PARTS of a STORY: beginning, middle and end

The story structure It must be well fixed by the author so that the story arouses the interest of the reader and wants to turn its pages to discover what happens at the end. There are many types of stories but they all share a fairly similar structure that aims to fulfill the literary purpose and satisfy the desire of the reader. When we speak of "story" we refer to a fictional literary genre that usually offers us a simple plot and is starred by a low number of characters.

Unlike the novel, a story usually focuses on an argumentative idea to develop it to the maximum during the course of the lines. In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to detail the parts of a story, beginning, middle and end, so that you know all the elements that define this literary genre.

Index

1. What are the parts of a story?
2. Part 1 of a story: beginning or approach
3. Part 2 of a story: knot or development
4. Part 3 of a story: ending or ending
5. Is the structure of the story always the same?
6. The elements of a story

You should know that the parts of a story are the following:

1. Start or approach. It is the starting point from which the story or narrative starts. Here we meet the characters, we place ourselves in space / time and we begin to enter the fictional universe.
2. Knot. It is when the protagonist of the story experiences the conflict, that is, when the state of balance is broken of the approach and by which the protagonist must begin to use his resources to be able to overcome the problems. In the knot the climax, that is, the peak point in which the protagonist must face in order to regain normalcy.
3. Outcome or end. It is the last of the parts of a story and it tells us how the story ends. The protagonist will no longer be the same after having suffered the knot explained in the plot. The initial equilibrium that had been truncated is recovered.

We start with the first part of a story, that is to say, the beginning or also called "approach" or "presentation". It refers to the beginning of the story, the moment in which the author will contextualize the reader both in the place where he is the narration, the characters that will intervene in it and will present them lightly so that we have an idea of ​​who they are and what looking for.

The start of a story is the moment in which the author us presents the "normality" of the story, that peaceful moment in which the characters live and that will later be broken by the irruption of the knot that will be the engine that triggers the narrative action. Thus, the objective of this first part of the story is to show us the characters and the environment or moment in which they live peacefully, prior to the appearance of the action.

This is when you have to "present" (hence the name) both the situation and the characters and, if they have any particularity, focus on her because, later on, we will not have time to dwell on these minute details because we will be fully involved in the knot of the story.

As soon as the initial approach has been completed, then it is time to get to another part of the story: the knot.

In a PROFESSOR we give you a guide to a literary text commentary in case your teacher has asked you to analyze a story.

Image: Slideplayer

But to be able complete with the structure of the story It is essential that there is some action, that some event occurs that alters the peaceful order of the beginning and that puts the characters in some controversial or difficult situation to solve. This point is of vital importance for a text to be considered a story and not a poetic text or a literary narrative. The story is a story if there is a knot, if there is any action that causes the plot development; a text in which feelings are simply talked about, no matter how well it is written and a good use of poetic words, is not a story.

So that, within the parts of the story, the knot is one of the most important because it is the one that will set the pace of the narrative, the one that will make the reader want to continue reading and the one that will make the story successful. The knot appears when the situation that we have raised in the beginning is broken or altered by the appearance of an unusual, unexpected event, and so on.

When this point in the narrative is reached, it is important that the reader already knows who the characters are. so that he can get fully into the problem that causes them and, thus, have an interest in the future of the situation. It is at this moment when we will meet the characters, not only at a descriptive level, but we will see what actions they commit, what drives move them and, thus, we can really know who they are and how they act.

And to finish, the last of the parts of a story is the denouement or the end, that is, the moment in which the conflict that has appeared in the knot is resolved and the story can be closed. This closure may be happy or sad, it may be totally closed or left open, the choice depends on the author. but the knot that has been raised in the narrative must ALWAYS be solved so that the reader's expectations remain satisfied.

When we find an open ending it means that, simply, the author does not specify all the details of what will happen to his characters, it is In other words, it does not close like the traditional "And they lived happily ever after" but rather leaves it open so that the reader may have doubts about what has happened Really. But that it remains open does not mean that it does not end, since it is essential that the "problem" that has been presented to us be solved, otherwise the story does not work.

One of the characteristics of the story more noticeable is that the ending is usually surprising and unexpected. Unlike novels (which are longer and deeper narratives), a story starts from an initial situation that becomes complicated and resolved But, for it to be well written, it must be different, it must surprise the reader and ensure that the story takes a turn so that the ending is totally unexpected.

In children's stories this is not a very important premise but it is that the story has a moral, a message that instructs the little ones. One of the most popular stories among children is fables and in this other lesson from a teacher we will tell you what is a fable and its characteristics.

Now that you know that characteristics of the parts of a story, we are going to talk about a topic that refers to its structure. In other words, do the stories have to follow this order or can they be written in other ways? The truth is that a narration can alter the order of the factors to create more interest on the part of the reader or keep the attention in suspense by turning the pages, However, understanding can be complicated and, for this reason, in the case of children's stories, the classic structure of beginning, middle and end is almost always maintained.

In the case of adult stories, the truth is that can be played in multiple ways and, for example, we can find narratives that begin by presenting the outcome and making a flash-back, that is, looking back to go back in history and start with the beginning. It is also probable that the story begins by presenting, directly, the knot of the action but, later, You will need to introduce us to the characters so that we understand who they are and can see how they act with verisimilitude.

The choice of the structure of the story rests in the hands of the author who can choose to follow the classic guidelines or opt for being more innovative and surprising but, yes, at all times he must take into account that the three mentioned parts are necessary and essential for the narration to work properly; otherwise, there will be some loose end and the reader will give the feeling of having been "half done."

In this other lesson we will discover the examples of introduction, middle and endso you can view it more easily.

Now that you know the different parts of a story, we believe that it is also important that you know what the elements of a story. That is, the elements that make a story a tale and that allow us to better understand this narrative subgenre. Here we offer you a list:

Story theme

That is, what the story is talking about. These themes are usually "universal" themes such as love, friendship, freedom, justice, and so on. The vast majority of stories talk about a specific topic and, if you have to analyze it, you have to pay attention and find out what it is talking about. Above all: do not confuse the plot with the story because it is NOT the same.

Story

Another element of a story is the story, that is, the plot. The story is the one that is shown following the classic scheme of: presentation, middle and end. They are the adventures that the protagonist runs, the events that take place in the story.

For you to see an example of the difference between the theme and the story, we will talk about a classic like Romeo and Juliet: here, the theme is impossible love and the story is the romance that Romeo and Juliet

Weather

It is another of the basic elements of any narrative and refers to the temporal space in which the story takes place. It may be that the time is mentioned because the narrator himself indicates the dates but it may also be that the time is not mentioned and, therefore, it is a timeless tale.

Space

It is the place where the events take place. In the case of the classic Romeo and Juliet, the city of Verona is the space in which the conflict occurs and, therefore, this is the space of the work.

Characters

They are all those who are part of the story, that is, those who are involved in the plot, those who experience the adventures or the events that are described.

Storyteller

It is who tells the story. It may be that the narrator is part of the same story or that it is omniscient, that is, to explain it to us from an objective point of view and in the third person. In this other lesson from a TEACHER we will discover the different types of narrators and their characteristics.

Image source: Narrative genre

If you want to read more articles similar to Parts of a story: beginning, middle and end, we recommend that you enter our category of Literary concepts.

• Propp, V. (1998). Morphology of the tale (Vol. 31). Akal editions.
• Reyna Silvestre, H. TO. (2020). I understand the parts of the story, by reading a text.
• Imbert, E. TO. (1979). Theory and technique of the tale. Marymar.