The Story

Storytelling

• Storytelling is the art of conveying a series of

events in words, images and sounds, which are

often supported by creative thinking or an

exaggeration.

• Stories have always been an integral part of

every culture as a means for entertaining,

educating, and preserving the culture.

• Today, stories are an intrinsic part of our

society and culture.

• The influence of storytelling can be seen in all

aspects of our life - defining our values,

desires, dreams and, sometimes our prejudices

and hatreds - in movies, books, music, news

media, religion, architecture, art.

• Storytelling in the very early times was told

using a mixture of oral narrative,

combining gestures and expressions,

music, and dance.

Famous Storytellers

Scheherazade

• To save herself from being beheaded, Scheherazade,

a slave of the Sultan Schahriah, told the king a story a

night for 1001 nights to save her life. She entertained

the Sultan with Persian, Arabian and Indian folk tales,

handed down through generations. Her stories were

passed down through centuries, were written down

and are still read and told today.

• Remember Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Sinbad

and Aladdin and his magic lamp?

Grimm Brothers

• Grimm's Fairy Tales are full of wicked stepmothers,

witches, demons, goblins and assorted monsters.

Reflecting the hard and cruel life the people in Central

Europe in 18th century, some of these stories collected

mainly from Germany were so horrifying that religious

leaders and educators forced the Grimm Brothers to

modify the tales, removing the forbidden topics.

• Today most of the Grimm Brothers tales have been

further altered to remove any violence and gore. Some all

time favorites are "Cinderella," "Little Red Riding Hood"

and "Snow White".

• Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen of Denmark was said to have

been an ugly child. As he had no friends, he was forced to

play alone.

• His fantasy world and imagination was fueled by books,

which revolved about famous men who had risen out of

poverty to fortune and fame.

• He traveled around the country, acted in plays, and told

stories to children.

• When he wrote down the tales that he had told the

children, this ugly ducking became a swan of the literary

world at that time.

• Some of his famous stories are "The Emperor's New

Clothes," "The Ugly Duckling," and "The Princess and the

Pea“.

Charles Perrault

• Charles Perrault lived in France in the 17th

century. He wrote children's fairy tales based on

well-liked folk tales and was one of the first French

authors who wrote mainly for children.

• Stories such as "Sleeping Beauty," "Tom Thumb,"

and "Puss in Boots" are world famous.

Joel Chandler Harris

• Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus Tales from the

southern United States were taken from the African-

American oral tradition.

• Although the tales have created controversy about

racism (they reflect life in the Late 1800’s on a

southern plantation), they will always remain

popular.

• His Brer Rabbit stories were revolutionary in their

use of dialect, animal personage, and landscape.

Other storytellers and stories

Anansi (West

African/Caribbean)

• A cunning “man spider”

who used trickery to get

the better of those

bigger than himself.

• http://www.youtube.com/watc

h?v=UWU2oyqCg5o

• http://www.youtube.com/watc

h?v=Sau3E2LEfcI&feature=r

elated

Aesop's Fables

• This famous Book of

Fables date back to the

5th Century BCE

Robert Munch

• Canadian children’s

author. • http://robertmunsch.com/books/

What is a Short Story?

• A short story is a work of prose fiction that

presents a main character involved in a

single episode that begins, develops, and

ends in a limited space.

• In sharing the main character’s

experience, the short story writer shows

the reader an understanding about life and

living.

• Includes: Fairy Tales, Fables, Myths

Parts of a Story

• PLOT – What happens in the story?

• SETTING - Where it happens?

• MOOD – How does the story feel?

• POINT OF VIEW – Who is telling the story?

• CHARACTERIZATION – Who is in the story?

• CONFLICT – Problem faced by the character(s)

• THEME – What is the story about?

Creating a short story – the old fashioned

way

• In your group of 4 or 5 create a short (oral) story.

• Choose 4 images from the handout as a starting point –

then add the details.

• That means you don’t write it down, you ORALLY tell it!

(You can jot down points and ideas as you go along of

course)

• Use the Parts of a Story list to help you include as much

detail as possible in your oral story.

• Each group member MUST contribute to the story.

• Choose a “storyteller” (or storytellers) who will present

your story to the class.

PLOT

• The plot is the sequence of events that make up a story.

(Or what happens in the story).

Special Techniques of Plot

SUSPENSE: excitement or tension

FORESHADOWING: hint or clue about what will happen in

story

FLASHBACK: interrupts the normal sequence of events to

tell about something that happens in the story

SURPRISE ENDING: conclusion that reader does not

expect (use of irony)

Five Essential Elements of Plot

• Introduction – the beginning of the story where the

characters and the setting is revealed. (exposition –

grabs readers attention or peaks reader’s interest).

