Short stories - Form

Analysing and writing short stories



Part 1: Endings, timeframes and early comments on structure

This short online lesson is designed to extend and deepen an understanding of the technical construction of short stories.

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This lesson

By the end of this activity, I can...
- Describe the purpose behind writing a short story
- Define literary techniques specifically related to short storie
- Identify examples of the technical construction which has gone into a short story

Your goal

When working on activities like this, you should take notes as you go. I will expect to see your notes in your workbook.

These ideas should also inform both your analysis of short stories and your own creative writing.

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Take notes as you go

A novel is like entering a garden. You walk into the garden, and you hang out in the garden and see everything and walk around. But a short story is like looking through the keyhole. That idea really helped me understand that I still need to imagine the whole garden. My job is to construct the keyhole, the angle and how much they would see.

  – Kirsty Logan

Not 'short novels'

Short stories should not be either constructed or analysed as if they are “a novel but shorter”.

Why might this be?

In short stories...

•Characters may present less of an opportunity for analysis or, when writing a short story, you have less time to develop thematic ideas through a character

•The ending is important. The ending of the short story usually attracts more of your focus than the end of a novel. When writing a short story, you'll need to plan your ending carefully as it will hold great meaning.

•The ending may change our reading of the rest of the story (frequently, returning to the beginning after completing an initial reading may reveal details you had not previously noticed). Keep this in mind when writing a short story.

In short stories... (continued)

​•There is likely to be one single and central theme around which the story revolves

•This idea might be reflected in multiple ways (through the POV, the structure, the language, the ending, etc) to create a layering effect

•It can be important to ask how time ‘flows’ in the story. Single event/place? Multiple?

•What does the writer of the story omit? Sometimes this can be as telling as what is included.

Let's check your recall of what you just studied

Multiple Choice

When writing short stories, you need to plan the - carefully. The - can have a significant impact on the meaning of a short story.

• ending

• beginning

• climatic moment

• protagonist

Multiple Choice

It is important to (1) - meaning in your short story and to ensure that your short story is focused on (2) - - -. To do so, you can focus on this (2) - - - in numerous ways through both plot development and your writing choices (literary techniques, structure, POV, ending, etc.)

• (1) flow, (2) one central idea

• (1) theme, (2) one single character

• (1) layer, (2) one single theme

• (1) limit, (2) one single character

Multiple Choice

How - flows in a short story is very important to consider. The pace of the short story is important and the - focused on in the short story should usually be limited to a brief encounter that is possible within the word limit (a few hours or one afternoon, for example).

• time

• flow

• conflict

• drama

Endings

As mentioned, endings can be very important in short stories.

Traditional approaches to writing short stories have focused on creating very impactful endings.

Traditional approaches to writing short stories

Traditional approaches to short stories suggest they should revolve around epiphany - moments where insight is achieved for the character.
•Note that:

•The character may not be aware of their epiphany

•The reader may feel joy for the character, or pity, or repulsion, or any other emotion

The epiphany

The twist

Likewise, writers have used the short story form as being an excellent vehicle for the ‘twist’ ending. The writer might withhold information from the audience, or mislead them with ambiguous or false information. The short story form then allows writers to catch readers off guard or execute a ‘rug pull’ on their reader within the last few lines.

Criticism of the epiphany and the twist

"I’m quite suspicious of them in real life because I don’t think that’s how human nature works. I don’t think that we look out of the window, see things in a certain light and decide we’re not going to be a philanderer anymore. People change, but that’s not how they change. I’m also quite suspicious of how epiphanies are used in short stories, to usher in an ending or give some kind of unearned fanfare or gravity at the end."

  - Jenn Ashworth

The epiphany

The twist

Using a twist is quite often seen as being cheap or deceptive, or the author is needlessly being clever. In literary fiction, a twist might distract the reader from what is considered of paramount importance: the writing itself. To add to that, execution of an effective twist can require significant skill.

Your own creative writing

While students reading traditional short stories may come across stories that end with either a twist or a character having an epiphany, it is unlikely that students will write short stories of this kind themselves.

