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odd_buttonsThe following is an excerpt from Part III of the book Making Shapely Fiction, by Jerome Stern. The first two parts are very much worth reading as well. The book is available in paperback.
Narrative
A narrative tells what happened. It's the story line in fiction. It's the sequence of events in nonfiction. Narrative historians are writers who specialize in telling the story of a culture rather than analyzing the reasons for its rise or fall.
Years ago I heard Isaac Bashevis Singer talking about nineteen-century psychology books such as Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis. He said we all recognize that the medical commentary is completely outdated, uninformed, and ridiculous by our standards. But, he went on to say, the case histories, the stories, the narratives, remain fascinating. They still live; they can never grow old or become dated.
It's a point worth remembering. The heart of fiction remains in narrative. "Tell me a story" is an appeal from our most primeval selves. You can aspire to explore the human heart, to analyze cultural conditions, to propose social reforms, and to discuss philosophical ideas, but if you want to fascinate, to hold on to your readers, make sure you also tell them a good story.
See Novel, Plot, Short Novel, Short Story, Structure.
Narrative
A narrative tells what happened. It's the story line in fiction. It's the sequence of events in nonfiction. Narrative historians are writers who specialize in telling the story of a culture rather than analyzing the reasons for its rise or fall.
Years ago I heard Isaac Bashevis Singer talking about nineteen-century psychology books such as Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis. He said we all recognize that the medical commentary is completely outdated, uninformed, and ridiculous by our standards. But, he went on to say, the case histories, the stories, the narratives, remain fascinating. They still live; they can never grow old or become dated.
It's a point worth remembering. The heart of fiction remains in narrative. "Tell me a story" is an appeal from our most primeval selves. You can aspire to explore the human heart, to analyze cultural conditions, to propose social reforms, and to discuss philosophical ideas, but if you want to fascinate, to hold on to your readers, make sure you also tell them a good story.
See Novel, Plot, Short Novel, Short Story, Structure.