The Importance Of Writing A Short Story

Writing is such an essential part in any person’s life. If you’re anything like me, writing can be quite therapeutic. In elementary children find joy in writing their name and complete sentences. Once those students get older and reach a middle school age they are drilled to become “testing writers.” Texas students are completely overwhelmed with the writing structure and expectations of a test that by the time they reach high school students are completely burned out and so far withdrawn from a piece of paper and pencil.

It is up to us as teachers to reignite that fire. Relight the passion of writing and creating and finalizing. Students rarely get the chance to engage in low stakes writing. I want to give students a chance to partake in

All of these elements should be familiar to your students before you introduce the idea of writing a short story. Be sure to not catch them off guard or give an assignment that they are not quite ready for. There are certain elements that should exist in a short story. Some students will get side tracked thinking about the elements it takes to write a short story. It is important to tell them they are only going to focus on setting, characters, and plot. When a writer focuses on establishing these three elements the rest of the story will

It is a way to connect with the audience. A writer should be able to set the feeling of where the story is taking place. Establishing Characters is the second most important element of writing a short story. Readers want to feel like they can connect with what they are reading and who they are reading about.

The last important element to include in a short story is plot. What is happening in the story? What are the main events for the readers? These are some important questions writers should keep in mind. One short story by Shirley Jackson instantly comes to mind when I think about creating a setting right away.

The Lottery is a perfect short story that does a great job at engaging the reader early on, “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o 'clock; in some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 2th. But in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o 'clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.” (Jackson) As a reader it is so easy to feel that warm