Some of them focus on the story itself while others use the short story to convey a lesson or a moral. Then there are others who develop a setting or a character or create an atmosphere in their stories. You’ll not find longer narratives in short stories unlike novels and epics. The story is essentially told in a single episode or scene involving a limited number of characters.

In more recent examples of short stories, you might even have only a single character. Some of the avant-garde short stories don’t even have a plot. Instead of narrating a story, these short stories focus more on creating an atmosphere or mood. They focus on the outcome of events. Contrary to the popular perception, short stories are capable of having endless variety in them.

They can also have a great deal of flexibility just like a novel. Of course, there are some significant differences between a short story and a novel. Unlike the latter, a short story doesn’t have the luxury of leisurely development of settings or characters. Instead, a short story usually begins on the verge of a climax.

Short stories don’t often have complicated plots. This is why intensity is an important feature in a short story. Here are some of the major characteristics of a short story:

1. Characters

In short stories, the number of characters are usually limited. They’ll have a main character or protagonist, whom you’ll meet at a crucial stage in his or her life. You may only know a couple of his or her qualities. The other people who appear in the story are generally the minor characters.

2. Narrator

You must not confuse the narrator here with the author. In a short story, a narrator is the voice that tells the story. Narrators in short stories are purely fictional.

3. Setting

Because of the limited length of short stories, it is rather unusual to have many settings in them. A setting is the time and place where the events in the story take place. As a short story covers a shorter time span, its setting can be directly stated or implied.

4. Events

Events are the facts in the story that form the storyline and drive the action forward. The way the narrator arranges and presents the events is described as the plot. Mostly, the short stories have one main plot without the presence of any sub-plots. There’s no room for sub-plots in a short story.

5. Closure

A closure is the ending of the narrative. If it solves the problem or issue in the story, it closes the ending. If the situations are left unresolved, the ending is considered open. In this case, the short story ends with the climax.

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Someone might’ve told you in the past that you had misunderstood the poems recited during the English classes. You might’ve also faced certain situations where you were told that your poem was full of cliches. This usually happens because of the vastness and variety that the world of poetry has.

There are poems that you’ll fall in love with and certain types that you’ll be delighted to write. All that you require might be a quick introduction to different types of poems. Some have complicated rules, while others are quite simple. Now let’s go through some of the types of poems that are popular today:

1. Sonnet

The sonnet is what would come to your mind instantly when talking about the types of poems. It’s one of the oldest poetic forms, which originated in the 13th century in Italy. Two forms of sonnets are common and both of them have lots of rules. These two forms of sonnet are the Petrarchan and the Shakespearean. Some also call them Italian and Elizabethan respectively.

Sonnets consist of 14 lines traditionally and are mostly about romance. This includes lost love, love after marriage, forgotten love, and many others. The rhyme scheme of Petrarchan sonnets are ABBA ABBA CDE CDE, while the Shakespearean have ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

2. Haiku

The haiku is a Japanese form of poem that originated in the 17th century. It appeared famously in the writings of Matsuo Basho. As haiku are very short poems, they’ve become a favorite for school assignments and writing exercises. A haiku typically comprises 17 syllables in 3 lines.

The first line contains 5 syllables, the second line consists of 7, and the third has 5. The haiku are commonly about nature and you’ll often find a seasonal reference in them. They usually contain two juxtaposed ideas or images.

3. Ballad

Ballad would be an excellent choice if you want to read a story or tell one through a poem. It’s an old and traditional form that was passed down from one generation to the next orally. If you want to follow the rules, there are some strict rules in this type of poem.

Ballads are written in groups of four lines, known as quatrains. They follow the rhyme scheme ABAB or ABCD. The lines alternate between eight and six syllables. However, you can make whatever you want of a Ballad.

4. Free verse

This is the type of poem that’s the most liberating. It gives you the freedom to do whatever you want, as there are no rules in free verse. You don’t need to follow the regular patterns of rhyme or rhythm. There’s no need for lines of a particular length or stanzas consisting of a certain number of lines.

Although this poetic form is liberating, it also terrifies many in the poetic world. Sometimes, it can be hard to know where to begin when you want to write a poem in free verse. Nevertheless, you can give it a try!

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In recent times, he is the creative consultant and lead tutor at Curtis Brown Creative. It is a writing school run by Curtis Brown, a London-based literary agency. Among his six published and acclaimed novels are What I Did, The Devil’s Mask, and On Cape Three Points.

Early days

Christopher Wakling was born in the year 1970. He spent his childhood in California and the south of England. After winning a scholarship at Oxford, he moved to London. While he was in London, he worked in Brick Lane for a Nigerian businessman. His job involved writing a significant amount of copy on a weekly basis.

He then started a PhD in Joyce, Faulkner and psycholinguistics at University College London (UCL). According to him, the PhD was not of much help to him. It only made him poor in Joyce, Faulkner, and psycholinguistics. He even went to a law school, which eventually led him to a job in this field. At the back of the court, he used to write stories in his legal notepads.

While at his desk, he spent his time reading photocopied novels despite the fear of getting caught. Before he left, he had worked for several impressive clients. They included the Football Association and People’s Republic of China. Although the work was quite interesting, it was not something that he liked and wanted to do.

First novel

After quitting his job, he went to Australia. He wrote his first novel while looking at a beach when he was in the country. The novel contained a lot of wave imagery that was inappropriate. His mother had told him that he had handled sex in a sensitive way with the waves. While he was in Australia, he took great efforts to learn surfing and flying a plane.

His father and grandfather were pilots in the Royal Air Force. So, he wanted to learn how to fly. Talking about this experience, he once mentioned that his plane was not that impressive as theirs. Upon returning to London from Australia, he wrote a novel and had it published before moving to Bristol. This move came at a time when the city was observing the bicentenary of the abolition of slave trade.

The Devil’s Mask and other works

As the bicentenary of the historic event was approaching, the city was figuring out what to do about it. This sparked an interest in him and inspired him to write The Devil’s Mask. He wrote this book while he was the fellow of the inaugural Royal Literary Fund (RLF). Besides working as an RLF fellow, he is a frequent contributor to The Independent.

Through his contributions as a travel journalist he has written on various destinations. They include Puerto Rico, Morocco, New Zealand, and Gambia. When he is not writing or working on other projects, he looks after his two little kids. He feels that fatherhood is a fantastic experience and has exposed some interesting flaws in character.

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