Elements of a Short Story

Character Presentation
Direct:
- The author tells you straight out exactly what
the character is like
- He/she gives us the physical appearance and
perhaps a little of the personality
- For example: “For he was a quiet man, not given to
talking about himself.”
Indirect:
- The character is presented speaking, thinking
and acting (in other words dramatized)
- You have to infer (guess) what the character is
like from:
- His/her name
Indirect continued…
- His/her appearance
- What he/she says
- What he/she thinks
- What other people think of him/her
- In other dialogue do they speak highly of the
character
- How do other characters treat him/her
- With respect?
- With disdain (they sneer and mock him/her)
- How do animals treat him/her
- How does a character act
- How does the character treat others?
- Respectfully and politely
- Rudely and never says “please” and “thank you”
- Doesn’t take others into consideration?
 Types of Character
Flat Character:
- This character can be summed up into one or two
sentences
- Not a developed character (2D)
- Character does not change
- May be many of these characters in a story

Round Character:
- Complex and many-sided
- This character has depth and dimension (3D), just
like a real human
- There will only be one or two of these in a story
Characters continued…
Stock Character:
- this is a stereotyped character who we see
often in fiction
- This character is immediately recognizable;
villain, “bad” step-mother, “nerdy” teacher

Static Character:
- this character stays the same throughout the
story
- Even if something horrible or great happens,
this person does not change
Characters continued…
Dynamic Character:
- This character undergoes a major change
- In personality
- In outlook of the world
- To be convincing this character he/she must be:
- Believable
- Motivation must come from the story
- Change must be given time to happen (not over night)

Character Foil:
- this character’s sole purpose is to highlight another character
in the story
- Smart character and dumb best friend (foil)
 How to Analyse a Character
There are questions that you can ask to help
figure out the personality of the character.

Why does the character behave the way he/she

does?
What motivates the character to act the way
he/she does?
Is he/she believable, life-like, emotionally
convincing?
What kind of change does he/she go through?
Does the character go through a change at all?
 Elements of a Character
Mental
• Quick-witted, brilliant, average, stupid, dull
• Academically smart or “street” smart
Emotional
• Always a steady mood or unpredictable?
• Affectionate, confident, gloomy, happy?
• Does the character have a sense of humour?
• How does he/she respond to events that happen?
• Does the character fly off the handle at every little thing?
• Is the character indifferent (doesn’t care) to what happens?
• Is everything treated like a joke?
 Elements continued…
Spiritual Beliefs
• What are his/her ideals or code of ethics?
• What attitude towards life does the character have?
• Does he/she treat all life with respect?
• Does the character care about people or the world at all?
• Does the character have a spiritual belief?

Physical Traits
• Hair colour, eye colour, weight, skin colour, posture,
height?
• Is the character clumsy, slow, alert or fast moving?
• What is the character’s general appearance; sloppy,
neatly dressed, well-groomed, messy hair etc.
 What factors make up the character?
Family:
• Brothers, sisters, only child, childhood
experiences, home atmosphere

Community:
• Social standing (high or lower class), financial
standing
• What kind of work does the character do?
• What kind of friends does/he/she have?
Education:
• Schooling, hobbies, traveling, volunteer work
 Conflict
Conflict is the basis of the plot
 Can be clash of ideas, desires or wills
 Can be a physical clash or emotional

Conflict involves
 a protagonist (main character)
 the antagonist; this may be a person, society, an
animal, fate, God, the character’s conscience
 Antagonist is anything that stands in the way of the
protagonist
3 main types of conflicts:
 Person vs. person
 Person vs. self
 Person vs. environment (society or nature)
 Endings
Happy:
• The protgaonist resolves his/her conflict in a satisfactory
manner

Unhappy:
• The protagonist fails to resolve the conflict, reader is left
feeling unhappy

Indeterminate:
• The conflict is not resolved in favour of either the protagonist
or antagonist
• Reader is left to wonder what happened

Surprise:
• A sudden twist happens that is unexpected
Endings continued…
Endings can only be plausible (believable) if:

• Foreshadowing has done a great job of anticipation

• Are the characters plausible and the preceding events are
believable?
• Do events happen in a logical manner?
• Ending should seem logical and natural as you take a look
back over the story
• Ending should serve to reinforce the central meaning of the
story (theme)

What happens to a story if the characters and ending

are not believable?