The Basics of
SHORT STORY
(Just the right amount that you need to know)
What is a SHORT STORY?
• A short story is a work of prose fiction that can be read in one sitting—usually
between 20 minutes to an hour.
• There is no maximum length, but the average short story is 1,000 to 7,500
words, with some outliers reaching 10,000 or 15,000 words. At around 10 to
25 pages, that makes short stories much shorter than novels.
Take note:
• A piece of fiction shorter than 1,000 words is considered a “short short story”
or “flash fiction,” and anything less than 300 words is rightfully called
“microfiction.”
(This will be thoroughly discussed when we move to Types of Short Stories)
What is the HISTORY of SHORT STORY?
Short-form storytelling can be traced back to ancient legends,
mythology, folklore, and fables found in communities all over the
world. Some of these stories existed in written form, but many were
passed down through oral traditions.
By the 14th century,
the most well-known stories included One Thousand and One Nights
(Middle Eastern folk tales by multiple authors, later known as
Arabian Nights) and Canterbury Tales (by Geoffrey Chaucer).
What is the HISTORY of SHORT STORY?
It wasn’t until the early 19th century
that short story collections by individual authors
appeared more regularly in print. First, it was the
publication of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales,
then Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic fiction, and
eventually, stories by Anton Chekhov, who is
often credited as a founder of the modern short
story.
What is the HISTORY of SHORT STORY?
The popularity of short stories grew along with the surge of print
magazines and journals. Newspaper and magazine editors began
publishing stories as entertainment, creating a demand for short,
plot-driven narratives with mass appeal.
By the early 1900s,
The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, and Harper’s Magazine were
paying good money for short stories that showed more literary
techniques. That golden era of publishing gave rise to the short story
as we know it today.
What are the 5 KEY ELEMENTS of SHORT STORY?
1.Character – people, animals, or creatures in the story.
2.Setting – tells when and where the story happened.
3.Plot – includes the series of events that make up a story.
4.Theme – the central idea of the story.
5.Conflict – a struggle between people, things, or ideas.
Let’s dig deeper!
SETTING
(the time and place that a story occurs)
SETTING
The setting of a story is a powerful driver for hooking readers.
Take note:
•As we all know, setting enriches the characters.
But as a matter of fact, it helps to form the
characters and even the characters' motivations.
It does the same for the plot.
SETTING
The following are the important questions that you should be asking
yourself if you are crafting the setting of a story:
• Does your setting help tell your story? Does it deepen your plot and
enrich your characters? Does your setting engage the reader by setting
the mood and increasing the emotional connection to your characters?
What is the setting of a story, anyway?
Take note:
Getting your setting “properly written” can be a hit or miss. Too many
details, and they get skimmed and skipped. But not enough details, and
the characters will have no place to just “be.”
Why is SETTING important?
• It connects the story's elements. An effective story setting connects
the characters to the plot, and ties together the book's themes and
events.
• It builds meaning to the narrative. Without the setting, there may not
be as much meaning to be gleaned since setting provides context.
• It elicits emotional responses in the reader. When readers are
engaged in your story's setting, they will be actively reading and invested
in experiencing the narrative and how it unfolds.
Why is SETTING important?
• It helps readers visualize your story. Authors use setting to describe
the environment, time, and place for the reader, which provides more
context and engages the reader.
• It improves the story's flow. With an effective, well-crafted setting in
your narrative, the plot will flow together well, and the events will feel
real.
7 tips for how to write the
SETTING
(Creating an engaging setting for your reader can be difficult. Think of the setting like a very
large puzzle – it takes a lot of detailed pieces to make the big picture appear seamless.)
7 Tips on writing the SETTING:
1. DECIDE WHAT MOOD YOU’RE TRYING TO ESTABLISH
Mood is defined as the overall feeling the reader has when reading a story, and it is
created by the author.
What mood are you trying to establish? How do you want readers to feel as they
read your story? Think on that, then create that mood with your writing.
Think of it in terms of this:
A bright summer morning in the middle of a large, grassy park where happy
families are out and about
VS
A dark forest with crooked, gnarled trees and low-hanging fog.
7 Tips on writing the SETTING:
2. DECIDE WHICH PERIOD OR MOMENT BEST FITS THE CONTEXT OF
YOUR STORY
The time period plays a huge part in developing the setting of a story.
What kind of plot do you have? Does it best fit into medieval Europe, America’s
1960s, or in current time? Or maybe it fits better in the future?
Look at the language you’re planning to use—the idioms, quotes, and expressions.
Look at the props and the way the characters view them.
Consider how the different people in the book are treated. Are the elderly
respected? Are the police viewed as an authority? Are the parents held in regard?
In what regard do people hold the churches and the government?
7 Tips on writing the SETTING:
3. KNOW THE ATMOSPHERE YOU NEED TO PORTRAY
As you write the setting of a story, you need to think about the atmosphere that
you need to portray for the reader.
Is the scene one with high tension? Write your setting in a way that implies an
atmosphere of high tension.
7 Tips on writing the SETTING:
For example: James and Lisa are working up toward an argument.
The air was tense in the ramshackled trailer, where James and Lisa faced each other. Lisa noticed
the gaping hole behind James' head, and she flashbacked to the last argument they had, when he
violently punched his fist through the wall. Outside, a storm was brewing, and the wind's angry howl
came through the cracked window.
