WHAT IS A SHORT STORY?

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas (in the 20th and 21st century sense) and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because of the fragmentation of the medium into genres. Since the short story format includes a wide range of genres and styles, the actual length is determined by the individual author's preference (or the story's actual needs in terms of creative trajectory or story arc) and the submission guidelines relevant to the story's actual market. Guidelines vary greatly among publishers. Many short story writers define their work through a combination of creative, personal expression, and artistic integrity. They attempt to resist categorization by genre as well as definition by numbers, finding such approaches limiting and counter-intuitive to artistic form and reasoning. As a result, definitions of the short story based on length splinter even more when the writing process is taken into consideration.

SYMBOL

A symbol is a person, place, or thing comes to represent an abstract idea or concept -- it is anything that stands for something beyond itself. A symbol can be any object or action that is used to evoke ideas or emotions that go beyond its obvious surface meaning. It is a statement within a statement. It is one of the chief devices for bridging the gap between the writers vision and the readers.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF POETRY

EXPECTATION AND SURPRISE

Poetry is full of surprises. Poems express anger or outrage just as effectively as love or sadness, and good poems can be written about going to a rock concert or having lunch, as well as about gazing at the cloudless sky or smelling the flowers.

WORDS
Fiction and drama depend upon language just as poetry does. But in a poem, almost everything comes down to words. Poems often are short and use only a few words, so a lot depends on every single one. Poetry sometimes feel like prose that is distilled: only the most essential words are there, just barely enough so that we communicate in the most basic way, using signs of meaning and feeling and each chosen foe exactly the right shade of meaning.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Figurative language is a word or phrase that departs from everyday literal language for the sake of comparison, emphasis, clarity, or freshness. Metaphor and simile are the two most commonly used figures of speech, but things like hyperbole, synecdoche, puns, and personification are also figures of speech. Used well, figurative language enhances your fiction and can be an economical way of getting an image or a point across. However, used incorrectly, figurative language can be confusing or downright silly.