Anne Skyvington
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Anne Skyvington

The Craft of Writing

  • Writing
    • Craft
      • Structuring a Short Story
      • Alternative Narrative Approaches
      • Genre in Writing
      • A Grain of Folly
        • Novel Writing
          • The Sea Voyage: a metaphor
          • How I Created My Debut Novel
          • What I learnt from writing a novel…
          • Short Story
            • At the Swimming Pool
            • The Night of the Barricades
          • Poetry
            • a funny thing happened …
            • An ancient mystic: Rumi
            • A Window into Poetry
            • The Voice of T.S. Eliot
  • Publishing
    • A Change of Blog Title
    • 5 Further Publishing Facts
    • 5 Facts I Learnt About Self/Publishing
    • Highs and Lows of Self Publishing
    • A Perfect Pitch to a Publisher
    • A Useful Site for Readers and Indie Authors: Books 2 Read
  • Book Reviews
    • A Story of a Special Child
    • Discovering Karrana
    • A Young Adult Novel: My French Barrette
    • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills
    • The Trouble With Flying: A Review
  • Mythos
    • Ancient Stories from Childhood
    • Births Deaths and Marriages
    • Duality or Onenness: The Moon
    • The Myth of Persephone and Demeter
    • Pandora’s Box
    • 7 ancient artefacts in the British Museum
    • Symbolism of Twins
    • The Agony and the Ecstasy of Change
    • Voices From the Past
  • Australia
    • A Country College Residence
    • A Kit Home Goes Up in Vacy
    • A Sydney Icon or Two
    • 5 things about Coogee
    • Moree and Insistent Voices
    • Things To Do in Sydney
  • Travel
    • A Bird’s Eye View
    • A Tuscan Village Holiday
    • Back to Cavtat in Croatia
    • Travel to Croatia
    • 5 or 6 Things About Valencia
  • Guest Post
    • a father’s tale … by Ian (Harry) Wells
    • A Guest Poem: “First Loves” by Roger Britton
    • A Love Sonnet by Ian Harry Wells
    • “Snakey” by Roger Britton
    • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills
    • A Story of a Genteel Ghost told by Roger Britton
  • Psychology
    • Creativity and Mental Illness
    • Networking and Emotional Intelligence
    • C.G.Jung’s Active Imagination and the Dead
    • Psychology as a Field of Study
    • Western Influencers Down Through The Ages
  • Life Stories
    • Adriatic Romance … Rijeka to Titograd
    • Always something there to remind me…
    • A Well-Loved Pet
    • Candidly Yours…
    • Memoir Writing
    • River Girl: An Early Chapter of my Memoir in Progress
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Aristotle the father of poetics

bridge-foundation
CraftCraft of Writing

Structuring a Short Story

Note: I first published this post on this blog in February, 2013. I have added little to the original for re-scheduling it in April 2019, apart from photos and some minor formatting changes. I have also added Kate Forsythe's more complex pyramid diagram below.

How do you go about writing a short story? You might have a good idea and an interesting character to portray, but you have no idea about how to create a valid structure. It’s a bit like building a house, or a bridge: you want to create a solid foundation, sturdy walls and a ceiling. It’s the same for story writing. But you may decide to focus on the final structure at a later stage of production, rather than at the outset. The basic structure is:

A: a Beginning
B: a Middle and
C: an End.

Aristotle first stated this in 350 BC. Just as you can break the parts of a building down into smaller parts, a narrative structure can also be broken into smaller segments that support and fit into the larger framework.

One way of analysing the structure is to think in terms of a seven-point plan. Why seven? This has esthetic connotations, and possibly spiritual ones, too.

The main part of the Introduction is the hook: a focus that motivates the reader’s interest and involves a character facing a problem. The Middle of the story is the meaty part that contains the plot line or sequence of events. Finally you have the Ending, which involves resolution and/or validation.

I am not suggesting that you, as a writer, must always plan your story ahead of time according to this structure. This is not my intention at all, nor my own way of going about writing a short story. You must be allowed to allow the creative juices to flow from the outset. The 7 point structure may help you merely after “getting it down”, to rearrange and to add parts that have been left out of your narrative.

A: The Hook: 1

The Main Character is portrayed in the Introduction as a personnage of interest. There may be a reference, at least implicitly, to a problem linked to the protagonist, who is often good but flawed or different from the personnage we find at the end of the story. The Setting can be included as part of the Introduction.

B: The Plot: 2

The storyline and sequence of events belongs to the Middle Section, and is the longest part of the book. Here the main character is faced with a problem and a call to action. The first attempt is a reactive one and ends in failure.

Reversals of fortune, Recognitions: 3

Pressure is placed on the protagonist to solve the problem and he makes several attempts to do so.

The Midpoint: 4

The protagonist makes an irreversible decision to take decisive action despite fears and overwhelming obstacles.

Things Worsen: 5

Despite the well-meaning actions of the protagonist, actions may even be the cause of reversals in fortune. At the same time, learning takes place. The character is henceforth prepared and ready for resolution.

C: Extreme Deterioration: 6

At the end comes climax: the character tries to resolve the problem once again and either fails or succeeds in the end. It’s important that the protagonist doesn’t give up, either way. We feel pity and fear for the hero and hope for success.

Resolution: 7

Validation shows that the story is over. The ending validates the promise set up in the beginning. Or it may overturn or reject it.

Addendum:

Keep the basic structure of Introduction, Middle and End in the back of your mind while getting your story down. You may be able to create an esthetic whole straight off. Editing drafts to perfect it may be all that is needed.

If not, rearrange and “flesh out” your story according to the above more complex guidelines. This can be done “after the event”, that is, during the second and successive drafts of the narrative.

Gustav Freytag in 1900 further developed Aristotle’s ideas by his pyramid diagram with its 7 points:

Gustav Freytag.
Gustav Freytag. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
 
freytags-pyramid.svg
Freytag’s Pyramid
 
kate-forsyth-triangle
  • Strong Character Development
  • Short Story by Unamuno
  • The Rise of the Short Story
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  • Writing Advice
  • Unreliable narrators: a booklist
  • The Best Fiction of 2012 (Feature)
Structuring a Short Story was last modified: February 18th, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
April 12, 2019 0 comment
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About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington

Anne Skyvington is a writer based in Sydney who has been practising and teaching creative writing skills for many years. You can learn here about structuring a short story and how to go about creating a longer work, such as a novel or a memoir. Subscribe to this blog and receive a monthly newsletter on creative writing topics and events.

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About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington is a Sydney-based writer and blogger. <a href="http://anneskyvington.com.au She has self-published a novel, 'Karrana' and is currently writing a creative memoir based on her life and childhood with a spiritual/mystical dimension.

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