The Elements of A Short Story -- Short Story Writing at EverybodyScribbles.com. An editor once said, pertinently enough, in discussing the short-story, "There must be three elements in the good short-story: a strong situation, a plot; a strong, true emotion; and real characters. " The best short-story springs, Minerva-like, full-grown and fully panoplied from the brain of its author. There is no time for the development of plot, growth of character, slow-ripening of emotion.
The story is already made; the end is predetermined from the beginning; and both are so interdependent that one is impossible without the other. These three elements, plot, motion, and character, may be called the intrinsic elements of the short story; but every story does not possess these elements in equal degree. The characters are often lay figures upon which to hang events, or about which to group bits of scenery that are visions of perennial delight; or the characters may be so intense, the action so dramatic, that the most trivial incident takes on the dignity of a plot.
Short Stories: Developing Ideas for Short Fiction. Crisis vs. Conflict: Engaging a Reader with the Protagonist’s “Inner” Story Jerz's Literacy Weblog. Show, Don’t (Just) Tell Jerz's Literacy Weblog. The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations. The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations is a descriptive list which was created by Georges Polti to categorize every dramatic situation that might occur in a story or performance.
To do this Polti analyzed classical Greek texts, plus classical and contemporaneous French works. He also analyzed a handful of non-French authors. In his introduction, Polti claims to be continuing the work of Carlo Gozzi, who also identified 36 situations. Publication history[edit] “Gozzi maintained that there can be but thirty-six tragic situations. This list was published in a book of the same name, which contains extended explanations and examples. The list is popularized as an aid for writers, but it is also used by dramatists, storytellers and many others. The 36 situations[edit] Each situation is stated, then followed by the necessary elements for each situation and a brief description. See also[edit] References[edit] External links[edit] Tension. Hook Your Readers With Tension By Laura Backes, Write4Kids.com Tension. Without it, life would be—let's face it—boring. So would fiction. Tension works with conflict to raise the emotional level of the text to a boiling point.
It forces the reader to become invested in the story. "Tension" is a loaded word, and can be misleading. Tension is what hooks readers of any age and keeps them turning the pages. . * The ticking clock. . * Dialogue. . * Pacing. . * Sentence structure. Each story requires a different kind of tension. Laura Backes is the author of Best Books for Kids Who (Think They) Hate to Read from Prima/Random House. Copyright © 2002, Children's Book Insider, LLC.