Features of a successful story

Running Head: ENGLISH ESSAY
English Essay
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1ENGLISH ESSAY
Topic –Features of a successful story
Fiction is something that is created by the imagination of the author. A story is invented
or formed by the author, characters are sketched, the plot and the dialogues are set and a work of
fiction is ready to be read (Boyd). However, a fictional work does not tell a true story. Rather, it
immerses people in experiences which might never happen in the practical world. A particular
story introduces people with many types of characters and new types of places too where the
reader can never go actually. A work of fiction inspires people, intrigues them, scares them and
engages them with new ideas. It further helps to see the world in an interesting way.
Usually, there are three types of fiction such as the short story, the novel and the novella.
As per the views of the famous short story writer Edgar Allan Poe, a short story is rather a piece
of fiction which can be finished within half an hour to two hours. Ort short story hardly runs
more than 20- 30 pages (Eisenberg). Since a short story has a limited length, it focuses more on
the plot with minimum characters. A short story is formed of few essential elements such as
theme, characters, conflict, and setting. Theme is the controlling idea which is desired by the
author to be understood by the reader. It is often the author’s own view of a subject. The
characters are the heart of a story and in every story, there are two primary characters such as
antagonist and protagonist. Conflict can be referred to as the problem around which the whole
story revolves (Somasundaran). On the other hand, setting is that element which refers to the
time and place of the story. However, there are more aspect of the story but these are the basic
and intricate ones.
As an example of a successful story, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “ The Yellow Wallpaper
“ can be taken into account. The story is based on the author’s own experiences with the
postpartum depression. The story can be considered as a successful short story because it