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Short story: Conflict and resolution (SVFL)
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What sensory impression does this sentence illustrate? "The sound of glass breaking against a hard stone floor made all the kids turn around ."
Remember that we had written an exposition where Nina stumbled in the school canteen and simultaneously laid eyes on Adam for the very first time? Did we get everything we needed into that exposition? Let's have a look. The main character: That's Nina. She's a bit clumsy, and has dark messy hair.
Adam: New in school and gorgeous according to Nina. Place: A School Canteen in Solna. Time: Day, lunch hour. Yes, we covered it all. Some sensory impressions?
Yep! ... Hearing... and sight. Now it's time to introduce the conflict to the reader. Nina finds out that Adam has a hearing impediment.
Nina says: Hi! Hi! Hi? Hi! In the middle of the short story it's time to increase the tension by making the conflict clearer.
It's time for Nina to test her skills in sign language and tell Adam how she feels about him. She is nervous and at first makes the wrong signs so he fails to understand. Tension is growing and the conflict escalates. Nina gets really nervous and tries again. Adam still doesn't understand her.
Finally she writes down her message on a piece of paper... but they get interrupted when he is about to read it. When the story is as exciting as possible, it's at its height. This is called climax or sometimes peripeti. Climax comes from the greek word for 'stairs' and Peripeti means 'turning point'.
Turning point because now it's time for something new to happen that resolves the conflict. This resolution can lead to joy or sorrow for the characters. "But at the moment when Adam finally is about to read the paper another guy comes by. It's Adam's boyfriend -- they kiss. In front of Nina." Now, we come to the final part of the story where we find out what will happen to our characters. How do they feel?
What do they do? Nina feels depressed and doesn't even want to go to school. Tomas skips school and comes over to her place to comfort her. He uses sign language... to tell her that he is in love with her.
At the end of the of the story you can either tell what will happen to the characters - Nina might fall in love with Tomas and kiss him. ... Or you can leave it up to the the reader to guess what will happen to Nina and Tomas. This is called leaving the reader with unanswered questions, or an open ending. Finally you decide upon a title. Maybe "Listen to love"...
No... too lame! "Signs" perhaps? Ah well, you'll probably come up with something much better for your short story. Now it's time for you to get on with writing it.