“A story is only as strong as the voices telling it… The
only voice a story never needs is the author’s .
Characters need to speak for themselves in their own
distinct voices… Particularly in a short story, every
word they speak needs to sounds like the speaker and
move the story along.”
- Richard Peck (1936-)
 The angle or perspective from which the story
is told
 Who is telling the story?
 For instance, is it a player on the home team or
someone watching the game?
 How do we know what is happening?
 For instance, does a character tell us?
 Told from the viewpoint of one of the
characters, using the first person pronoun “I”.
 Innocent Eye: The story is told through the eyes
of a child (his/her judgment being different
from that of an adult).
 Stream of Consciousness: The story is told so
that the reader feels as if they are inside the
head of one character and knows all their
thoughts and reactions.
“The thousands of injuries of Fortunato I
had borne as I best could, but when he
ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.
You, who so well know the nature of my
soul, will not suppose, however, that I
give utterance to a threat.”
“The Cask of Amontillado”
by Edgar Allan Poe
The story is told using a narrator who is located
outside of the action of the story and uses third
person pronouns such as “he”, “she”, “his”, “her”,
“they” etc.
Third Person Point of View can be broken up into
three different types:
 Omniscient
 Limited Omniscient
 Objective
The narrator has the power to show the
reader what is happening though a
number of characters’ eyes.
“Myop carried a short knobby stick. She struck
out at random at chickens she liked, and worked
out the beat of a song on the fence around the
pigpen. She felt light and good in the warm sun.
She was ten, and nothing existed for her but her
son, the stick she clutched in her dark brown
hand, and the tat-de-ta-ta-ta of
accompaniment.”
“The Flowers” by Alice Walker
Third person, told from the viewpoint of a character
in the story.
“They all laughed, and while they were laughing,
the quiet boy moved his bare foot on the sidewalk
and merely touched, brushed against a number of
red ants that were scurrying about on the
sidewalk. Secretly his eyes shining, while his
parents chatted with the old man, he saw the ants
hesitate, quiver, and lie still on the cement. He
sensed they were cold now.”
“Fever Dream” by Ray Bradbury
Third person, told as if from a camera that follows the
characters. Only what is said and done is recorded.
The reader is never allowed into any of the characters’
minds, nor given any of their feelings or emotions.
“The officers of artillery, in smart blue uniforms faced with black velvet
and gold, were solidly banked across one end of the audience hall, with
flashing new swords and their gilt-braided hats stiffly held under their
arms. From the door of that chamber, around the gallery, down the state
staircase, across the grandiose inner court of the palace, and out through
the imposing gates to the street, stood a double line of soldiers, with their
rifles at present arms. Four regimental bands grouped in one wedged in the
crowd. The people of the capital were massed in solid thousands on the
Plaza de Armas before the palace..”
from Insurgent Mexico, by John Reed
 Characters can be:
 Human
 Animals
 Inanimate objects
 A short story only has room for a few characters
1) Direct Characterization: The author develops the
personality of a character by direct statements.
“Jack had been in basic
training in Florida and Dottie
was there on vacation with her
parents. They’d met on the
beach and struck up a
conversation. Dottie was the
talker, the outgoing one – the
extrovert. Jack was too shy
around girls to say much at
all.”
“Furlough – 1944” by Harry Mazer
2) Indirect Characterization: Revealing a
character’s personality through:
a) The character’s thoughts, words, and actions
b) The comments of other characters
c)
The character’s physical appearance
“Moonbeam closed his eyes and
pretended to sleep the rest of the
way to Bamfield. He couldn’t
believe what he had gotten himself
into. How had this happened? He’d
never held a gun in his life, much
less gone hunting for animals.”
“Moonbeam Dawson and the Killer Bear”
by Jean Okimoto
It was Kenny Griffen, smiling complacently.
“Miss Bird sent me after you ‘cause you been
gone six years. You’re in trouble… yer
constipated!” Kenny chortled gleefully. “Wait’ll I
tell Caaathy!”
