An insight into the Short Story – Part 5

Hey there! Are you ready to continue with the short story? This time, we will  be looking at Edgar Allan Poe and his famous short story, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’.

 

Edgar Allan Poe

 

Edgar Allan Poe (1809 –1849) was an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic, best known for his tales of mystery and horror. Poe was one of the earliest American writers of the short story. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. It is a gothic tale and one of his most famous short stories.

The gothic genre

Gothic genre often presents the theme of madness within the stories, especially that of usually stable and rational male characters. Threats to body, mind and soul are recurrent, with extremes of optimism and pessimism during times of crisis. The male protagonists frequently demonstrate signs of hysteria and madness.

Have a think about the personality traits we stereotypically associate with “madness”.

Now, visit the following link in order to listen to Poe’s story, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’.

https://archive.org/details/TheTell-taleHeart

As you listen to the short story, keep an eye out for the following:

– Narrative perspective.

– The importance of the setting.

– The ambiguity of the ending.

– The atmosphere created.

 

With this task ends this post! As always, we hope this has been useful! Let us know how you get on, and don’t forget to follow in order to be notified when the next post is published!

The Kip Leicester East team!

 

An insight into the Short Story – Part 4

Greetings!

We will be carrying on with talking some more about Kurt Vonnegut in this post. He actually has some great tips on writing stories. In fact, he has eight.

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things–reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them–in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. Forget suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Aren’t these just fabulous tips? Next time you sit down, before putting pen to paper, try to remember at least 4 of these and be mindful of them when writing your short story!

Here is a handy little diagram to help you map the structure of your story:

Notice the peaks!

Now, let’s have a quick look at another author, and four of her short stories, to give you a sense of what short stories can look like.

Lydia Davis is an American writer noted for her short stories. As you go through her work, keeping in mind the following questions.

– Can you identify a structure? What is the meaning behind each story?

– Can you identify which bits of Vonnegut’s advice are being obeyed in these stories and which aren’t?

 

 

 

 

 

This marks the end of our fourth post! We really hope that you are enjoying this series and find it all useful! Let us know how you’re doing in the comments!

The Kip Leicester East team

An insight into the Short Story – Part 3

Hello!

In this post, we will be exploring the shape of stories. Yes, that’s right, stories have shapes. Determining what shape we want our story to have very often helps a great deal with writing it.

Kurt Vonnegut

The writer Kurt Vonnegut was fascinated by the shapes of stories. He liked to look for patterns and similarities within their structures. For instance, he noticed that the New Testament of the Bible was similar, in terms of structure, to Cinderella.

Do you recognise any of these? Source: http://thumbnails.visually.netdna-cdn.com/kurt-vonnegut–the-shapes-of-stories_502918a226d9a.png

Can you think of any other stories that fit these patterns or shapes? Why not try to plot them on the following graph?

 

Now, let’s get onto the real task!

– Look carefully at the shape of the structure of a story you know.

– Using this structure or shape, devise the basic plotline of a story of your own choosing. If you’re stuck for a hero or heroine, use yourself!

As always, we love to hear from you and get a peek at your attempts! Please don’t hesitate to share your story’s plot!

Until next time!

The Kip Leicester team

An insight into the Short Story – Part 2

Welcome back!

Are you sitting comfortably? Yes? Then let’s pick up where we left off!

What are the key elements of a short story?

Did you find them all?

Now, let’s have a look at an author who has mastered the art of writing short stories. This will help us understand what makes a great short story!

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway is thought to be one of the greatest American writers of all time. His clear, plain writing style has been hugely influential.

In his lifetime, Hemingway published seven novels, six short story collections and two non-fiction works but claimed his best story consisted of just six words…

For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.

