Narrative Literature

The simplest definition of the narrative genre is that it tells a story. But we need to know the difference between a mere story and a story of narrative literature. An ordinary story only entertains us through mere thrilling, mystifying, or causing laugher or tears. This entertainment is, of course, important. But this importance can be converted into a greater one by adding a human purpose to the story. A great story brings human experiences and interprets those experiences and makes us think. In fact, all literature carries out this function. 

There are different modes through which a writer can tell his story. He can write his story in poetry or prose. If it is poetry, he has to decide whether he should write the story as a ballad or epic. If it is prose, he is to decide whether it is a short story or a novel. 

After selecting the mode of expression, the author plans how to present the sequence of events. This plan leads to developing a plot. Plot means storyline. It means how the author starts, develops, and ends his story. This storyline develops through the activities of the characters. Their actions can be known directly from the mouth of the author. Or, they can be known by presenting them in action. On the basis of their activities in the story, they can be technically termed as "round characters", "flat characters" and "stock characters". While round characters are complex and many-sided, flat characters are simple ones and have only one or two traits. Stock characters are reserved characters used occasionally by the author according to the pattern. The activities of the characters can be narrated in four ways: linear, non-linear, quest, or viewpoint narrative.

Linear narratives

A linear story develops like a straight line. It just presents the events one after another. It does not jump to or skip around to different points in time. So, it tells the story from one point in time to another; it does not start in the middle or in the climax or in the other points in time of the story and then jumps back to the beginning or to the present time by using "flashback" or flash-forward" techniques. So, a linear story has the following structure: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. Look at the plot diagram below:

 Non-linear Narratives

A non-linear story does not follow any particular order. it does not have a defined chronological structure called a three-act structure--beginning, middle, and end. A non-linear story may drop the readers directly into conflict, and then it may take them to the cause of the conflict through the usage of "flashbacks". Medias Res is a literary device used to describe a story that opens with its characters already in the middle of the story: whether the hero has met his beloved or the villain has imprisoned the hero. So, you can understand that a non-linear story is narrated out of chronological order. It can be told in many ways by the usage of flashbacks, flash-forwards, foreshadowing, or dream sequences. Flashforward presents the scene that takes the story forward in time from the present time of the narrative, be it in literature or film. Flashforward is similar to foreshadowing to some extent. It is similar to foreshadowing in the sense that it implicitly hints at future events. However, it is dissimilar to foreshadowing in the sense that, in foreshadowing, future events are not shown. We can also see the literacy device called ellipsis. Through this device, the author omits the irrelevant parts of the story. It helps the story to advance. It helps the story to jump to the important part the author intends to present.  

Quest Narrative 

Quest narrative is one of the common ways of telling a story. Quest narrative is a specific quest or journey of the hero or the author towards a goal or mission. A quest narrative describes how the protagonist overcomes all the adversity in his way towards the goal. His goal may be saving his people, finding treasure, exploring new territory, finding peace, etc.  

Viewpoint Narrative

Viewpoint narrative describes views and experiences of the central character or other imaginative characters of the story. The narrative can be told from the perspective of the first person or third person. The narrator's beliefs, values, feelings, desires simply filter the writing, mood, feelings, and sensory details of the story. In omniscient narration, viewpoints of many different characters can be presented in a single scene. A viewpoint narrative can be powerful in the sense that it let the readers see or experience through the eyes of the narrator's scholarly views. However, a viewpoint narrative can be unreliable. 

Non-Narrative Kinds of Writings

Introduction to Literature

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