Question

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

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

An important thing to remember, especially in short stories, is a literary device called Chekhov's Gun. Essentially, it means that you never introduce something into the story without using it in some way, shape, or form. So let's say in the first paragraph of your story you describe the setting. Let's say a cottage in the countryside and it is raining. You must use every single thing you've included as a part of your story. There has to be a reason you chose to make it a cottage and not a house, mansion, castle, villa, townhome. There has to be a reason it is the countryside. Perhaps the protagonist keeps horses. There has to be a reason it is raining. Perhaps you wish to demonstrate a certain tone such as sadness or perhaps the rain will let up and it synchronises with the climax of the story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov%27s_gun