Short Story

• Shorter than a Novel

It is a story with a fully developed theme but significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel.

•Prose fiction

is a short work of fiction. Fiction, as you know, is prose writing about imagined events and characters.
Prose writing differs from poetry in that it does not depend on verses, meters or rhymes for its
organization and presentation.

•Single plot

focuses on the incidents bigger or smaller and evokes strong feelings from its readers. A short story
often has a few characters in the plot.The standard features include exposition, complication, crisis,
climax, and resolution of the crisis. However, it is not essential that all short stories follow the same
pattern.

• Can be read in one sitting

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,
with only a few approaching novella length. 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.”

>Key Elements of a Short Story

1. Character

is a person, animal, being, creature, or thing in a story.

Protagonist is the main character. It is not safe to call him the hero because the main character is not
always heroic. He/she is the person with which the story is most concerned

Antagonist does not have to be a human being. If he is a person, he may be the villain. This character
does not have the main character’s best interest at heart.

Dynamic – Dynamic characters change throughout the story. They may learn a lesson, become bad, or
change in complex ways.

Flat – A flat character has one or two main traits, usually only all positive or negative. They are the
opposite of a round character. The flaw or strength has its use in the story.
Round – These are the opposite of the flat character. These characters have many different traits, good
and bad, making them more interesting.

Stock – These are the stereotypical characters, such as the boy genius, ambitious career person, faithful
sidekick, mad scientist, etc.

2. Setting

The time and location in which a story takes place is called the setting. For some stories the setting is
very important, while for others it is not. There are several aspects of a story’s setting to consider when
examining how setting contributes to a story (some, or all, may be present in a story):

a. Place – geographical location. Where is the action of the story taking place?

b. Time – When is the story taking place? (historical period, time of day, year, etc)

c. Weather conditions – Is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc?

d. Social conditions – What is the daily life of the characters like? Does the story contain local colour
(writing that focuses on the speech, dress, mannerisms, customs, etc. of a particular place)?

e. Mood or atmosphere – What feeling is created at the beginning of the story? Is it bright and cheerful
or dark and frightening?

3. Plot

It is the narrative sequence on how the author arranged his or her ideas. This is a planned, logical series
of event that has its own beginning, middle, and end. There are five essential components of the plot:

Introduction: It is the beginning of the story, in which the character and setting are described by the
author.

>Conflict— Conflict is also essential to the plot. Without conflict there is no plot. It is the opposition
of forces which ties one incident to another and makes the plot move. Conflict is not merely limited to
open arguments, rather it is any form of opposition that faces the main character.

> 2 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,

Conflict can also occur in the following situations:

a. Man vs. Man (physical) – The leading character struggles with his physical strength against other men,
forces of nature, or animals.

b. Man vs. Circumstances (classical) – The leading character struggles against fate, or the
circumstances of life facing him/her.

c. Man vs. Society (social) – The leading character struggles against ideas, practices, or customs of
other people.

d. Man 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.

Rising action: It is where the events of the story have become a little complicated, and the conflict of the
story is revealed.

Climax: It is the highest point of the interest and the turning point of the story. A good climax can make
the readers wonder what will happen next, they will ask themselves whether the conflict will be
resolved or not. A good climax makes the readers wonder and read more.

Falling action: The events and conflicts of the story begin to resolve of themselves. The readers will have
a hint of what will happen next and whether the conflict will be resolved or not.

Denouement: It is the final outcome of the story. The events and conflicts are untangled and resolved.

4. Point of View

or p.o.v., is defined as the angle from which the story is tol

a. First Person – The story is told by the protagonist or one of the characters who interacts closely with
the protagonist or other characters (using pronouns I, me, we, etc). The reader sees the story through
this person’s eyes as he/she experiences it and only knows what he/she knows or feels.

Omniscient– The author can narrate the story using the omniscient point of view. He can move from
character to character, event to event, having free access to the thoughts, feelings and motivations of
his characters and he introduces information where and when he chooses. There are two main types of
omniscient point of view:

b. Omniscient Limited – The author tells the story in third person (using pronouns they, she, he, it, etc).
We know only what the character knows and what the author allows him/her to tell us. We can see the
thoughts and feelings of characters if the author chooses to reveal them to us.

c. Omniscient Objective – The author tells the story in the third person. It appears as though a camera
is following the characters, going anywhere, and recording only what is seen and heard. There is no
comment on the characters or their thoughts. No interpretations are offered. The reader is placed in
the position of spectator without the author there to explain. The reader has to interpret events on his
own.

5.Theme

The theme in a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight. It is the author’s underlying
meaning or main idea that he is trying to convey. The theme may be the author’s thoughts about a
topic or view of human nature. The title of the short story usually points to what the writer is saying and
he may use various figures of speech to emphasize his theme, such as: symbol, allusion, simile,
metaphor, hyperbole, or irony.

Examples of Short Story:

Alejandro Roces

We Filipinos Are Mild Drinkers

Carlos Bulosan:

My Father Goes To Court

Nick Joaquin:

The Summer Solstice

Manuel Arguilla:

How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife

Jose Garcia Villa:

Footnote To Youth

Aida L. Rivera:

Love in the Cornhusks

Bienvenido Santos

Scent of Apples