This exegesis investigates the ways in which narrative devices can be implemented in short fiction, to heighten the impression of character and place. The devices are examined in relation to the creative writing in my master’s thesis, 'All That Could Happen', and to experiments with narrative in contemporary American short fiction. The main findings of this study are that implementing specific devices of style and design can; i) give lyrical expression to character and place, engaging the reader in a ‘listening’ rather than mainly ‘visual’ interaction with the text; ii) direct the telling of the story through meanings and tensions residing in conversations between characters, or in the relationship between character and place; rather than through the narrative; and, iii) allow the reader greater contemplation of, and empathy for characters and places that are fractured and under stress.