Storytelling Elements: Time, Narrative Structure, Scene, Dialogue, POV, Tense
Time
Story (what): A narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence
Plot (how): A narrative of events with an emphasis on causality, or how they relate to and influence one another in sequence
Theme (why): Whereas the plot is what events happen in the story (in the text), the theme is what is really happening (in the subtext). It is an underlying thread holding all the ideas (given through story events) together.
Chronology: Account of the way time moves, from past to present to future
Flashback: The sudden intrusion of past events in the middle of a description of a current action
Flash forward: Cutting to the future
Inmedias res: To begin in medias res is to begin “in the middle of things”—or in the midst of the main action.
Exposition/backstory: The history leading up to the present moment
Rising action: The escalation of complication of the central conflict
Climax: The point of maximum dramatic attention and the turning point in the narrative
Resolution/denouement: The falling action or the working out of complications
“If it is in a story, we say ‘and then?’ If is is in a plot, we ask ‘why?’” - E. M. Forster
Pixar Storytelling Formula
Once upon a time there was,
Every day,
One day,
Because of that,
Because of that,
Until finally,
THE END.
Narrative Structure
Narration is the act of telling a sequence of events, often in chronological order. Alternatively, the term refers to any story, whether in prose or verse, involving events, characters, and what the characters say and do. Some narrations are reportorial and historical, such as biographies, autobiographies, news stories, and historical accounts. In narrative fiction common to literature, the narrative is usually creative and imaginative rather than strictly factual, as evidenced in fairy tales, legends, novels, novelettes, short stories, etc. However, that a fictional narrative is an imaginary construct does not necessarily mean it isn't concerned with imparting some sort of truth to the reader.
The narrative can begin abovo (“from the beginning” and work its way to the conclusion), or it can begin in medias res (“in the middle” of the action, then recount earlier events by the character's dialogue, memories, or flashbacks).
“[A story] must open with a crisis which is the sole point of attack—in the life or lives of one or more of the characters. A decision must be imminent and the characters must be ready to take action.” - LajosEgri
Structures
Linear: The plot is largely portrayed in chronological order.
Non-linear: The plot is disjointed or disrupted and not presented in chronological order or not following a direct causality pattern. The author may heavily rely on flashbacks or flash-forwards.
Chronological narrative with flashbacks: This is a plot that is mostly in chronological order but uses flashbacks/forwards at various points.
Circular Narrative: Starts at the end, then jumps back in time to the beginning.
Parallel Narratives: Two separate storylines end up being connected.
Subplots: In most novels the main storyline is what we focus on, but there are often other 'side-stories' which are the subplots.
Interactive Narrative: Users are able to make choices that influence the narrative, for example, build your own adventure stories. The (often linear) narrative is driven by the users’ interaction.
Scene vs. Summary
aka “showing vs. telling”
Scene (shows): (Can the camera see it?) Takes place in real-time (the same rate at which characters would experience them), and is used for important interactions and events. Scene works with dialogue, direct action/gesture of characters, internal monologue, and narration. Scenes allow the reader to enter the action and feel the emotions of the characters through what they are experiencing. They are allowed to experience/see/watch/participate in the action in the crucial moments of the story. The main conflict is most often written in scene.
Summary (tells): Things are summed up. Speeds up/progresses the story. Summaries can contain background information, character thoughts, reflection, or an explanation of events that occurred over time or long ago. Summary can bridge large gaps of time where the plot of the story is not taking place. It can take a large event or series of events and condense it to a short description, giving bare minimum of details for the reader to understand what has happened. Summary can also be effective in reflection if a character comes to a different or unexpected conclusion that the reader wouldn’t be able to infer from scene. Bits of summary can occur within scenes.
Detail
Details are specific, allowing the reader to see through the character’s eyes to create a vivid scene. In order to become invested in the story and develop empathy for a character, a reader can be invited to see, hear, taste, touch, and/or smell things throughout the story through detail. Details included in the action of the story can move from static (“She wore a red woolen scarf”) to active detail when put into action (“Wrapping her red woolen scarf snugly around her neck, she braved the stinging wind.”).
Dialogue
Dialogue can bring a story to life. It can contribute to characterization, introduce backstory, and/or advance plot. It adds an immediacy to the story.
“Dialogue should do two things. It should sound like people talking minus the ummsand stumbling, and it should move your story forward.” - Melanie Bishop
Conflict in dialogue - Can be visible in what the characters are saying or can be subtext—underlying meanings in the conversation, or revealed by what the characters are not saying/avoiding saying.
“How characters sit or stand is as significant as their spoken sentences. Make your readers hear the pauses between sentences. Let them see characters lean forward, fidget with their cuticles, avert their eyes, uncross their legs.” - Jerome Stern
Context - Who is talking to whom? An older person to a younger person?A more powerful character to someone who is in trouble? And where is their conversation taking place? At a club late Saturday night, or in the pew of a church on Sunday morning?
Unmarked dialogue - Your characters’ voices should be distinct enough that they don’t need markers. If there are only two characters speaking, you don’t need to keep tagging them after the first time because each time a different speaker begins talking, you’ll indent that person’s speech and start a new paragraph.
Point of View (POV)
“Who should be telling the story and why at this particular moment?” - Antonya Nelson
First-person: “I”/Told from the perspective of a character who is participating—sometimes centrally, sometimes more peripherally—in the action of the story.
Second-person: “You”/Requires the reader to become a character in the story, and/or is addressed to an intimate.
Third-person objective: “He/she/they”/Narrator takes a fly-on-the-wall technique, describing the action without entering the minds of the characters.
Third-person limited: “He/she/they”/Looks over the shoulder, or sometimes into the mind, of a single character in the story. Third person distant follows a specific character, watching their actions as if they were being filmed. Third person close enters the character’s thoughts.
Third-person omniscient: “He/she/they”/Allows the narrator to enter the mind and situation of anyone in the story. Author POV refers to an omniscient narrator who might provide commentary on the story.
Unreliable narrator: A narrator whose point-of-view lacks credibility or their credibility for telling an accurate story has been put to question or compromised.
Tense
Tense is affected by when the story and/or scenes are occurring in the protagonist’s life. It can also be affected by POV.
Past tense is a natural tense to use when storytelling, and can be effective in first person also when a narrator ends with a reflection of the events passed from an older and/or wiser standpoint. This point of view is effective in stories where the protagonist knows more than the reader.
Present tense can give a feeling of immediacy. In natural conversation/dialogue, we will sometimes switch to present tense to describe a scene. This tense can be effectively used in stories where the reader knows as much as the protagonist; they are brought along while things unfold in seemingly real-time.
Future tense is less often used. One way I’ve seen it used effectively is by a character addressing their younger self in a diary-like format to give their past self advice on what would happen to them, coupled with imperatives: “You will… Don’t worry. It will be okay. Don’t...”