Explosion: The Elements Of Storytelling

Themes include major topics such as love, war, life, death, family, and often convey the moral of the story, or a life lesson. Sometimes readers will misunderstand the topic of the story with the theme. The topic is a summary of what the story is about and the theme is the overall message about the topic. A successful author should know that a story should never lack a theme because the theme is what stays in every reader’s mind, even after forgetting the details of the story.

Structure is the glue to your story but has an order. The dramatic arc is the five key components to properly structure they story. The first part of the story, the exposition, is what sets the story's situation, setting and the characters. The exposition is important to set the story before it takes of without understanding. If the reader does not understand they are likely to put the book down and stop reading. The second part to the arc is the rising action. The rising action is where the conflict makes itself known and the protagonist (our hero) engages it. The third part is the climax, which is where the turning point in the story is placed and an end to the conflict can be seen. The climax is where conflict should be at its highest level and this is when the reader is most interested. The fourth concept is the falling action, where the resolution of the conflicted occurs and one final piece of conflict occurs. The final concept is the denouement where the story closes out with a sense of relief and completion. As you can see the emotion the reader feels is what captured the reader. As the conflict is rising the reader wants to keep reading and reading. Stories are very much like movies, movies are even based on stories. The audience will tune out the rest of the world and focus on the story that captures their mind. According to Lisa Cron “Art is fire plus algebra”(page 17, line 66-67). The art is the

Conflict also develops as the story comes to an end, Lily solves the conflict of T.Ray’s obsessive abuse; he leaves her at the Boatwright house. 3. Passage ~ “All of a sudden, we received a call saying May had committed suicide; it was nothing we ever expected” How Does this Contribute to Purpose / What Elements of a Story are Present? ~ Purpose ~ Suicide is a real thing Elements ~

What makes a good story? The most important element that can’t be left out in a story is the setting. The setting is the fundamental building blocks of creating a vivid story based on, characters, time of placement, symbolism, and imagery. All these types of elements are needed to bring a story to life. In the short story “A Sound of Thunder,” Ray Bradbury, uses descriptive imagery, and symbolism, in order for the reader to imagine and envision the environment that the story is taking place. It also helps the author get his main point across the story, which is that every action has a consequence.

Literary elements are a vital part of a story and how it unveils. Without it, stories would lack any sort of feeling that the reader gets when reading/watching the story. Stories like “The Sniper”, “The Necklace”, and “The Cask of Amontillado” are great examples of literary elements in use.

The most important element of a short story is Characterization as it drives the story as a whole. Characters involved in a story are responsible for creating different types of conflicts, struggles and tensions which in turn affects resolutions. Characterization is the core element that emphasizes the rest of the four elements as everything else eventually streams from character: plot, setting, theme and the point of view. There are no Conflicts without characters. A story only has meaning as the interaction among develops.

1. Exposition: List five key details that provide background to the characters and the plot up to this point. Explain why each detail is so important to the story.

Just imagine this, you are walking down the street one day and you see a statue of a soldier. After your walk, you do some research and figure out why he had a statue erected in his name and the importance of this man. Flashbacks are similar, you may see a deeper meaning after the flashback and realize what the author was trying to tell you. You may also understand why a certain character has a conflict with another, a flashback could explain the original fuel that fueled the fire.

The term character arc can defined as a characters inner journey throughout the course of a story. In “Everyday Use,” the character that portrays the most drastic character arc is the narrator, also known as Mama. Mama describes herself as a big-boned and hard-working woman with rough hands that come from years of physical labor. Mama is also a loving mother; she has two daughters Maggie and Dee. Maggie is like Mama, she is soft-spoken, pure, and uncorrupted by selfishness.

All stories consist of a few common structural elements found universally in myths, fairy tales, dreams, and movies. They are known collectively as The Hero’s Journey. Understanding these elements and their use in modern writing is the object of our quest. Used wisely, these ancient tools of the storytellers craft still have tremendous power to heal our people and make the world a better place (xxvii).

The suspense from the story/pace of the story followed the element of plot, exposition, rising action, climax, falling

For the story flashback lets the author give the readers a background of the main character’s circumstances by helping the story have clues and a better understanding of the current actions of the character. Foreshadowing, on the other hand is a method that gives the story suspense by creating suspense in the reader. In the end, the essay will prove that the author expects the reader not to cast quick judgments on the characters without understanding the context of their story.

The beginning of the story or the exposition may be defined as the insight the author gives the audience concerning the location or time in which the story is set and the characters in the story. The information provided usually aids the audience in better understanding the behaviors and actions of the characters in the story. For example, in the fairy tale Bluebeard, the author begins by describing Bluebeard. Through this description, the audience notices that an element of mystery surrounds him.

“Exposition: the first part of a plot that stages the scene, that introduces and identifies the characters, and that establishes the circumstances at the beginning of a play or story. Added exposition is often distributed throughout the work” (Mays A4).

The short story is a concise form of narrative prose that is usually simpler and more direct compared to longer works of fiction such as novels. Therefore, because of their short length, short stories rely on many forms of literary devices to convey the idea of a uniform theme seen throughout the script. This theme is illustrated by using characteristics that are developed throughout the story such as, plot, setting and characters. The three main components are developed throughout the story in order to guide the reader to the underlying theme, which is necessary as a short story lacking a theme also lacks meaning or purpose.