ABSTRACT
David Lodge suggests that compared to structure in other spheres, such as buildings and architecture, narrative structure has more to do with time than space. This chapter explores three connected elements that make up a short story’s structure. The structure of any story won’t be noticed by readers, but it will nonetheless determine the type of story the narrative becomes and how it is read. The notion of structure as invisible can persist in some writers’ accounts of their creative process, where they might claim their stories are not structured in advance. The notion of a ‘dramatic action’, commonly associated with plays and films, has been acknowledged by fiction writers like Flannery O’Connor as a central plank of any narrative structure.
