Narratvie Structure

[dukefan10]

Hello,

Could someone help me to understand what the breaking up of narrative structure means as it pertains to novels?

Thank You

[Paulclem]

The narrator is the person, or persons who tell the story. This could be a character or the writer - often referred to as the omnipotent narrator.

The narrative then is the structure of the story. The simplest form is a begin at the beginning and an end at the end type - a chronological narrative that deals with time in order - events when they happen.

a story need not be told in this way though. You can get the technique of flashback, whereby the story is told from some future point and it is flashed back in one sequence or in a series of flashbacks.

Film narratives use this - Reservoir Dogs uses this technique. One of the advantages is that the author can contrast flashbacks with what is happening in the present inorder to make comments about it. In Reservoir Dogs we see one of the gang - the tall one - I forget which one - is clearly a psycho before the robbery starts.

Another technique is to relate the same event by different narrators whereby the author can then reveal different aspects of a story to the reader.

:cornut: