Elements of a Short Story
Plot (Sequence of Events in Storyline)
- What is the introduction or beginning of the story?
- What are the events in the story that become complicated and reveal conflict? (This is
rising action.)
- What is the highest point of interest and the turning point of the story? (This is the climax.)
- What events occur to resolve the conflict? What is the final outcome or untangling of
events?
Setting
- Place: Where does the story take place? Country, city, neighbourhood, building, home,
workplace, etc. Be as specific as possible.
- Does the story take place in multiple places?
- Time: When does the story happen? What historical period? What time of year? Over
how much time?
- Atmosphere: How does the setting affect the overall mood or atmosphere of the story?
Character
- Who are the characters?
- What is each character’s age, gender, ethnic background, family life, religion etc.?
- What do you think are the characters’ main values and beliefs?
- Are the characters flat (not fully developed, reader doesn’t know very much about them)
or round (fully developed, reader knows both the good and bad traits and knows a lot
about them)?
- If you had to describe the characters to your friends, what personality traits would you
assign each character?
- What does each character ultimately want?
Conflict
- What type of conflict is depicted in the story?
- Is there more than one conflict in the story?
- Is the conflict internal or external?
- Is the conflict person vs. person, person vs. self, person vs. society, person vs.
fate/supernatural?
- Is the conflict resolved? If so, how?
Title & Theme
- What is the title of the short story and how is it related to a main idea?
- What universal truth or lesson is the author trying to get across to the reader?
- What observations about the world, the human condition, relationships, society, and
individual growth does this story make?
- How would you express those observations as a one-sentence theme statement?
Symbols
- What objects, characters, or places are symbolic (they have additional meaning)?
- What concepts (abstract ideas/feelings/beliefs) are represented by objects
(concrete/tangible things)?
- What ideas, beliefs, or feelings do the symbols in the story represent?
- What symbols are used in repetition in the story? Why?