A short story, a story with a fully developed theme but shorter and less elaborate than a novel, is similar to a novel and is also an important part of literature. It is usually used for education and daily entertainment because it is short and refined.
Basic Knowledge
A short story has less developed characters and a conflict which is introduced and resolved quickly, but it has complete plot as well. A short story always has an exposition, the beginning part about the characters, the setting and the mood; an inciting incident, a point that conflicts begin to appear; the rising action, which is where the most action happens and where tension and suspense is built; a climax, which is where the conflict reaches its highest point, and also the most exciting part; the falling action, which is where the conflict has completely resolved, and all questions are answered. However, not all short stories have resolution. Sometimes, the writer will not write the end in order to give the reader imagination.
The conflict is usually the problem between the protagonist and antagonist. There are 4 types of conflict: person vs person, person vs self, person vs environment and person vs society.
There are 2 types of point of view: first person point of view, which means the character is involved in and is telling the story; and third person point of view, which means the character is not involved in the story.
There are 3 types of irony: verbal irony, dramatic irony and situation irony. Verbal irony occurs when the speaker says one thing but means the opposite. For example, after you fall into a wallow, your friend says: ‘You look so special.”, which means that you look so bad. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience or reader know something but the characters are not. It usually occurs in horror movie. Situation irony occurs when the opposite happens to what the reader has been led to expect.
What is more, tone provides the author’s feelings. Foreshadowing is when the author gives hints about what will happen. Theme is the main idea or thought of the whole story.
Some example
These are some example short story.You can try to improve your knowledge about short stories by finding their tone or theme of them.
Beyond This World:
http://www.our-story.ca/winners/writing/172:beyond-this-world#story
This is a story between a poor indigenous family and the society. The main characters are the narrator, a little boy in this family, and his sister, who goes to the city and is missing. Though the movement of the police and the family, we can see how people discriminate indigenous people at that time and how indigenous people are suffering from inequality.
Maternal Ties:
http://www.our-story.ca/winners/writing/308:maternal-ties#story
This is a story about a girl in university with different culture wear her own cultural dress instead of the uniform during the graduation. With her memories, we can see how the different cultures are harmed. However, the narrator still continue her own culture. It shows us a great responsibility of this little girl and encourages people to save other cultures.
The Métis Golden Years
http://www.our-story.ca/winners/writing/360:the-mtis-golden-years#story
This is a story of conflict between Métis people and the the Hudson’s Bay company. Métis people can make pemmican, a special material which is important for fur trading. In order to control the pemmican the Hudson’s Bay company try to stop Métis people to trade freely, but they fail because they cannot carry out those unreasonable rules, and that is when the free trade begins. This story shows us some positive aspect and tells us that indigenous people are not so bad as people think.
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