Share what you think the key elements of a narrative are (i.e., what makes a good story work).

Question

Share what you think the key elements of a narrative are (i.e., what makes a good story work).

Answer 1

I think the most important parts of a narrative are structure, theme, character, and conflict.

CHARACTER:

Every story is about a character, who in some way wants something, but can't have it because some sort of conflict (either external or internal) is standing in the way. Apply this to any story, and I guarantee it will fit this formula.

CONFLICT:

My creative writing teacher once said "There are no stories in Heaven." I agree, because story is all about conflict. As previously stated, all stories are about this single idea, and if you have a story where a character wants something and NOTHING stands in their way, or if they are too strong and nobody poses a threat, your story loses interest and drama. People love to wonder if they will succeed, people love to wonder what happens next. Without a conflict that has the ability to defeat your main character, you lose all drama.

CHARACTER:

Your characters need to be liked and understood even if they are a little mean. A big portion of getting audiences to like and understand your main character is through their problem and conflict. In Pixar's "Up", people love the main character despite him being a grumpy old man because he's fueled by the love of his wife who recently passed away, and her memory carries him forward. It's things like these that make people love your characters and hope for the best for them no matter how stubborn or angry they can become as they fight for their goals.

STRUCTURE:

Structure is one of the most important things. Your story needs direction, it needs a pace, and it needs to unfold in a way that makes sense, where A + B = C. Most stories begin with your character in their normal life, and suddenly something comes into their happiness and shatters it in some way. A loved one is kidnapped, the main character develops a sickness, monsters and aliens invade their hometown, etc. Then, they set off for the rest of the story to rescue their loved ones, or cure their own sickness, or to defeat the monsters terrorizing their village.

Then, for majority of their journey they will spend their time either gaining the means to overthrow their conflict and achieve their goals, or they continually make attempts, fail, and pick themselves back up to ultimately try again. This, in short is just the use of "ups and downs" and these failures and successes need to be seen as the skeleton of the story, or some sort of mile marker that makes the plot turn and progress in drastic ways.

Write your story in a way so that when they succeed, something tears them down, and when something tears them down, something picks them back up. You will create drama, emotion, and you will do a huge part in thinking our your narrative from a bird's eye view.

THEME:

Lastly, theme. This isn't to say that every story needs a "moral" where the writer is telling his or her audience to not do drugs and to support your country, and all of that. What I mean is, you need to understand what type of story you are telling and only write scenes that serve that idea and drive the plot forward. If you want to tell a story with a theme that revolves around "loving yourself", you wouldn't write a plot where the character tries desperately hard to get married, only to get married in the end and to never work on loving themselves. Instead, you should write a plot where they fail to get married, discover techniques and rituals and whatever means of self-love to seek happiness, and write a conclusion where they end up alone, yet happier than they could have ever been married. That is a story with theme and direction.

Of course, none of this is set in stone, and once these rules are mastered they are made to be broken. Happy writing!

Answer 2

A helpful tip I think is to make the characters interesting. This means if a character is supposed to be mean, write about them as if you detested them. If they are supposed to be likeable, treat them as a friend. This applies to the narrative as well, if it is a dark mood, use dark language--if it is a fantastic tale, describe enchanting places. Basically the narrative is your world that you create, use your imagination and make it your own.

Answer 3

There are two elements that I think are essential, and they're tied closely together. The characters must want something, and there needs to be conflict. If your character does not have a goal or ambition, small or large, it will be hard for the reader to become invested in the narrative.  When you have a character who wants to obtain something, you can establish many different types of conflict, which will make the narrative much more engaging. 

Answer 4

I truly agree with Finley S.  However, I would like to add that character development is vital to a narrative.  The reader needs to get to know and relate (in some way) to the characters.  The reader also needs to care about what happens to the character or characters; otherwise, the narrative loses its power.  Whether you are watching a television show or a movie or reading a book or a short story, if you don't really KNOW the characters--the plot line can be confusing or lost completely.  The worst scenario is that you will not be interested enough in the characters to care what might happen to them.  The author or screenwriter has failed in the endeavor to capture the audience's attention--bad news!  Please remember to READ and VIEW actively to notice all of the literary elements that keep you interested.  Making a list of characters and their traits (as you meet them in a novel, short story, or other kind of narrative) will help with reading comprehension and with a deeper understanding of themes that encompass real life.

Answer 5

Tiaera,

 

One good way to help pick apart this questions would be to think about 1-2 good stories that you have read. Then you want to think of 2-3 major literary elements that these stories have in common. Here is a link to a list of literary elements that you may want to review to help you with this question: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_element

 

Probably the easiest elements to discuss are plot and characterization. Characterization is simply the process of creating characters. Good stories have well-developed characters that are realistic, interesting people.

Plot, is a word that describes the events and actions in a story. Good stories should have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

 

Other elements that you may find useful to discuss are conflict, and theme.