The short story is often described as fiction.Fiction is the noun for fictitious , that is, an event which did not take place
nor are the people in it actual people who are known to be living.However, the story must seem true to life as if it did take place. As a result the people and the places in the story are given actual names and the story is narrated in the past tense.
There are 2 types of people technically called caharacters in a story.-a hero and a villain
a few simple steps in a story are
1 CHARACTERS MAKE A STORY.
2 A STORY MOVES FORWARD THROUGH ACTION
3 ONLY CONFLICT CREATES ACTION
4 CONFLICT IS GENERATED FROM A CLASH OF THE HERO AND THE VILLAIN
5 A STORY STARTS NEAR THE END
6THE HERO AT THE END OF THE STORY MUST OVERCOME THE VILLAINY
7 A SHORT STORY MUST HAVE A HAPPY ENDING AS A RULE
What is a character?
A character in a story has human attributes or vharacter traits which govern his actions
For the hero whom we must be likeable his traits are always virtues like courage, generosity, patience,etc.
And the villain who is always a rogue or depraved , his traits may be thieving, lieing,perverted, etc
As we can see , the the hero is'' the one things are done to'' and the villain is always the offensive type who puts hindrances in the way of the hero.
A hero most importantly, must have a goal. A strong goal like wanting to set up his own small business from scratch, trying to defeat a phoney rival to marry a woman he dearly loves, etc
The stronger the goal the stronger the motives and the drives that impel him to succeed.
And we tend to suffer with him , and jubilating with him when he achieves his goal at the end.This gives us a great feeling of satisfaction at the end .
There are 3 types of villainy
1wicked or depraved persons
2 opposing economic forces like inflation, scarcity, poverty,
3 opposing natural forces like hurricanes, rain, illness and handicaps like blindness.