elements of a short story plot irony p.o.v. setting character conflict subject theme
TRANSCRIPT
Bare Bones of the Plot
Exposition The basic situation
You meet the characters and are introduced to the conflict. Example: The Three Little Pigs: At the beginning of the story
you learn about the three pigs and you realize that the Big, Bad, Wolf keeps blowing their houses down.
Plot (cont.)
Complication A complication occurs when a main character
tries to solve the conflict but another thing happens to complicate it.Example: The Three Little Pigs:
The two pigs build houses, but the Big Bad Wolf blows them down.
Plot (cont.)
Climax The high point of the story, when all emotions of
both the character and the reader are involved.Example: The Three Little Pigs
When all three pigs are inside the brick house and the Big Bad Wolf tries to blow them down.
Plot (cont.)
Resolution Generally Immediately follows the climax The conflict is resolved and readers find out
what the characters do next or how they have changed.Example: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White wakes up and she lives happily ever after with the prince.
Irony
Situational Irony: When the reader expects one thing to happen and
something else happens instead Verbal Irony:
Sarcasm Dramatic Irony:
When the reader knows something that the characters do not
Point of View
1st Person: Narrator uses “I” 2nd Person: “You”
Short stories or professional writing should NEVER be written in 2nd person!!
3rd Person:The narrator is not in the story, uses he or she
Limited The reader is limited to
one person’s perspective Example: Cinderella is
told only through her point of view
Omniscient There are multiple
people’s perspectives Example: At the
beginning of Goldilocks and the Three Bears the story is told through Goldilocks point of view; Later, the reader gets to view the story through the point of view of the three bears.
Setting(think both little and big picture)
When a story takes place A Year
1940, 1500’s, 1997 A Season
Fall, Spring, Summer Time of Day
Morning, Late Night An era or during a specific
event WWII, French Revolution
Where a story takes place A Country
Germany, USA, England A City
Los Angeles, Seattle A Place
In a park, at a baseball game, in the kitchen
5 Methods of Creating Character
Actions (what a character does) E. Scrooge does not let Bob have Christmas Eve off of work
Speech (what a character says) “Bah Humbug!” “I hate Christmas!”
Private Thoughts Detests Christmas, thinks it is useless to take holidays off of work
What other characters think of them Workers do not respect them, family member speak badly about him.
Appearance Tall, wears a cloak, gray hair
Conflict
External Conflict: Man vs. Man Man vs. Society Man vs. Nature
Internal Conflict: Man vs. Self