Short Story Elements

Question 1

Short Story

Answer 1

A fictional tale of a length that is too short to publish in a single volume
like a novel. Short stories are usually between five and sixty pages; as a result, they can
be read in a single sitting. Usually, short stories concentrate on a single event with only
one or two characters

Question 2

Plot

Answer 2

The events of the story or the series of actions that make up the story are
referred to as the plot. Basically, the plot is what happens in the story.
Traditionally, it is divided into five parts

Question 3

Introduction

Answer 3

The reader meets the characters and discovers the setting.
Reader interest is aroused here. The conflict that drives the story’s action is
discovered at the end of the introduction, with the initiating incident

Question 4

Rising action

Answer 4

Builds up the story (the longest part)— a series of steps that
lead to the climax. You get more information about conflict and character
here.

Question 5

Climax

Answer 5

Here, the reader finds out what happens to the conflict, or how the
conflict might be resolved. The story may not yet be finished, but the reader
now has a good understanding of what way it is going to go.

Question 6

Falling Action

Answer 6

The plot begins to wrap up in this section of the story, which
is usually brief.

Question 7

Denouement/Conclusion/Resolution

Answer 7

This part follows quickly after the
climax and provides the last pieces of information for the reader.
“Denouement” is French for “unknotting”; you may therefore think of
denouement as the “unknotting” or “untangling” of the plot. Other words for
denouement are conclusion or resolution (think about it as the resolution of
the climax). However, not all conclusions provide resolution

Question 8

Expository Happy

Answer 8

All loose ends are tied up and explained and the
ending is happy.

Question 9

Expository Sad

Answer 9

All loose ends are tied up and explained and the ending
is sad

Question 10

Surprise or Twist

Answer 10

Something happens that the reader does not expect at
all.

Question 11

Unresolved/Indeterminate/Cliffhanger

Answer 11

The reader is left with questions
and has to, in part, supply the ending him or herself. Some loose ends are
left to dangle.

Question 12

Anti-Climax

Answer 12

A dull or disappointing ending to something after
increasing excitement. For example: After the weeks of preparation, the
concert itself was a bit of an anticlimax. In connection to a story or novel, it
means an ending that doesn’t measure up to the plot events that precede it (the
ending is anti-climactic).

Question 13

Plot Diagram

Answer 13

Also known as Freytag’s Pyramid, the story diagram or plot diagram,
was invented in 1864 by Gustav Freytag to visually represent the five plot parts and
their relationship with one another. Modern stories may or may not tidily fit Freytag’s
Pyramid