This lesson contains 46 slides, with interactive quizzes and text slides.
Lesson duration is: 45 min
Items in this lesson
Slide 1 - Slide
Slide 2 - Slide
Tools for working on short stories
Plot structure
Character
Narration (point of view)
Setting
Symbolism
Flashbacks / Foreshadowing
Slide 3 - Slide
Slide 4 - Slide
Narration or Point of view
The narrator is the person or other character who is telling us the story
Usually it is clear who the narrator is
you can choose between first, third, or omniscient point of view
Slide 5 - Slide
First person or I-narrative
Uses pronouns I, me, my, or we
The narrator character retells the events of the story
Readers know what the narrator is thinking and feeling
The reader does not know the thoughts or feelings of other characters
Slide 6 - Slide
First person or I-narrative
“I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Slide 7 - Slide
Third Person Point of View:
The ‘He Said, She Said’
Third person pronouns (they, their, he, she)
Usually narrated by an outsider, someone who doesn't appear in the story
Writers can zoom in on individual characters using third person limited, or zoom out and tell the story in third person omniscient, where the narrator is an all-knowing figure.
Slide 8 - Slide
A third person limited perspective
means that we are limited (get it?) to a single character at a time. So, it’s like the first person perspective,
but rather than a character speaking directly to us, the narrator is telling us what the character is doing, thinking and feeling.
Slide 9 - Slide
example of a third person limited perspective:
“For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps, it was only an echo.”
― Lois Lowry, The Giver
Slide 10 - Slide
All-knowing or omnicient
Slide 11 - Slide
All-knowing or omnicient
You’re the reader, and the narrator is God. They can give you access to every character’s thoughts and feelings, at the same time.
The narrator has no preference for any single character.
They are aware of all events- past, present, and future
The speaker will also know secret events or things that are hidden from the characters
Slide 12 - Slide
All-knowing or omnicient
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.” Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice
Slide 13 - Slide
“The Dursleys hadn’t even remembered that today happened to be Harry’s twelfth birthday. Of course, his hopes hadn’t been high; they’d never given him a real present, let alone a cake – but to ignore it completely…”
A
First person
B
Third person limited
C
Third person Omniscient
Slide 14 - Quiz
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.
A
First person
B
Third Person limited
C
Third person Omniscient
Slide 15 - Quiz
Margaret, the eldest of the four, was sixteen, and very pretty, being plump and fair, with large eyes, plenty of soft brown hair, a sweet mouth, and white hands, of which she was rather vain. Fifteen-year-old Jo was very tall, thin, and loved to be woken up for mango ice cream … Elizabeth, or Beth, as everyone called her, was a rosy, bright-eyed girl of thirteen, with a shy manner, a timid voice, and a peaceful expression, which was seldom disturbed … “
A
First person
B
Third person limited
C
Third person Omniscient
Slide 16 - Quiz
Setting
Time and place
Examples for place: country, house, room
Examples for time: specific year or era, war time, future, seasons
References do not have to be direct. For example when you talk about kangaroos and platypus, it is clear it is set in Australia
Metaphors and similes can be used to give an indirect image of what a place looks like or when it is set. Think about the senses (Imagery)
Do tasks p.72-73 workbook. Go to next slide when finished
Slide 17 - Slide
Importance of setting
Can have a huge effect on plot & characters
It can establish mood & atmosphere
It can add realism to the narrative
It can be symbolic
It can help the reader to engage imaginatively with characters & plot
Ask yourself - where is the story taking place? Is this important? And how will you use language to create a setting?
Slide 18 - Slide
In three sentences, how would you describe the setting in this picture? Use adjectives, similes and/or metaphors
Slide 19 - Open question
Symbolism
A symbol stands for something else, bigger, universal
It is a literary technique that adds meaning to a short story by using an event or object as a symbol to represent something else
For example, a gravestone may be a symbol of death since gravestones are associated with death
Many authors use symbolism to subtly allude to the meaning of something without being obvious
Slide 20 - Slide
When using symbolism, what would the following stand for? Black
Slide 21 - Open question
When using symbolism, what would the following stand for? Butterfly
Slide 22 - Open question
Flashback
The author jumps back in time
it oftens contradicts or proves something in the present
For example: From Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone: When Aunt Petunia remembered making Harry get a haircut, he then woke up the next morning to find his hair has grown back to where it was. Rowling uses these flashbacks to foreshadow what we soon find out— that Harry has inherited wizarding powers from his parents
Slide 23 - Slide
Foreshadowing
is a literary device that writers utilize as a means to indicate or hint to readers something that is to follow or appear later in a story.
is an excellent device in terms of creating suspense and dramatic tension for readers.
For example: In Game of Thrones: "Winter Is Coming"
Slide 24 - Slide
Practice
Now do task on page 74 workbook and try to implement what we discussed.
Slide 25 - Slide
Recap Grammar
Take notes!
You need them for an assignment later
Slide 26 - Slide
Slide 27 - Slide
Slide 28 - Slide
Slide 29 - Slide
Also called reported speech used in newspaper articles.
Slide 30 - Slide
Slide 31 - Slide
narrative tenses
Write your story in the past tense, using:
Past simple (he walked, they ate)
Past continuous (he was walking, they were eating)
Past perfect (he had walked, they had eaten)
NB: Present tense can only be used in direct speech!
Slide 32 - Slide
We are going to practice!
Choose a starter
Slide 33 - Slide
Creative writing instructions
Choose ONE of the following starters to write a creative story - write between 200 and 250 words.
Slide 34 - Slide
Task criteria
Slide 35 - Slide
Read the short story
Link is on the next slide. It is a good example of a short story, using many of the components discussed to date.
Slide 36 - Slide
www.classicshorts.com
Slide 37 - Link
Creative writing starter 1
Outside the abandoned house the wind was howling, the rain swept against the windows. Teddy looked over her painful shoulder. They knew that the doors were firmly bolted and the windows locked but they had no choice ....
Slide 38 - Slide
Creative writing starter 2
Jim decided not to go to school. He was likely to have a hard day there and didn’t feel like that at all. So he left home, too late as usual, his schoolbag slung across his shoulder and he ran through the squeaky snow into Sonsbeek Park when he suddenly saw ……
Slide 39 - Slide
Creative writing starter 3
She looked puzzled, alarmed even. His sudden behaviour was telling and she didn’t know if she should tell her mother …
Slide 40 - Slide
Word
Open WORD
Put your name at the top of the document and write your story
Slide 41 - Slide
Remember
Your story should cover the 4 different stages of a story:
1) Setting the scene
2) First event that triggers the action
3) Climax
4) Final resolution or outcome
Slide 42 - Slide
Homework 24/01/2023
Write story in word and upload in next slide
Make sure you have a printed / written copy available for peer review in class