VS
The air was tense in the ramshackled trailer, where James and Lisa faced each other. Lisa marveled
at the fluffy marshmallow clouds suspended above James' head, and she drifted into a daydream of
their last heated debate, where he gently caressed the air. Outside, a soothing rainbow mist wafted
in, as if the treehouse were perched on a cloud, and the sun's rays beamed in with the gentle warmth
of a cozy blanket.
7 Tips on writing the SETTING:
4. USE ALL FIVE SENSES WHEN YOU’RE DESCRIBING THE SETTING
When you’re walking through a room or down the street, do you see it as two-dimensional? No. You
experience every part of that walk. You use every one of your five senses. You want your readers to
experience your story through each of their senses, too. An easy way to do this is by using literary
elements in your writing.
Begin by describing what you want them to see. When you do, describe it the same way the eye travels in real life. Start with the focal point, then move
across in a straight line.
Next, your main character would naturally notice what they hear. Don’t describe everything they hear, just the most relevant and obvious ones.
What do they smell? Is the air dusty? Is someone cooking breakfast?
Have them touch things. They can run their hand over the smooth desk, feel the rough board, and handle the cold metal rod.
Lastly, explore their sense of taste. Your main character won’t use this sense as much, but you do want to be sure to use it.
Remember, you don’t only taste when you put something in your mouth. Something can “smell so good that you can almost taste it.”
Sprinkle these details in – don’t feel that you have to describe each and every little thing;
otherwise, you’ll overwhelm your reader. Practice writing some scenes, and it will start to come naturally to you!
7 Tips on writing the SETTING:
5. DON’T DESCRIBE THE SETTING OF A STORY ALL AT ONCE
You don’t want to give your readers an encyclopedia of facts. They won’t read them.
They’ll skip them, or might even close your book altogether.
When you start your book with a wall of details, your readers are more likely to put down
your book to never pick it up again. Your readers will skim or skip later clumps of setting as
they try to get back to the action.
Since the setting of a story is so essential to the plot and characters, it’s very
important that you stretch it out enough that it will be read and enjoyed.
Write the setting in as part of the action, adding in a piece here and there.
A tip: Learn how to write dialogue in a way that engages your reader and helps build the
setting. You can experiment with first-person, second-person POV, and third-person POV
to find the best way to pull people into the setting.
7 Tips on writing the SETTING:
6. DON'T OVER-DESCRIBE THE SETTING OF A STORY
Here’s why you shouldn’t over-describe the setting of a story:
You stifle your reader’s imagination. You must leave some details up to the
imagination. You want your readers to be involved in the story. Otherwise, you’ll
lose them.
You knock your readers out of the story. The quickest way to get a reader to
desert your story is to front-load them with too many descriptions.
You don’t need to include every detail. Appeal to your readers’ knowledge of the
world. Tell your readers the machine sounds like a buzzing bee. You don’t need to
describe the sound.
7 Tips on writing the SETTING:
7. REMEMBER THAT THE SETTING OF A STORY HAS A DIRECT EFFECT ON THE
CHARACTER AND PLOT
Our environment affects our mood – this is true for almost every human! So, it shouldn’t be any
different for the characters in your story, since they should be life-like.
Let’s look at some examples:
If Lisa lives in mid-Michigan, where it’s dark and dank all winter long, she may become depressed
as many people do.
If she lives in a trailer in the middle of nowhere with the frigid air seeping in through the cracks in
the door and a furnace that won’t stay lit, her character will beg for our sympathies.
If she has a toddler playing on the cold floors and a deadbeat ex-boyfriend who won’t provide for
his child, we have the beginning of a plot.
Do you see how the plot and characters are directly affected by the story’s setting?
You might be thinking, “That’s all good and well, but what if I want to
create a setting in a science-fiction or fantasy realm?”
NEXT DISCUSSION:
How to write a fictional SETTING?
• Create your world first
You have an exciting task ahead of you: You get to create a world! And no one
can tell you that you’re doing it wrong. However, world-building can be hard.
Not only is it time-consuming, but it’s difficult to form an immediate
connection between your setting and your readers.
• Create your setting second
Once a fictitious world is built, the setting of a story can be created.
You need to create every aspect of your story’s setting before you move onto
writing your book.
Think outside the box when it comes to creating the setting of a story for a
fictional world.
How to write a fictional SETTING?
• You need enough details to make the world believable
You need more details in a fictitious setting than you do in a real setting—the reason
being that your readers have no frame of reference from which to draw.
You indeed want us to use our imagination, but it’s your job to guide it.
Give us details. Use specific words. Tell us what we need to know, but don’t pile it on.
And remember, don’t give it to us all at once!
• Draw a map
What’s the terrain in the whole country like? Draw it in.
Figure out the important places in your story. Include everything of importance. Map
out the distance between places.
Not only will drawing a map of your world help you create the story’s setting, but it will
also help both you and the reader envision little nuances to make it more realistic.
Because of the limited length of short stories, it is rather unusual to have
many settings in them. A setting is the time and place where the events
in the story take place. As a short story covers a shorter time span, its
setting can be directly stated or implied.
NEXT DISCUSSION: