Below are a variety of worksheets and handouts on Narrative elements that you can download or use from this page. All PDF's can be edited with Kami and saved to your device.
What is a short story?
A short story is a narrative, but unlike a novel, the events take place in a shorter time frame, with less characters, and generally in one place and time rather than spread over several settings or time periods. Some of the common narrative elements are listed below, with questions to ask yourself as you examine your stories.
Narrative Elements
Plot
Characters
Setting
Point of View:
Style, Tone, and Language:
Narrative Elements
Plot
- How do the events in the narrative relate to one another?
- How do they relate to the narrative as a whole?
- What conflicts occur in the narrative?
- How are these conflicts developed or resolved?
- Does the narrative include any noteworthy plot devices, such as flashbacks or foreshadowing?
- Suspense occurs when the writer arouses our curiosity but fails to satisfy it immediately. How do the stages of the plot work to keep you ‘on the edge of your seat’ or interested in the story?
Characters
- What are their most striking traits?
- How do these individuals interact with one another? What motivates them?
- Are the characters fully developed, or are they stereotypes whose sole purpose is to express a single trait (good, evil, generosity) or to move the plot along?
- Are they flat our round characters? Static or Dynamic?
- How are they constructed for us, directly or indirectly?
Setting
- At what time period and in what geographic location does the action of the narrative occur?
- How does the setting affect the characters of the narrative?
- How does it determine the relationships among the characters?
- How does the setting affect the plot?
- Does the setting create a mood for the narrative?
- In what way does the setting reinforce the central ideas that the narrative examines?
- How does the language create a mood or atmosphere?
Point of View:
- What person or persons are telling the narrative?
- Is the narrative told in the first person (I or we) or in the third person (he, she, or they )?
- Does the narrator see from various perspectives, or is the narrative restricted to the perspective of one person--a major character, a minor character, or just an observer?
- How much does the narrator know about the events in the narrative?
- Does the narrator present an accurate or inaccurate picture of events?
- Does the narrator understand the full significance of the narrative he or she is telling?
Style, Tone, and Language:
- Does the writer make any unusual use of diction or syntax?
- Does the writer use imaginative figures of speech? Patterns of imagery?
- What styles or levels of speech are associated with particular characters?
- What words or phrases are repeated throughout the work?
Plot
Though there may not be room to hit every element of traditional plot structure, a short story is roughly composed of exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, and resolution. Sometimes, the climax and the resolution happen very close together, and in the case of a suspense story, there are often many stepping stones of suspense along the way that build towards the climax.
Use the chart below to map the plot elements of a short story you are studying.
Use the chart below to map the plot elements of a short story you are studying.
plot_chart.jpg |
plot_structure_diagram.docx |
Characterisation
characterisation_in_short_stories.docx |
direct_and_indirect_characterisation.docx |
static-or-dynamic-character-analysis-2.pdf |
Point of View
Irony
Setting
Setting is the time and place where a scene occurs. It can help set the mood, influence the way characters behave, affect the dialog, foreshadow events, invoke an emotional response, reflect the society in which the characters live, and sometimes even plays a part in the story.
setting__time_location_and_atmosphere_in_which_a_story_occurs.jpg |
Theme
identifying_theme_worksheet.docx |