• Rising Action – development of the conflict

• Climax / Turning Point – point of intensity in the story, a

turning point for a character. (The reader wonders what

will happen next; will the conflict be resolved or not?)

• Falling Action – The events and complications begin to

resolve themselves…events that lead to resolution

• Resolution – Final outcome of the conflict.

Five Essential Elements of Plot

• The time and location in which a story takes

place is called the setting.

• For some stories the setting is very

important, while for others it is not.

• There are several aspects of a story's setting

to consider when examining how setting

contributes to a story (some, or all, may be

present in a story).

SETTING

Aspects of a Story’s Setting

• place - geographical location. Where is the action of the

story taking place?

• time - When is the story taking place? (historical period,

time of day, year, etc)

• weather conditions - Is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc?

• social conditions - What is the daily life of the

characters like? Does the story contain local colour

(writing that focuses on the speech, dress, mannerisms,

customs, etc. of a particular place)?

MOOD

• mood or atmosphere - What feeling is created at the

beginning of the story? Is it bright and cheerful or dark

and frightening?

POINT OF VIEW

• Point of view, or p.o.v., is defined as the angle from which the story

is told (or the relationship between the narrator and the story)

• 1. Innocent Eye - The story is told through the eyes of a child

(his/her judgment being different from that of an adult).

• 2. Stream of Consciousness - The story is told so that the reader

feels as if they are inside the head of one character and knows all

their thoughts and reactions.

• 3. First Person - The story is told by the protagonist or one of the

characters who interacts closely with the protagonist or other

characters (using pronouns I, me, we, etc). The reader sees the

story through this person's eyes as he/she experiences it and only

knows what he/she knows or feels.

• 4. Omniscient- The author can narrate the story using the omniscient point

of view. He can move from character to character, event to event, having

free access to the thoughts, feelings and motivations of his characters and

he introduces information where and when he chooses.

• There are two main types of omniscient point of view:

• a) Omniscient Limited - The author tells the story in third person (using

pronouns they, she, he, it, etc). We know only what the character knows

and what the author allows him/her to tell us. We can see the thoughts and

feelings of characters if the author chooses to reveal them to us.

• b) Omniscient Objective – The author tells the story in the third person. It

appears as though a camera is following the characters, going anywhere,

and recording only what is seen and heard. There is no comment on the

characters or their thoughts. No interpretations are offered. The reader is

placed in the position of spectator without the author there to explain. The

reader has to interpret events on his own.

CHARACTERIZATION

Characterization is the development of characters

• A. Direct Characterization - tells readers directly what a character

is like (example: narrator’s comments)

• B. Indirect Characterization - shows readers what a character is

like

1. Physical description; appearance

2. Speech

3. Private thoughts; feelings

4. Motives (reasons why a character acts as he/she does;

what causes behavior)

5. Actions

6. Speech, action, thoughts, feelings of other characters

7. Effect on other characters

CHARACTERS are the story’s actors

A. Main Character - character at

the center of a story’s action

B. Minor Character - less

important character

C. Dynamic Character -

character that grows or changes

as the plot unfolds

D.Static Character - character

who remains the same

throughout the story

E. Flat Character - character

who has only one or two key

personality traits and can be

described in a single sentence

F. Round Character - character

who is more complex, there are

more sides to this character’s

personality than can be described

in a single sentence

G. Stock Character - person who

fits a preconceived notion about a

“type” (examples: villain, hero,

damsel in distress, mad scientist)

H. Protagonist - main character

in a story

I. Antagonist - character or force

that conflicts with the protagonist

CONFLICT

Conflict is the struggle between or within characters

A. External Conflict - conflicts caused by something

outside the character

1. person against person

2. person against nature

3. person against machine

4. person against society

5. person against supernatural beings

B. Internal Conflict - conflict caused when a person

1. struggles with something inside his own heart or mind

THEME

Theme is the insight or idea about human life and human nature that

gives meaning to a story; it is the central message in a work of

literature

• A theme should be stated in at least one complete sentence.

• A theme must be expressed as a generalization about life or human

nature.

• A theme should explain the whole story, not just parts of it.

• A theme is not the same as a moral.

How is a theme determined?

1. Ask how the protagonist has changed during the story OR

2. Think about the story’s title or statements in the story that point to

the writer’s view of the world or human nature.

Adapted from: http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/engramja/elements