What do narratives do

Time Traveler for narrative The first known use of narrative was in the 15th century See more words from the same century. Style: MLA. English Language Learners Definition of narrative Entry 1 of 2. Kids Definition of narrative Entry 1 of 2. Kids Definition of narrative Entry 2 of 2. Get Word of the Day daily email! Test Your Vocabulary.

Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way. Love words? Need even more definitions? Narrative, account, recital, history are terms for a story of an event or events.

Narrative is the general term for a story long or short; of past, present, or future; factual or imagined; told for any purpose; and with or without much detail. The other three terms apply primarily to factual stories of time already past.

An account is usually told informally, often for entertainment, with emphasis on details of action, whether about an incident or a series of happenings. A recital is an extended narrative usually with an informative purpose, emphasizing accuracy and exhaustive details of facts and figures. A history, usually written and at some length, is characterized by a tracing of causes and effects, and by an attempt to estimate, evaluate, and interpret facts.

Words nearby narrative Narraganset , Narragansett , Narragansett Bay , narrate , narration , narrative , Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass , narrativize , narrator , narrow , narrow-angle glaucoma.

Words related to narrative historical , account , anecdote , book , chronicle , chronology , description , detail , fiction , history , narration , plot , version , line , potboiler , recount , report , statement , yarn , anecdotal. How to use narrative in a sentence So much for the narrative about his best days passing him by — for now, at least. If we want to look at smaller examples, journalism and the news is an excellent form of narrative.

Something happens and someone reports on it. Someone else picks up the story, adds a few details and comments, and publishes that. Then, someone else comes along, follows the same pattern, and the narrative continues. Even more specifically, headlines have become increasingly narrative with the explosive popularity of social media.

Writers try and draw in readers by inviting them into the discussion of a topic. In social media, you have just a few words, and maybe a picture, to interest your audience and get them to open your link. In order to do this, there is a trend to write narrative headlines such as these:.

He opened the jar of peanut butter and what he saw will blow your mind. She gave her toddler a crayon and you will never believe what happened next. Blogs are also excellent examples of narratives as they include first-person accounts of experiences while inviting comment and conversation from readers. Music is also a wonderful place to find narratives. People have an innate need to turn their stories in to songs.

Turn on your stereo and you will find an endless number of narrative. It is written in the first person and tells a cryptic story of the history of our music and a fatal plane crash.

Story : a synonym to the word narrative. Some suggest that stories are closed ended with a beginning, middle and end, while narratives are larger open-ended discussions, comprised of stories, with listener participation. List of Terms Action. Ad Hominem. Alter Ego. APA Citation. The logline and the synopsis describe the story without telling it, in a sentence or a couple of paragraphs respectively. The treatment is a summary of the plot, including some of the most important events, but not all of them.

Such a brief version of the story describes the same story as the full or finished version, but since this short version does not include the same amount of events, it is not the same narrative.

Both synopsis and treatment and in extreme cases perhaps even the logline may point out how the narrative works, especially if it is not chronological, but neither actually contains the narrative of the story because neither includes a description of each and every event.

The step outline describes all the events of the story in narrative order, as a sort of shortened meta-version of the story itself. While a logline, a synopsis, a treatment, a step outline, and the finished work may all refer to the same story, only the step outline and the finished work can express the same narrative of that story because they contain the same events without leaving any out. And as liars know, leaving out bits of information can change the narrative.

An author has choices. Many, many choices. As we have seen above, an author has to decide on the narrative to be able to relate the story she has chosen to tell.

Furthermore, the choice of genre influences the reception of the narrative. The same events can be turned into, say, a comedy or a thriller. Here the execution, the manner in which the story is presented, determines how it is understood.

Or consider the novel Lolita — the story of the character Lolita would likely be salacious told by a lesser writer than Vladimir Nabokov. Hardly any other author choice has as significant an effect on the narrative as point of view. Telling the same story from the various points of view of the participating characters creates differing narratives. Four times the same occurrence is shown, but as recounted by the four participants.

Such differences in understanding arise from the different motivations behind each character action, which we perceive differently due to the other point of view. Furthermore, one character may do something because she wants a particular result, but another character may ascribe completely different motivations to the same action, or observe different consequences to those actions.

Even if the arrangement of the events is changed only very subtly, the chain of cause and effect is changed by the difference in point of view.