Unit 1.10 Short stories and novels

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

Short stories and novels 

Unit 1.10 pg 58 

Ex 10.1 

Research: 

Flash fiction 

twitterature 

drabble 

Find out what these are. 

short short stories 

• Twitterature = literary tweets 
  
• Drabble = short stories of exactly 100 words 
  
• Flash fiction = short stories of 1,500 words or less. 4 to 5 mins reading time. 
  

criteria for a
story

Short stories and novels 

Unit 1.10 pg 59

Read the short story on pages 60 & 61

Complete questions a - f in your class notebook/exercise book 

Pathetic fallacy 

How has the author used weather to reflect the mood, tone and themes of this short story?

Write your answer, including quotes, in your exercise book. 

Draw Freytag' Pyramid for the following short story

"No!" 

"Yes." 

"You didn't!" 

"I did." 

"When?" 

"Just now." 

"Where?" 

"Bedroom." 

"Dead?" 

"Yes" 

"Why?" 

"You know." 

"I don't!" 

"You do" 

"Unfaithful?" 

"Yes" 

"With whom?" 

"With you" 

"No!" 

"Yes." 

"She didn't..." 

"She did." 

"We didn't ..." 

"You did." 

"You knew?" 

"I knew." 

"How long?" 

"Long enough." 

"What now?" 

"Guess."

Police?" 

"Later." 

"Why later?" 

"Guess again." 

"Tell me!" 

"Look"."

"Oh, no!" 

"Oh, yes." 

"You can't." 

"I can" 

"Please!" 

"Don't beg." 

"Forgive me!"

"Too late." 

"Good God!

------------------

"Operator?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"The police." 

Short stories and novels 

Unit 10.1 

Ex 10.6 pg 62 

Read the short story. Answer these questions about the short story to produce a summary 

Who? 

What? 

When? 

Where? 

Why? 

How? 

Myop/Myopia 

What is the theme? 

Read text 10.6 pgs 62 - 63

We can divide up the text using these terms. Personal preference may play a part here. 

Exposition 

Conflict 

Rising action 

Climax

Falling action 

Resolution 

Flash fiction - no more than 150 words 

How could these three objects be linked? 

Write a piece of flash fiction that features these objects in some way. 

Apply the criteria for a story that we collected. 

Start your flash fiction on a new page of your exercise book. 

Spot the problem 

It was a stormy night. The church was completely empty. The wind was blowing under the old oak doors and whistling down the aisle. The windows creaked in the storm. It was freezing cold. A man burst in through the doors suddenly. He was dressed like a tramp, with old and ragged clothes. The man staggered towards the altar. He knelt down in front of the cross and began to pray. 

He did not hear the doors creak open and another man enter the church behind him. He was also dressed poorly and he had bare feet. He tiptoed up behind the man and suddenly plunged a dagger into his back. The victim fell forward silently. "That is for stealing my shoes,"  the murderer said. 

The basics 

Three types of sentence construction: 

Simple sentence: I am regarded as a scatterbrain by my friends. 

Compound sentence: I am regarded as a scatterbrain by my friends and I agree with their opinion. 

Complex sentence: Because I am often late, and since I am always forgetting things, I am regarded as a scatterbrain by my friends.

dependent clause                                                   independent clause 

Scintillating sentences

Spice up your sentences. Start with a simile to make your writing more descriptive.

 

As quick as a flash, the dog bounded into the room.

Like a lion pursuing his prey, the man stalked through the crowd. 

starting with a subordinate clause 

changing the placement of a subordinate clause in a complex sentence can change the emphasis.   

Because she was tired, the girl yawned loudly. 

Note the comma. If you begin the sentence with a subordinate clause, it must be followed by a comma. 

starting with a present participle 

A present participle is the form of a verb which shows something is happening now. 

Crying out in frustration, she hammered on the locked door. 

You must separate the participle clause from the rest of the sentence with a comma.

starting with an adverb  

An adverb describes a verb. This technique only works with -ly adverbs. 

Cautiously, she pushed open the enormous door. 

You must separate the adverb from the rest of the sentence with a comma.

starting with a past participle 

The past participle is the form of a verb which shows something happened in the past (present or past perfect).  

Exhausted, he collapsed onto the bed. 

You must separate the past participle from the rest of the sentence with a comma.

starting with an adjective 

An adjective describes a noun. 

Red roses were strewn across the floor like pools of blood. 

A simile is also added here for effect. 

The one-word sentence.

Although sentences are usually required to contain a subject and a verb, sometimes you can break the rule for effect. Take care, though - the one-word sentence must be used sparingly, or it loses its impact. 

He gazed at the scene. Carnage 

Your turn to upgrade your work

Return to your original flash fiction. You can do better than that. Use the syntax techniques that you have just learnt to rewrite your work. Use as many sentence constructions as you can to make your story more vivid and engaging. Challenge = use all of the sentence structures given to you. You can also improve your vocabulary by using descriptive synonyms. 

We will look at some on the board.