“Here There Be Tygers” by Stephen King
“The boy held his breath; he
wondered whether his
father would hear his heart
beating… Through a crack
in the counter he could see
his father where he stood,
one hand held to his high
stiff collar…”
“I Spy” by Graham Greene
“Miss Kinney was young and blonde and bouncy
and had a boyfriend who picked her up after
school in a blue Camaro.”
“Here There Be Tygers” by Stephen King
 The setting is the place and time where the
story takes place.
 In a short story, the setting is often set in one
central place and happens over a brief period of
time.
That evening T.J. smelled the
air, his nostrils dilating with the
odor of the earth under his feet. “It’s
spring,” he said, and there was
gladness rising in his voice that
filled us all with the same feeling.
“It’s mighty late for it, but it’s
spring” … We were all sniffing at the
air, too, trying to smell it the way
that T.J. did, and I can still
remember the sweet odor of the
earth under our feet. It was the first
time in my life that spring and
spring earth had meant anything to
me.
“Antaeus” by Borden Deal
“During the whole of a dull,
dark, and soundless day in
the autumn of the year,
when the clouds hung
oppressively low in the
heavens, I had been passing
alone, on horseback, though
a singularly dreary tract of
country.”
“The Fall of the House of Usher”
by Edgar Allan Poe
Conflict is the
dramatic struggle
between two forces in
a story. Without
conflict there is no
plot.
 Protagonist: The central character
 Antagonist: A villain or anyone who stands in the
protagonist’s way and must be defeated.
 A short story can’t afford to have any subplots or sub-conflicts
because it doesn’t have the space to develop them. It has one
conflict that it follows through to the end.
 There are two types of conflict:
1) External - A struggle with a force outside one's self.
2) Internal - A struggle within one's self; a person must make some
decision, overcome pain, quiet their temper, resist an urge, etc.
 There are four kinds of conflict:
1) Human vs. Human (physical) - The leading character struggles
with his physical strength against other men, forces of nature, or
animals.
2) Human vs. Circumstances (classical) - The leading character
struggles against fate, or the circumstances of life facing him/her.
3) Human vs. Society (social) - The leading character struggles
against ideas, practices, or customs of other people.
4) Human vs. Himself/Herself (psychological) - The leading
character struggles with himself/herself; with his/her own soul,
ideas of right or wrong, physical limitations, choices, etc.
Plot is how the author arranges events to develop his/her basic
idea. It is the sequence of events in a story or play. The plot is
a planned, logical series of events having a beginning, middle
and end.
Introduction: The start of the story, the situation before
the action starts
Rising Action: The series of conflicts and crisis in the
story that lead to the climax
Climax / Turning Point: The most intense moment –
either mentally or in action – the reader wonders
what will happen next; will the conflict be resolved or
not?
Falling Action: The events and complications begin to
resolve themselves. (The events between the climax
and the resolution)
Resolution: The untangling of events in the story
Conclusion: Leaves the reader with a feeling of
completion and satisfaction and in some cases brings
the reader back to the beginning (full circle)
 The atmosphere or feeling in a work of fiction is its
mood
 The writer creates the mood through setting,
characters, and descriptive details
 Ex. funny, frightening, romantic, or adventurous
 Short stories usually only have one mood
 The theme of a short story is simply its meaning. It is
the main idea explored in the story by the writer. It
answers the question: What did you learn about the
human condition or human nature?
 The writer can EXPLICITLY write about the theme
through the story idea, or the writer can IMPLICTLY
suggest the theme through the setting, plot, conflict,
change in the mind or actions of the main character.
Some techniques to
use in narratives….
 A lion can be
 A journey can
a symbol of courage
symbolize life
 A red rose
 Water may represent
cleanliness
and renewal
can
represent
love
This is a writers’ technique in which the author
interrupts the plot of the story to recreate an incident
of an earlier time (goes back in time; like giving the
reader a memory). This device is often used to
provide additional information to the reader.
This is a writers’ technique
in which the author provides
clues or hints as to what is
going to happen later in the
story. It’s like the music in a
scary movie when we know
that something bad is about
to happen.