Here Is The Ultimate Guide For The 10 Important Elements Of A Short Story
10 ELEMENTS OF A SHORT STORY – Creating a short story isn’t just about the length of your work being “short”, there are important elements we need to consider as well.
For the most part, a short story, much like all stories require 5 elements. Furthermore, these elements are universally considered as the foundation or guidelines to all great stories.
These elements include the following:
- Exposition (or Introduction)
- Rising Action
- Climax
- Falling Action
- Resolution
So far, the things listed above are self-explanatory. The exposition includes the introduction of the story and what it’s about. Afterward, the rising action is where the story ramps up and the main character has to face the challenges that await.
Next, the climax is the highest point of the story. Here, the protagonist defeats the challenge. Finally, the falling action resolves the issues presented which leads to the resolution that ties everything together.
However, there are still several important elements we need to consider when we’re writing short stories.
Here are the top 10 guidelines for creating short stories:
- CHARACTER
- SETTING
- PLOT
- CONFLICT
- RESOLUTION
- THEMES
- MOREALS OR MESSAGES
- SYMBOLISM AND SYNCHRONICITIES
- POINT OF VIEW
- PERSPECTIVE
CHARACTERS – Among the most important elements of a short story are the characters. They are what drive the story and the events that occur. Without them, you have no story as nobody will be there to tell it.
These include your main character, the protagonist, or the hero of the story. Next, you need to have an antagonist, the person who would give your protagonist a challenge.
Afterward, supporting characters are also important as they give the necessary context or exposition for the main characters.
SETTING – The setting of a tale refers to where and when your characters go, as well as the era in which the story takes place, the season of the year, the hours of the day, and so on.
PLOT – This element of a short story contains the initial 5 foundations or elements of a story we talked about in the initial part of the article.
CONFLICT – You could just as well write about your favorite character eating nachos and watching paint dry if you don’t have any tension. Even idle people-watching can cause a squabble.
In fact, no matter how similar two individuals are, you can almost always find (or manufacture) a source of conflict worth writing about if you put them in the same room.
RESOLUTION – Story plots with a weak conclusion or those that leave the reader hanging are deserving of scorn. When creating this important element, ask yourself the following:
- Is it true that the main character got what they wanted?
- What exactly has the opponent accomplished?
- What will happen to all of the characters who are important to me?
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