Tastes have evolved over time, and we instinctively find endings like this forced, inauthentic or cheap in contemporary writing.

Let's check your recall of what you just studied

Multiple Choice

The endings of short stories are considered quite important and hold great meaning. While traditional texts often chose to focus on endings that included an unexpected - or a character's sudden - , more contemporary texts avoid endings of this kind.

• unexpected, sudden

• twist, forced

• epiphany, climax

• twist, epiphany

Multiple Choice

Common criticism of short stories ending with a character experiencing a personal epiphany include...

• such an ending can feel inauthentic

• that's not really how people experience change in real life

• endings like this can feel forced

• all of the above

Multiple Choice

Not only do contemporary readers often see unexpected twists in short stories as cheap tricks that lack sophistication, writing a short story with a good twist...

• requires considerable skill and effort as well as careful planning to execute effectively

• is considered very easy and will not score well in assessment tasks

• is hard to do because they've all be done before

• all of the above

Subtlety and ambiguity

In contemporary literature, subtlety and ambiguity are considered hallmarks of good short stories. The notion of subtlety and ambiguity are closely linked, though one does not naturally indicate the other.
If you have ever received feedback to ‘show not tell’, you are being asked to introduce more subtlety into your story. If an epiphany is present, it must change a character only slightly, if at all.

Subtle: not immediately obvious or comprehensible. difficult to detect or analyse, often through being delicate or highly refined.
Ambiguous: open to more than one interpretation; not having one obvious meaning.

Short stories that we focus on in more junior year levels might spell out the thematic ideas very clearly for the reader, perhaps in an exaggerated or black and white way.

In contrast, short stories in more senior year levels will focus on greater complexity and, while they still have a clear, thematic focus, they may be less heavy-handed in getting their points across. Readers may be left with an ambiguous ending and may need to consider for themselves what is likely to happen 'next' to the protagonist.

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Subtlety and ambiguity

Conventions of structure have changed over time

Traditional thought suggests that a short story should follow conventional structure:

•A complication, rising action and a resolution

Modern trends favour minimalism and ambiguity:

•Readers may be left in suspense or tension is unresolved

•They may need to study the text for clues about meaning

•The short form may necessitate discarding the rising action, starting the story in the most intense moment

  OR

•Truncating the ending, leaving the story at or just after the most dramatic moment

It is therefore very common for short stories to revolve around single moments in time, often not longer than half an hour – expanding beyond this can require a significant amount of skill to execute effectively and is often not possible with the limited word count of school assessment tasks. This will also impact the number of characters it is possible for you to include in a short story.

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How a limited timeframe impacts your writing

Dealing with time in your own creative writing

A common and effective approach is for students to limit themselves to one moment in time in their own creative writing (one train ride, one interaction between characters, one sporting match, etc.)

A short story focused on one moment in time

A series of vignettes

Students who feel that covering a greater span of time is necessary for their short story might focus on a series of vignettes. For example, a moment from a particular morning, a moment from later that afternoon and then a moment from the following morning.

A flashback

Those who would like to incorporate a shift in time during their short story because it serves the plot to do so might choose the first option (to focus on one moment in time) but then include one flashback that is contained within the larger story.

Note that all of the options listed on the previous slide are quite contained. Students should avoid sweeping over large time frames in their creative writing...

x '...the years passed by'
x '...weeks later' or '...years later'
x '...as she grew older'
x '...as the days wore on'

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Stick to the limits

If your short story idea can not be expressed in one moment in time (or a similar setup), it's probably a red flag that your story is not appropriate for the given word limit.

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Red flag!

Multiple Choice

Modern trends usually favour short story writing that is... Writing of this kind is considered intellectually engaging and sophisticated.

• straight to the point

• easy to read in one sitting

• subtle and ambiguous

• full of plot twists

Multiple Choice

When planning a short story, it is essential that students keep a limited - in mind.

• timeframe

• word count

• number of characters

• all of the above

Be sure to reflect on what you've covered today when planning your own short stories.