“Plot, character, conflict, theme, setting. Yes these are the five things that you’re gonna be needing when you’re reading or writing. A short story that’s mad exciting!!”- Flocabulary lyric on the short story
So, let’s just start a story as to why these valuable elements have to go together when you’re creating a story “that’s mad exciting”. Think about it like a basketball game in a more simple way.
Plots are like the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarter dramas- the highlights. All of what is going on in the game. The fouls, the turnovers, the dunks, points, field goals, and all the rest. They all belong to the plot. Without this, there would be no game. Without game, well, if your short story is about the basketball game, then there would be no story. That is, my friend, in which Basketball is also like Chemistry, the atoms of forming the element that would later combine with others to form a compound, which would contain some of the highlights of “fakes left and drives right for the hoop.”. For example, like the short story “Rules of the Game” , the plot is where Mei Mei is having family conflict with her family members…. especially her mom. Mom wants her to win with style just like in a basketball game, a blowout 20+ points outscore victory. In which this conflicts with Mei Mei because she wants to win, but she wanted to rather enjoy the game of chess, and her losses wouldn’t matter. In which her mental mindset would be like 50% competitive 50% fun. Her mom’s mindset, using 100% competitiveness within her, would control Mei Mei just like the wind.
Characters are like the players, coaches, referees, and maybe even the cheerleaders and the fans in the stands (nice assonance!) . They’re classified as main and secondary characters which is like the atoms and the ions that forms the elements. Oh yeah, without those atoms don’t expect a game to function the way it is suppose to because a element that lacks the atom composition is in fact not the same element (interesting how “elements” is for both chemistry and short stories). Oh, and with a different element don’t expect the same compound to be created as the original one. Just like I said above in the “Rules of the Game”, within there contains the characters such as Mei Mei and her mom.
Conflict is the problem, or what is behind the motive for what the character is trying to do. The goal of two basketball team is to defeat one another and win the ball game, and that trying to win would be the problem in this scenario. Conflict could happen anytime at anywhere. It’s something you will have to face along with the plot, and without it, the story could exist but would be rather weird to read. The resolution could be peace and lovely, but no pain no gain, so the conflict could be the process of pain (the competitive game) before you gain something (the win).
People say you need to learn to lose in order to be a winner, Let’s just say team A is done with losing and the whole team is motivated to out hustle and out match the Team B and snap that losing streak. The problem would be trying to beat Team B, the plot would be the actual game where the actions does the talking. In the “Rules of the Game” this plot is almost like the conflict where Mei Mei struggles with her mom’s tyrannical like control.
Theme is like the main purpose of what the story is teaching. In fact, what I just learn above could be the theme of the short story I said about the competition between Team A and B. During the plot the game is very competitive and throughout and both team was using mental toughness to win. The game goes down to the wire as the first three quarters was a stalemate. At very the end Team A prevails 80-79 and by that one point victory. They got their first taste of victory, at a staggering physical fatigue that would let them learn the ultimate theme of “No pain no gain” and “You must lose first before you learn the taste of winning”. Just like in the story “To build a fire”, it teaches a theme “sometimes advices might be a life savior to you”.
Setting, well basically said where this short story takes place, in this case let’s just say this takes place around a school at a nearby indoor basketball gym. The setting is the stepping stone for what the story would develop. Without this element, don’t expect a story to take place because it doesn’t. Simple and accurate, a short story would not exist on a universal scale without a setting of the elements that are gonna go through the chemical changes and form a compound…. Like in the book To build a fire, it shows the setting of a man struggling in the freezing snow.
So, like I said my readers. Without anyone of these element it is impossible to create a good short story. Nothing’s impossible yes but it is impossible to create a good one. If you lack plot, what happened? If you lack character, wait… who did what? If you lack conflict, what’s the problem? If you lack theme, what are you trying to teach? If you lack setting, where’s your story? Just remember these when you’re writing a short story and best of luck to you my friend haha!