Making a Story: An Introduction to Literary Elements
Name:______________________________________________ Date:__________________ Period:_____________
Directions: As we brainstorm on the board, take notes in the space provided below.
Consider: Why do artists, or authors, create the specific works that they create? Is it all by happy accident? Why paint in
an impressionist style? Why chose to compose a symphony in 3/4 instead of 7/8? Why write realism? Why write from
the perspective of a two-year old child?
Question: What makes a story? What are the factors that you MUST HAVE in order to be able to tell a story?
Consider: While we can refer to these parts of a story informally as who, what, when/where, how, and why, when in
dialogue with the greater literary world, we need to use the standard vocabulary.
Definitions: With your table, read the definitions below and highlight key words and/or concepts.
Characterization (Who)
Authors must have characters (people, animals, or things which react in a more or less
human manner to their surroundings and the challenges they face) to in order to tell
stories.
Thus, authors must choose how to characterize these members of their stories. Authors
characterize characters either directly or indirectly.
To characterize a character directly, the author simply tells the audience about the
character ("Timmy was lazy child"). When author's directly characterize a character, the
reader does not have to infer anything about that character; the author has done all the
work for us!
To characterize a character indirectly, the author paints a subtler picture of that
character for us by providing the audience with a description of the characters speech,
thoughts, effects on others, actions, and looks (STEAL).
Plot/Conflict (What)
Additionally, author's can use point of view to characterize a character. The point of view
is the voice of the story (the speaker who is narrating). Authors can chose to write with a
first ("I"), second ("you"), or third ("she/he/they/it") person point of view. Additionally,
point of view changes how we, the audience, experience the story.
Plot is the sequence or pattern of events in a story (usually over time).
Draw and label the Freytag model (standard) plot structure below...
However, not all stories follow this model. Stories can start with a flashback, a flashforward, in medias res (in the middle of the action or climax), or stories can be framed
(stories within a story).
Setting (When/Where)
Most stories have a conflict or struggle between one or more opposing forces. Most
frequently, the main character (the protagonist) struggles against a character or force
opposing him/her/them (the antagonist). However, the conflict does NOT HAVE to be
between two characters. A character can struggle against an internal or external force.
Usually, it is the conflict which drives the story.
The setting is the time, place, and feeling into which characters are dropped. Authors
choose their settings carefully because they are the foundation upon which any story
grows and can infinitely influence or even provide the action action/conflict of the story.
Diction, Tone, *Literary
Devices (How)
Diction is the author's word choice. All authors use diction, just as all painters use paint
and all composers use notes; however, authors use specific kinds of diction to convey a
specific theme.
Tone is how authors convey an attitude or opinion about a subject to the readers. This
might not actually be the author's opinion, but it is an opinion.
Literary devices are the specific flourishes that an author uses to give depth to the story.
There are many, MANY, literary devices, too many to completely list here. However,
some examples include:
Theme (Why)
To express or to explore a theme is why authors write. The theme is what the author is
trying to convey with her/his/their story--it is the universal message or "point" of the
work.
Directions: Now, consider the painting, The Yellow Scale 1907, by FRANTIŠEK KUPKA on the screen/below.
First, let us consider theme--what is Kupka's painting about?
Subject:
Directions: Now, let us describe the painting's literary (artistic) elements below.
Character/Characterization:
Plot:
Setting:
Diction/Tone/Devices:
Theme:
Theme:
Homework: Use the image below as inspiration for writing your own short story. You may type this story, or you may
use the pages provided. Your story must be at least 2 pages long (double spaced if typed), but no more than 4. As you
plan and write your story, consider how you choose and use literary elements. For example, do you want to follow
the standard plot structure, or would you rather compose your story in media res. Do you want a first person
narrator? A second person narrator? Above all, consider WHY you are making these choices... what theme (message)
do you want to convey with your story. Remember that all artists, authors included, make conscious and unconscious
choices which affect the effect their story has on the audience!
Vincent van Gogh's The Night Cafe, 1888, oil paint.
Your work will be graded as follows:
100--student has at least 2 pages of work; student has clearly considered theme and the effect other literary elements
have upon it; student's story is free or nearly free (0-2) of mechanical and grammatical errors.
85--student has at least 2 pages of work; student's story is complete but student has not fully utilized literary elements
to convey theme; student's story is mostly (3-6) free of mechanical and grammatical errors.
50--student has only provided a page of the story; student's story lack's clear theme; student's story is riddled (7+) with
mechanical and grammatical errors.
0--no story present, less than a page of story.