Question

how does the interplay of the elements of short story create a meaningful story

Answer 1

In the case of short stories you have to make sure that the interplay between the elements in the story are important to the plot line otherwise you will confuse your reader and take away from the overall meaning of the whole piece. Another important thing to keep in mind is that if you have too many elements or too few elements in your piece the story will either be too simple or too complicated. I hope this helped :)

Answer 2

Short stories are short...

This means that a novel has the responsibility and the ability of fleshing out characters throughout dozens of pages. Therefore the larger the story is, the easier it is to write more about your characters and what they represent. In a novel it is also easier to incorporate the theme of the story and develop it.

A short story on the other hand has only so much it can write about, therefore EVERYTHING must be meaningful in order for your story to be meaningful. The characters, the symbolism, the period and the setting must work together to make a story 10 pages long and that incorporates themes and dynamics that would otherwise fit in a novel that ranges about 100 pages long..