense - excitement or tension
Foreshadowing - hint or clue about what will
happen in story
Flashback - interrupts the normal sequence of
events to tell about something that happened in
the past
Surprise Ending - conclusion that reader does
not expect

11. CONFLICT - Internal or External
Conflict is a struggle between opposing forces
Every plot must contain some kind of conflict
Stories can have more than one conflict
Conflicts can be external or internal
External conflict- outside force may be person,
group, animal, nature, or a nonhuman obstacle
Internal conflict- takes place in a character’s
mind

12. POINT OF VIEW - Who is telling the story?
• First Person – narrator is a character IN the
story (“I” is used)
• Third Person - narrator is NOT a character in
the story (“he or she”)
• Third Person Limited – narrator reveals
thoughts of only one character
• Third Person Omniscient – narrator reveals
thoughts of all characters

13. Theme
A central message, concern, or insight into life
expressed through a literary work
Can be expressed by one or two sentence
statement about human beings or about life
May be stated directly in the story (“and the
moral of this story is . . .”) OR implied (reader
needs to infer the theme).

14. Do you remember these literary
elements?
Metaphor, personification, simile,
alliteration, oxymoron
• self-contradictory phrase, i.e., “same difference”
• giving human qualities to something nonhuman
• repetition of the same consonant sound at the
beginning of words in the same sentence
• comparison of two unlike things using “like” or
“as”
• same as above NOT using “like” or “as”