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What is a Short Story?
A story with a fully developed theme but significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel.
What is Character Development?
Character development is the craft of giving a character a personality, depth, and motivations that propel them through a story.
Name some parts of the Plot.
Plot includes the beginning, or exposition, where the setting, characters, and problems are introduced. The middle of the story includes information about how the character tries to solve the problem, which is followed by the ending or resolution.
What are the 5 elements of Setting?
The elements of setting – time, place, mood, social and cultural context – help to make a novel feel real and alive.
What is a good sizzling openings scene?
A sizzling start is a beginning to a piece of writing that immediately grabs the reader's attention and makes them want to read more.
What are 4 main parts of a Short Story?
Characters, Plot, Theme, and Point Of View
What is a protagonist?
The protagonist is the main character of a story.
What is the Climax of a story?
It is often the most exciting part of a story where the conflict is being resolved.
How can a setting effect a scene in a story?
The setting of a story gives readers a sense of place. Including various different elements of setting can help create a clear, vivid picture in readers' minds and can help provide a rich background to develop plot and characters.
What are some ways we can open our stories to grab the readers attention?
Pick a narrative (1st, 2nd or 3rd person) If you need help remembering which is which, please raise your hand.
Start with an action scene - make your character do something.
Write a line for your character to say.
Ask the reader a question.
Start your story off with something funny or a joke.
Use an onomatopoeia - the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named. “Buzz” “Tick Tock” “Snap”
What is setting?
Setting is where and when a story takes place.
What is an antagonist?
An antagonist is the character or force that stands in opposition to the protagonist's goals. They are often referred to as the villain of the story and can come in the form of a group of people, an institution, a force in nature, or a personal conflict or flaw the protagonist must overcome.
What is the rising and falling action?
Rising Action - one (or more) characters in crisis. (It begins with the inciting force and ends with the climax.) Falling Action - resolution of character's crisis.
What are some ways you can describe your character's appearance?
Hair color – brown hair, black hair, blonde hair etc.
Eye color – brown eyes, green eyes, blue eyes etc.
Build – tall, short, slim, overweight, muscly, average build etc.
Voice - quiet, booming, loud, accents etc.
Clothes - flower dress, denim jeans, cowboy boots, baseball cap etc.
What should be included in an "about the author?"
Start with the author's name and something about themselves, to let readers know they're a real human. Keep it to one or two sentences, and try to make what you say "about the author" relevant to the origin of the story. Anything to help the reader learn about who wrote the book.
What is the point of view for stories?
POV is the writer's way of deciding who is telling the story to whom.
Is the antagonist always an evil villain?
No!
What can character motivations look like?
Somthing that the Main character needs to move forward in their own personal story.
Ex: Plotting revenge, Surviving a disaster, Surviving a disease, Surviving a breakup, Saving the world/town/community, Saving a loved one, Saving themselves, Saving a relationship, Building a better world.
What are character flaws?
In the creation and criticism of fictional works, a character flaw or heroic flaw is a bias, limitation, imperfection, problem, personality disorder, vice, phobia, prejudice, or deficiency present in a character who may be otherwise very functional.
What was your favorite thing to learn in class?
Everything?!
The term theme can be defined as the underlying meaning of a story. It is the message the writer is trying to convey through the story.
What are secondary characters and why are they important?
Secondary Characters are those in our stories who play a significant role, and appear in multiple scenes, but who are not the main focus of the primary plot. These supporting characters may be the focal point of their own subplots and so they are integral to the story as a whole.
What are the five methods of Character Development?
The five method are physical description, action, inner thoughts, reactions, and speech.
What is character background/origin?
Background, for a character, includes the elements of his or her history and experience. Things such as family history, education, work experience, hobbies, etc. can fit into a character's background.
What was the hardest part about class?
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