Analyzing Short Stories: Tips and Tricks

First of all, before I go a bit more in-depth with some tips and tricks, I would like to show you what a classic short story consists of :

· Artistic quality – Expressions of life, truth, and beauty.

· Stands the test of time – has been around for quite a while.

· Universal human appeal – touches our experience.

· Makes connections with other literature.

· They have fewer characters.

· Very Short in Content

· Cliff-hangers and lack of resolution

Now that I have given some brief detail on what short stories have, I will give some tips to understand them better -

The Conflict -

the conflict in short stories is usually one or more of the 5 different types, they are:

· Character vs Character - this occurs when a character is facing off another character, much relating to Antagonists and Protagonists

· Character vs Society - this occurs when there is conflict between the character and the society, or external group of people, like w young Jewish boy during the 2nd world war would be facing character vs society.

· Character vs Self - character vs self usually occurs when a character has conflicting thoughts and perceptions as if they are having a battle for themselves, like if the main character thinks they arent good enough.

· Character vs Nature - character vs nature is the occurence of when the character faces the force of nature, such as if a character is fighting for survival agains t a deadly tsunami which wiped his home town.

· Character vs Supernatural - character vs supernatural is when a character is forced to be put against an unhumanly like force, or supernatural force, which are things such as fate, aliens, gods, or even otherworldly beings.

The Setting -

the setting is the time and place of which the narrative is set in, these include:

· Place – city, country, location

· Weather

· Culture

· Time of Day or Year

· Historical Era

The Genre -

Genre is used to sort different types of narratives into catergories

· Categorising narrative makes it easier for readers to discover what they like.

· E.g., Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Fiction

· When trying to determine the type of genre, try remembering the acronym PACS

· PACS stands for Plot, Action, Character, Setting.

Characterisation -

Characterisation is the way characters are created in narrative texts.

· Using SAAO we can collect evidence which helps us discuss the traits of a character.

· S – SPEECH

· A – ACTIONS

· A – APPEAREANCE

· O – OTHER CHARACTERS

here is a quick structure of a sotry i have created -

hope this helped you :)