Narrative text: What is it, Characteristics, Types


Narrative text

What is a narrative text?

A narrative text is a story in which a real or fictional story is told that occurs in a specific place and time.

In everyday life, narration is an essential part of our way of communicating, since it is a way of telling a succession of events in which a subject or group of characters carries out a series of actions that have an outcome.

What are the types of narrative text?

These are some types of narrative texts:

  • Story : short story, with few characters and a quick ending.
  • Legend : stories that mix real and supernatural events.
  • Myth : a fantastic story that explains the origin of a place or an event.
  • Novel : real or fictional narration, much more extensive and complex than a story.
  • Epic poetry : narration of real or fictional legendary events.
  • Chronicle : text that follows a temporal order of events to tell a story.
  • News : journalistic genre that briefly narrates a current event.
  • Reportage : extensive journalistic investigation about a person or event.
  • Biography : narration about a person's life and its most outstanding moments.

The narrative text is also a resource that we use in our day to day. When we send a text message in which we tell a situation or when we write a post on social networks recounting our experiences about a specific situation (a trip, a meeting, an outing, etc.) we are writing a narrative text.

What are the characteristics of the narrative text?

The narrative text has some peculiarities. These are some of its most relevant characteristics:

It can be real or fictitious

In narrative texts, what is told can belong to the plane of reality, but it can also be the description of a series of events framed in fantasy or fiction.

An example of a real narrative text is news, while a legend or myth is a fictitious event.

May have one or more characters

In the narrative text there are no limits for the participation of characters. These can be protagonists or have a secondary participation. On the other hand, a narrative can have only one character.

An example of narrative texts with various characters are stories. On the other hand, when someone tells a personal story, it is a story with only one protagonist.

History has a space and a time

The narrative text takes place in a specific time and space.

A classic example is the stories that begin with “Once upon a time, an enchanted castle in the middle of the forest…”.

Narrate an action

A narrative text describes the actions that the characters perform. And those actions, in turn, have an end within history.

For example, conquering a territory, rescuing a character, searching for treasure, etc.

The author of the text can be the narrator of the story

Who writes the narrative text can be, in turn, who narrates the events from the first, second or third person.

When a person sends a text message telling something that happened to him during the day, he becomes an author and a narrator at the same time.

Has a goal

A narrative text can have an informative purpose (such as journalistic news), teaching (the morals of stories) or entertainment (novels, jokes, etc.).

What is the structure of the narrative text?

The parts of a narrative text are divided into two broad categories:

External structure

It refers to the way in which the text will be presented: volumes, sections, chapters, parts, acts, etc.

Internal structure

It has to do with the way in which the narration is organized and the actions carried out by the characters. It has three parts:

Introduction

Here the place, time and characters of the narration are presented.

For example: "One autumn afternoon in Buenos Aires, I discovered that I had changed forever."

Nudo climax

It is the presentation of the problem or the obstacles that the characters must face.

For example: “Already at the airport, and with everything ready to start a new life, he realized that his identity had been stolen. Now her face belonged to someone else. I had to recover it without being detected by the agents ”.

Outcome

It is the conclusion of the story. For example: “And then, he woke up. It had all been a strange dream ”.

Examples of narrative texts

These three examples of narrative texts:

Epic poetry

Minerva, the goddess with bright eyes, said to him: «I come from heaven to appease your anger, if you obey; and Juno, the goddess of snowy arms, sends me, who loves you both cordially and cares for you. Hey, stop arguing, don't draw your sword and verbally insult him as you see fit. What I am about to say will be fulfilled: For this outrage you will one day be offered triple and splendid presents. Master yourself and obey us. "

Achilles, the one with the light feet, answered: «It is necessary, oh goddess, to do what you command, even if the heart is very irritated. Doing so is the best. Whoever obeys the gods is well cared for by them. "


The Iliad, by Homer.

Soap opera

NOVEMBER 2

I have been cordially invited to be a part of visceral realism. Of course, I have accepted. There was no initiation ceremony. Better this way.

The wild detectives, by Roberto Bolaño.

Chronicle

Two hours ago, when it all started, people weren't screaming. No one raised their fists or closed their eyes, or stared at the stage in rapture. Two hours ago, everyone was doing a dress rehearsal for low-voltage hysteria there on the street when the five of them - dark glasses, leather pants - got out of the rented limousine, polarized, old, amid the smoke of the sausages that were roasting in the stalls street. Two hours ago, when it all started, people were clapping a bit, and nothing more. People screamed a little, and nothing more. People danced a little, and nothing more.

The clone of Freddy Mercury, by Leila Guerriero.

Update date: February 14, 2021.