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Story Story

Short Story
Genre Focus

Literary Elements

What is a short story?

Plot

Why read a short story?

Character

How to read a short story?

Reading Skills
n

Predict

Evaluate

Genre Focus:
Short Story

+ Genre Focus: Short Story

Short stories are short made-up
(not true) stories.
Made-up stories are called
fiction.
n

Short stories are usually in

narrative form.
n Narrative

is a series of events
that tells a story.
n Narrator is someone who tells a
story.

+ Genre Focus: Short Story

Short stories tend to be more
simple than novels (long stories).
nUsually

a short story focuses on

(has):
only

one incident or conflict

What is the problem?
has a single plot.
What happens?
a single setting or place
Where does it happens?
a small number of characters
(people).
Who is in the story?
covers

a short period of time.

When does it happen?

+ Genre Focus: Short Story

Every short story has a plot:

Literary Elements:
Plot and Character

+ Literary Elements: Plot

Plot is all parts of a story
nEach

part of the story

leads to the next part.
nIt

is the basic plan of

the story.

The plot is created

through conflict.
nConflict

is a struggle

between
n people
n ideas
n forces

+ Literary Elements: Plot

Exposition
Exposition
introduces
the reader
to the
characters,
place and
time of the
story.

Rising
Action
As the
story
continues,
conflicts or
problems
happen to
create
suspense.

Climax
The
conflict in
the rising
action
reaches a
point
where it is
clear.

Falling
Action
The
conflict
start to be
resolved or
solved by
the
characters
in the
story.

Resolution
The
conflict is
solved and
the story
ends with a
lesson for
the reader.

+ Literary Elements: Plot

+ Literary Elements: Character

A character is an actor in
the story.
nCharacters

can be
people, animals, robots or
whatever the writer wants.

You learn about the

characters by:
nWhat

they do.
nWhat they think.
nWhat they say.
nWhat they feel.

Reading Skills:
Predict and Evaluate

+ Reading Skills: Predict

Predict
nTo

predict means to
think ahead to guess what
might happen.
nUse clues in the story to
guess what will happen
next.

When you read what

really happened, you are
checking your prediction.
nYour

prediction doesnt
always have to be true!
Its a guess!

+ Reading Skills: Evaluate

Evaluate

nWhen

you evaluate,
you form an opinion
about the story while
you read it.
nAn

opinion is what
you think or believe.
nEveryone has
different opinions!

When you evaluate, you

ask yourself questions:
nHow

do I feel about
the character or what is
happening?

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Project
Making a Short
Story
You will draw/
write a short story

Your short story

must have:
a title
a character
a conflict
a resolution