About writing

In English literature, there is a type of writing called narrative writing, the word narrative in Chinese means storytelling, so narrative writing can be translated as narrative writing or narrative writing.Short Story and Novel both belong to this genre.

In Chinese, we are accustomed to Novel translated as "novel", Story translated as "story", so Short Story is translated as "short story" or "short story". So whether Short Story is better translated as "Short Novel" or "Short Story" has not been decided yet. Because different languages do not have equivalent translations, and because the path of development of the novel in Chinese literature is very different from the path of development of the novel in Western literature, the details of this biting and chewing of words will be put aside for the time being, and the following unified tone is called short story.

The short story in English literature is specifically shorter, and centers around a single event in the narrative genre. The length is capped at 10,000 words, with some saying that 5,000 words is the maximum.

So what are the elements of a classic English short story? Simply put, it's the P.A.C.T.S. Canadian high school teachers ask students to fill out a P.A.C.T.S. sheet to analyze and understand a short story.

A story, whether a novel or a novella, cannot be separated from a plot. According to the definition of a short story, it has only one central event around which the plot of the story revolves. Including:

The plot of a complete short story should include all these elements, so that the overall trend of the novel in the A word:

Storytelling to create an atmosphere, so that the reader produces the appropriate emotions. Atmosphere is what the author conveys through his or her words, and Emotion is what the reader perceives as he or she reads the words. A good piece of writing should be one in which the writer is able to make the reader feel the atmosphere he or she has created and develop the appropriate emotions. The opposite is true for a poor piece of writing, where the reader either doesn't feel the atmosphere created by the author, or produces emotions that don't match the author's expectations at all.

For example, using the natural environment to create an atmosphere is the most common technique in literature, with sunny days representing good moods and cloudy days representing sadness ....... It's not that bad luck won't happen on a clear day in real life, but that such a writing method is closest to the psychological perception of normal people, because when people are in a good mood, they just feel that the air is clear and the sky is clear. In this regard, Thomas Hardy is a master, you can refer to his "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" in the description of nature is how to emphasize the main character's sad and happy situation.

Of course, a literary master can make bad luck happen on a sunny day and make the reader feel even more devastated, but it is often dangerous for a beginning writer to do so, causing the reader to read in a state of emotional turmoil, suspecting the author of being a snake charmer.

Someone once received a letter from a distant friend on New Year's Day: "For the past few New Year's Days, each time our two families have been together, what a pleasant gathering of friends. This year you are far away, but somehow we do not feel sad at all." --If we didn't know that this dude is forever wordy, this letter would basically be the rhythm of a jilted letter. It's a car crash scene of atmosphere creation.

Needless to say, short stories must have characters, and usually more than one: one or two primary characters and a few secondary characters. You can't have more than two main characters, otherwise it's a mess.

Secondary characters are constant throughout the story and exist as background color. As the plot unfolds and the conflict develops, the primary characters must have a clear, logical process of change, or a change in situation, or a change in psychology, or a change in mood, and so on and so forth. If there is no change in the main characters, it will be a tasteless story, and if there is a change in the secondary characters, it will be a confusing story with no distinction between the main and secondary characters.

The protagonist should also have an Antagonist, the person or thing that causes trouble for the protagonist. The antagonist can be another protagonist, a secondary character, the protagonist himself, or even the protagonist's social and natural environment.

In the Chinese context, one of the most important differences between a novel and a story is that a story is just about an event, which may be real or imagined, and the story may not convey any of the narrator's values or concepts; whereas a novel is different, a novel is a story in which the author conveys his own thoughts, which is what we often say, The central idea is what we often call the "central idea" that we hate in high school.

Therefore, a good novel should allow readers to get a "life lesson". Of course, each reader has his or her own life experience, so the life lesson that each reader gets from the same novel may be different. Take Maupassant's The Necklace as an example, the standard answer in Chinese high school language is "a merciless criticism of the bourgeoisie's vain lifestyle", while the standard answer in Canada has several: be honest (if you had admitted to your friend that you lost the necklace, you might only have to pay 500 francs and not have to do ten years of hard labor), be faithful in love (it's not like she has a loser wife, she doesn't even have a domestic violence wife), be honest in life. The wife of a loser didn't even abuse her, and even borrowed money to help her pay off her debts, so it's definitely true love.)......

Generally, the time and place of a story will be made clear at the beginning of the story, but not always. Sometimes the time and place of the story will be hidden in the storyline; for example, the sight of a horse-drawn carriage for hire will probably lead the reader to guess that it's at least a century old, and the mention of earning seven shillings a week will lead them to guess that the story takes place in England, and that it's a long time ago as well.

While a beginner writer can make the time and place clear from the start, a more advanced writer can convey this information silently in the text, and combine it with the storyline to form a coherent whole.

In addition to the five elements of PACTS, short stories also have a major element of Narration & Point of View, abbreviated as POV. POV means the story is told from whose point of view, that is, what the Chinese call first-person and third-person narration.

First person is easy to understand, the whole story is "I", "I", "I", I see, I hear, I move, I say, I think. The biggest limitation of this perspective is that "I" can only know what others say or do in my presence, but "I" don't know what others think or what they say or do when "I" am not present. But I don't know what others think, or what others say or do when I'm not there (unless another person comes along and tells me). The biggest advantage of this perspective is that it's suitable for first-time writers, because as long as you write clearly about how "I" am, everyone else is a reflection of what "I" see and hear.

The third person tells the story in "he", "she", "it". Third person is subdivided into 3rd person view limited and 3rd person view Omniscient.

Limited third person is written from the point of view of the main character, and the storyteller knows what the main character is doing and thinking, but not much about the other characters, which is how most third person stories are told.

God's point of viewThe reason the third person is called God's point of view is that the storyteller knows all the actions and thoughts of everyone throughout the story, and is an omniscient being. For an example of specific writing, you can refer to Jane Austen's novels. This is a favorite way for beginners to tell a story, because it is easier to write out what each character is thinking and handing it to the reader than to describe the character's actions and behavior. However, this writing is very easy to cause confusion, so that the reader in different characters of different perspectives jumping around, as if a beginner cameraman, the camera shaking around, out of the video can only make people dizzy. As for some beginners writing in the first person but always "accidentally" drilling into other people's bodies to say what they think, it's even more of a joke.

This article is based on my English class notes from my high school in Canada and my personal understanding of the subject, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.