5 Elements of a Short Story (PDF)

5 Elements of a Short Story

 The 5 key elements that make up a short story are: Characters, Setting, Conflict, Theme, and Plot.

A plot is a series of events and character actions that relate to the central conflict. There are 5 elements of plot: Exposition; Rising Action; Climax; Falling Action, and Resolution.

Elements	Definitions/Descriptions
Characters	Characters are the people who are involved in the story.  Characters can be major or minor, and static or dynamic.
Plot	The order of events that make up a story.  The plot usually begins with an exposition, which introduces us to the characters and background information of the story.  Next comes the rising action, which involves complications that lead to conflicts between characters. After the rising action we reach the climax, which is a turning point in the story. After the climax there is a falling action which leads to the resolution of the conflict.
Point of View	This refers to who tells the story, and how they tell it.  The narrator can tell the story from the third-person point of view, meaning that they can tell us what the characters think and do, but they are not part of the story.  Third-person narrators use the pronouns he, she or it.   If the narrator is telling the story from a  first-person point of view, then they are part of the story and are telling it the way that they see it.  First-person narrators use the pronoun I.
Setting	The setting of a story gives us important information such as: 1)When the story is taking place, 2) Where the story is taking place, and 3) What environment the story is occuring in.  It sets the mood and helps us guess what might happen in the story.
Theme	The central meaning or idea of the story; the moral lesson the story is trying to teach. It is a message that gives an opinion about life, humanity or society. Examples of theme include: love, friendship, good vs. evil,the importance of family, crime is bad, etc.

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