A narrative is a sequence of events linked together and is often described as a story. The word narrative comes from the term narrator which is also known as the story teller. You can search this back to ancient times where one person would tell a story or a myth. You may have also noticed during a play that there will be a narrator that says a line every now and again to explain where the characters are and so on.
Types of Narrative
Types of Narrative
- Within literature there are various types of narrative, however the beauty of it is that it does not only refer to one genre or period of time. Every play, fairy tale, or horror has a narrative but they just have different content.
- We touched on the fact that a narrator is someone who speaks aloud the story that they are telling, however a narrative is the progression of the story itself. Therefore, the story throughout a book is the narrative for that particular piece of literature.
- Not only does the story as a whole have a narrative, but the characters individually may have their own narrative. Some writers like to dissect the lives of their characters separately and describe a character's own personal narrative. They may all be part of one big story, but literature introduces mini stories in between.
- If there was no narrative in a story then there would be no structure or continuity. It would simply be stagnate and lifeless. The point of a narrative is to push it forward and run with an idea.
- Even factual textbooks have a narrative because they have to get to a certain point. It helps people to process and comprehend things in a structural manner.