1. Is this a story? Why? Why not?
2. Does this ‘story’ have a beginning, middle and end? Identify and describe these parts.
3. How does punctuation work in this piece of writing? Think about the kind of impact and effect it has.
4. How can we apply the 6 key elements of a short story to this example? (Character, setting, plot, theme, conflict, Point Of View)

These are just a few questions designed to help you identify what makes a great short story – don’t worry if you can’t answer all the questions, as long as they have gotten you thinking!

Have a go at this yourself now –

Why don’t you have a go?

Let us know how you get on by posting a comment here including your short story!

Until next time!

The Kip McGrath Leicester East team!

An insight into the Short Story – Part 1

Exploring the short story

Learning objectives:

1) To understand the short story as a form of literature

2) To explore the narrative structure of short stories.

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. A short story can vary in length due to the writers’ preferences and needs of the story itself.

In your opinion, why do we tell stories?

Short stories have their roots in oral story telling. An early example of this is in the Aboriginal culture of ancient Australia. They produced ancient rock paintings depicting stories. These are some of the earliest forms of storytelling on the planet, dating back 88,000 years.

 

The Aboriginal people told tales of morality, spirituality, life, death and birth. Their stories were ways of teaching young boys and girls the way of the world.

Key words

• What are the main elements of a short story?
• Listen to the following clip and see if you can pick out the 5 main elements of a short story and any other useful information!
• https://www.flocabulary.com/fivethings/

This activity marks the end of part 1! Pop back in soon to find out what the main elements of a short story are!

Want to know when a new post has been published? Follow this blog, or stay in the loop by following us on twitter @KipM_LeicEast !

Until next time!

An insight into the Short Story

                Ever wondered what makes a short story a gripping read? Or how to go about writing one? What can be used to hook the reader right from the very start? All these questions will be answered in various posts which will be part of the ‘An insight into the short story’ series which one of our fabulous English teachers put together. Make sure to read carefully, and have a go at the various tasks which will accompany each post; the answers will be readily available for you to check how you did! Keep an eye out, we will start posting these very soon!

The tedious times tables!

Today’s topic is one which brings immediate fear in both children and parents, for the simple reason that no one can ever seem to make them stick in their heads! Hours of chanting and your child still doesn’t know what 7×8 is. Whilst it is true that most children find the times tables difficult to master, they are indispensable, being one of the building blocks essential to progressing further in the subject. Many people look for a magic method to help their child master the dreaded times tables, but unfortunately, no such method exists! Really, the only way to make it stick is to carefully memorise each table. However, there are different ways of approaching this, and with years of working with children behind us, we can safely say that we have picked up a few tips. Of course, these will vary in relevance depending on the child, but they are tips that we have found useful.

• Make it FUN.

Though this may feel counter intuitive to some given the often serious nature of studying, children are more likely to be open to learning when they are having fun. It encourages them to make the effort, and the task seems much less daunting and boring when it is accompanied by laughter.

• Learn in GROUPS.

There’s nothing wrong with encouraging a little friendly competition between children to get them interested in the task. Not only does it make it a bit more fun, but it also incites the child to try their best to win. Children can also help and encourage one another when it is needed.

• Devise a little TUNE.

Whilst it can be unnerving to hear the same tune repeatedly over the span of 4 hours, adding a little tune to accompany the times tables can really help the child memorise them well. The only issue I have found with this is that they tend to need to repeat the entire ‘song’ from the beginning in order to reach the number they need, which can be problematic. This brings me onto my next point.

• Make sure to MIX it up!

Memorising the times tables can lead to them being recited religiously like a mantra, which, although often helpful, means that once you start jumbling the order of the numbers, the children get lost very quickly. That is why I have found it very useful to mix up the order when testing them, as well as saying the entire formula. Rather than simply chanting out the results (0, 3, 6, 9…), they should say the full thing (3×0 = 0, 3×1 = 3, 3×2 = 6 3×3 = 9…).

Let us know if you have tried any of these tips, and how it worked for you.

Have any handy tips to share? Leave a comment below!

The Kip McGrath Leicester East (K.M.L.E) team!

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