Planning a Short Story

4.1 - Planning a Short Story

​Cave Drawings

​In prehistoric times, people used cave drawings to tell stories. Some of the world's oldest cave drawings were created 44,000 years ago in what is now Indonesia.

​Oral Tradition

​Before writing, spoken storytelling, or oral tradition, was how people shared stories. Storeytellers used different techniques when telling their stories.

​Drama

​Drama, or plays, combines the written word and oral tradition. While plays are written down, they are meant to be performed in front of an audience, much like oral stories.

​Books

​After the invention of writing and the printing press, storytelling moved into books: poetry, novels, short stories, written drama, and more.

Multiple Choice

Dialogue is...

• a memory or experience the author writes about

• a conversation between characters or people in a story

• a type of figurative language used to make your writing interesting

• a part of speech that describes a noun

Multiple Choice

The directions, or words, in parenthesis that show the setting and characters' actions/feelings.  These directions are called______.

• Plot directions
• Stage directions
• Actor directions
• Audience directions

Open Ended

Look at the following excerpt from a play. Which parts are staging? What is the purpose of these stage directions?

Multiple Select

Which TWO of these describes "pacing" in a story?

• The speed at which a story moves forward. Long or short sentences.

• The words the characters in a narrative say out loud.

• Provides informaiton about characters and events.

• Creates different feelings, such as "peaceful" or "anxious".

Multiple Select

Which TWO of these describes "dialogue" in a story?

• The speed at which a story moves forward. Long or short sentences.

• The words the characters in a narrative say out loud.

• Provides informaiton about characters and events.

• Creates different feelings, such as "peaceful" or "anxious".

Multiple Select

Which TWO statements describe ways vivid imagery and description improve a narrative.

• They help the reader imagine the scene.

• They speed up or slow down the story.

• They create feelings in the reader.

Multiple Choice

Read the excerpt from the story and choose the title that best fits the focus of the narrative.

• My Grandmother's Birthday Gift

• Working as a Railroad Engineer

• The Dolls of Edith Montgomery

• A Short History of Handmade Dolls

Multiple Choice

Read the passage and then choose which conclusion is more appropriate.

• In the alley behind Ricardo's restaurant, a stray dog pawed through the trash.

• Against all the odds, Ricardo completed the meal just as Vivian arrived. "This is the best pasta I've ever tasted!" she said.

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