ELEMENTS OF A

SHORT STORY
Prepared by: John Briane G. Capili
 “
“A short story is a love
affair, a novel is a
marriage. A short story is
a photograph; a novel is a
film.”
― Lorrie Moore
SHORT STORY

Brief fictional prose narrative that is

shorter than a novel and that
usually deals with only a few
characters.
 1. SETTING

The setting refers to place,

time, weather condition,
social condition, and even
mood or atmosphere.
1. SETTING
To recognize the setting of the story, you
may ask these questions:
Where is the action taking
place?
Where is the story taking place?
Is it during the day, night, what
year, what period?

What is the weather condition?

Is it sunny, rainy, and stormy?
1. SETTING
EXAMPLE:
My sister and I had a fun–filled
vacation last summer. We stayed at our
grandparents’ house, which was near the
beach. We swam in the sea every morning,
climbed the trees in the afternoon and fed
the animals before dark. When the moon
was bright, we played patintero.
 2. PLOT
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. The
short story usually has one plot,
and it could be read in one sitting
2. PLOT
There are five essential parts of a plot:
1. Exposition/Introduction
In the introduction, the setting and the
characters are revealed.
2. Rising Action
This is where the events in the story
become complicated and the conflict in the story
is revealed .This is where events between
introduction and climax take place.
2. PLOT
There are five essential parts of a plot:
3. Climax
It is the turning point of the story and the
highest point of interest. It is where the reader
asks what will happen next. Will the conflict be
resolved or not?
4. Falling Action
The problems and complications begin to be
resolved.
5. Denouement
This is the final outcome or untangling of
events in the story.
 Here are three different parts of a story. On the
blank after each paragraph, write whether the given
part is the beginning, middle and end of the story.

1. Suddenly, the boat tilted to the left. “Steady!” cried

our teacher, “stay where you are!” We kept calm .We
prayed hard and followed all of our teacher’s
instructions.
2. Finally, the fox grumbled. “I don’t want those
grapes anyway. I know they must be sour.” Then, he
went away.
3. Once there was a child who liked summer best. He
lived on a farm and every summer, he enjoyed
harvesting corn, vegetables and fruits.
 3. CONFLICT
It is the opposition of forces which
ties one incident to another and
makes the plot move.
3. CONFLICT
There are two types of conflict:
1. External
– refers to outside forces that may cause
conflict, like another human being,
circumstances, environment,
2. Internal
– refers a struggle within oneself. The
character maybe debating inside himself about
what to do.
4. CHARACTER
There are two meanings for the
word character:
1. The person in a work of fiction
and
2. The characteristics of a person.
4. CHARACTER
A character may be
• The protagonist, the good-natured
character, or
• the antagonist, the opponent of the
main character.

The author may reveal a character in

several ways: his physical appearance, what
he/she says, thinks, feels and dreams; what
he/she does or does not do ;and what others say
about him/her .
5. POINT OF VIEW
the angle from which the story is
told
5. POINT OF VIEW
THREE MAJOR TYPES OF POINT OF VIEW
1. First person point of view involves the use
of either of the two pronouns “I” or “we.”
“I felt like I was getting drowned with shame
and disgrace.”

2. Second person point of view employs the

pronoun “you.”
“Sometimes you cannot clearly discern
between anger and frustration.”
5. POINT OF VIEW
THREE MAJOR TYPES OF POINT OF VIEW

3. Third person point of view uses pronouns

like “he,” “she,” “it,” “they,” or a name.
“ Stewart is a principled man. He acts by the
book and never lets you deceive him easily.”
 6. THEME
it is the controlling idea or value in
a piece of fiction. The theme
maybe the author ‘s idea about a
topic or view of human nature.
In a ¼ sheet of paper, choose the appropriate answer to the
following descriptions from the pool of words below.
___________1. The setting and characters are revealed.
___________2. The highest point of interest in the story
___________3. The main character faces a conflict or problem.
___________4. The ending where the final outcome of the story is
shown
___________5. The problems and complications are resolved.

Climax Introduction
Denouement
Falling Action Rising Action