Short Stories Flashcards
What does the word plot mean?
Plot is the technical term for the format of a story.
What does the word story mean?
The word “story” implies a series of tied-together events.
What is the short story plot format?
Exposition (introduction) Initiating event (inciting incident) Rising action Climax Falling action Resolution
What happens in the exposition?
The setting and characters are introduced.
What happens in the initiating event?
Conflict it introduced.
What happens in the rising action?
The conflict is expanded, complications occur.
What happens in the climax?
Point of highest tension. The conflict arrived at a turning point which determines the story’s ending
What happens in the falling action?
The resolution of the conflict.
What happens in the resolution?
The finale where the author ties up all loose ends.
What are the types of characterization?
There are two types of characterization, direct characterization
indirect characterization.
Describe how direct characterization occurs in a story.
For direct characterization, the author explicitly states what a certain is like.
Describe how indirect characterization occurs in a story.
For indirect characterization, the author gives certain information and lets the reader draw their own conclusions.
What are the different types of characters?
There are two types of characters, static and dynamic.
Define what a static character is.
A static character is a character that remain the same throughout the course of a story.
Define what a dynamic character is.
A dynamic character is a character that changes as a result of the events of a story.
What is the setting?
The setting is where and when the story takes place.
What does the setting help create?
The setting helps create the mood or atmosphere.
Define atmosphere.
The emotional environment of the story.
What is a conflict?
The fight or struggle between opposing forces in the story.
What are the categories of conflict?
- Internal
- External
What are all the types of of conflict?
Character vs. Conscience
Character vs. Character
Character vs. Nature/society/fate/technology
What is a theme?
The life lesson about the story.
What is point of view?
Point of view if the way the story is told.
What are the different types of point of views?
- First person participant
- First person observer
- Third person omniscient
- Third person limited omniscient
- Third person objective observer
What is first person participant?
A character involved in the story and so that the view of the situation is limited to what this one character experiences and sees.
What is first person observer?
A person, outside the events or situation of the story, narrates, and has limited experience and viewpoint of the situation.
What is third person omniscient?
The narrator can move in and out of the thoughts and feeling of any character in the story.
What is third person limited omniscient?
The author tells the story but limits knowledge by concentrating on the thoughts and feelings of one character.
What is third person objective observer?
The author tells the story as an impartial observer or outsider; often this point of view makes for a surprising ending.
