The Essential Elements Of A
Story
1. GENRE
It is a style or category of art. A story can
be a fiction or non-fiction or comedy or tragedy or scientific fiction or
horror or thriller. The author should follow one of these styles to appeal to
the reader
2.SETTING
The setting
is the location of the action. An author should describe the environment or surroundings
of the story in a vivid and clear way so that the reader visualizes the
location of the actions. A setting can be a house, park, school, market place,
forest, sea, or any other place we usually encounter in our daily life. It can
be an unusual setting like hell, heaven, space, clouds, underground or anything
the author could imagine.
3.PLOT
The plot is
the actual story around which the entire story is based. A plot should have a very
clear beginning, middle, and end—with all the necessary descriptions and
suspense, so that the reader can really figure out how the story begins,
progresses and ends.
4. CHARACTERS
Can we
imagine a story without characters? This is the most important element of story
writing. The characters are the individuals that the story is about. The author
should introduce the characters through colourful and interesting description
about their appearance, their qualities, their actions, their feelings and
emotions Every story should have a main character, the protagonist. The main
character determines the way the plot will begin, develop and end and it is the
protagonist around whom the story revolves. There is another important
character who always works against the protagonist and that is the antagonist.
The power, skills, traits and the uniqueness of the protagonist is brought forth by the
antagonist in his attempt to destroy the main character. Sometimes the antagonist could be his own mistake or a situation or a problem or some abstract idea that proves to be a setback. However, the other characters are also very important because they support
and help the protagonist in beginning, developing and ending the story.
5. THEME
The theme is the idea or
belief or moral or lesson or insight of the story. It’s the central argument
that the author is trying to make the reader understand. The theme of the story
depends on the genre of the story.
6.TONE
The tone of the story is
the overall emotion the story produces. It can be happiness, sadness,
disappointment, excitement, fear, humiliation, anger or sympathy. The genre of
the story decides the tone of the story.
7. CONFLICT
Every story has
and must have a conflict to solve. The plot is depended on this conflict and
the ways in which the characters attempt to resolve the conflict. Actions get
meaning and significance when the characters encounter something that gives
rise to a thrill or suspense or a surprise. The conflict assures one of these
or all of these to make the story fascinating. In a precise sense, a story
without a conflict is like food without flavour and music without melody. The conflict in the story is
created either by the protagonist or the antagonist or the characters
associated with both.
8. RESOLUTION
If conflict
forms the problem, the resolution forms the solution to it. In clear sense, the
solution to the problem is the way the action is resolved. It is important that
the resolution fits the rest of the story in tone and creativity and solves all
parts of the conflict. The resolution of the problem becomes the culmination of
the story.
9. POINT-OF-VIEW
A story is a narrative. Therefore
it becomes essential for the reader to know who is narrating the story; is it
the author himself or the protagonist or the antagonist or one of the
supporting characters. First person (“I”) is used if one of the characters of
the story is narrating or third person (“he/she/it”) is used if the author
narrates. Second person (“you”) is not often used for writing stories
10. LANGUAGE
Use of appropriate
language decides the success of the story. Appropriate language includes proper
use of words, grammar and sentences. The narration of the story can be in
direct speech or indirect speech or a combination of both. It can be in the
form of a dialogue or narration. The tense of the story is important. The
author can narrate either in simple past tense or simple present tense.