Structure of a narrative TEXT

The narrative text It is a type of text that is characterized by the fact that it tells a series of facts or events, which can be real or fictitious. These events are carried out by characters and occur in a specific place and time. Of all the characters that appear in the narrative, the most important is the narrator, who is in charge of informing the reader of everything that happens in the story. Some of the best-known examples of narrative texts are short stories, novels, chronicles, or biographies.

Generally, narrative texts follow a structure fixed in three parts: approach, middle and end. In this article by a TEACHER we will explain the structure of a narrative text, paying attention to each of its parts.

Index

1. Types of structure in a narrative text
2. Approach in a narrative text
3. The knot in a narrative text
4. Outcome
5. What is a narrative text and important characteristics
6. Important elements in a narrative
7. How to make a narrative text: 5 tips
8. Examples of narrative texts

To know what the structure of a narrative text is, it is important that we bear in mind that, in general, it has always been determined that there are two types of textual structures: the external and the internal. And this also occurs within the narrative.

External structure of the narrative

It is the structure in which the text is organized. There are different ways to do it, for example:

• Chapters
• Paragraphs
• Acts or scenes (in the case of drama above all)
• Sequences
• Etc

Internal structure of a narrative text

It is the way in which the content is structured within the text, that is, how we organize the information to be narrated. This structure is made up of 3 parts which we will analyze in more detail below:

• Introduction or Approach. It is when the plot, the characters, the historical context, etc. are presented.
• Knot or Development. It is the moment of the narration in which the conflict or conflicts of the work begin to occur.
• Outcome or End. Conflicts are resolved and a "normality" is returned, which may be the same as the one raised at the beginning or different.

In a narrative textit is necessary place the reader in a concrete context so that he can understand and follow each of the events that are happening throughout the narrative text. For this reason, the structure of a narrative text begins with an introduction or statement of its argument.

This introduction serves to introduce the reader to the main character or characters, as well as the initial situation that will subsequently trigger a conflict to be resolved. Likewise, the approach places the narrative in a specific period and time, so that the The reader can get an idea of ​​what the context is that leads the characters to act in a way or other. As an example, the beginning of one of the most universal works of Spanish literature:

In a place in La Mancha, whose name I do not want to remember, not long ago lived a nobleman of the spear in the shipyard, old shield, skinny nag and running greyhound.

Thus, in the beginning of Quixote we observe how the narrator places the action in a specific place ("In a place in La Mancha ") at one time (" not long ago ") and presents the protagonist of the story (" a nobleman of the shipyard spear, old shield, skinny rocín and runner greyhound ").

Image: SlideShare

Within the structure of a narrative text, the knot is the central part and usually the longest. The most important events that happen to the characters take place in it. Generally, these are involved in some type of conflict that they have to solve in order to reach an end goal.

It is usually the protagonist or protagonists who, finally, solve the problem. This conflict is used to raise the general theme of the work, once all the essential elements have been presented in the initial approach.

The denouement is the final part of any narrative text. In it, those questions raised in the knot are revealed. Similarly, the reader is presented with the solution to the central conflict of the narrative and the fate of both the main characters and the rest of the characters is also shown.

Depending on the typology of the work, the narrative text can have a happy ending, in which the conflict is resolved in satisfactory way for the characters, or it can be tragic, for example, with the death of the protagonist.

Thus, the outcome may be a closed ending, when the action is definitively concluded and the story cannot continue, or the opposite may occur, that is, the end is open, so that some of the conflicts remain unresolved in order to continue the narration in later works or so that the reader himself is the one who interpreter.

Image: SlideShare

Now that you know the structure of a narrative text, it is important that we remember what type of text we are facing. A narrative text is the one that tells a story through the figure of a storyteller that explains the facts to us.

It has characters concrete that are experienced by the plot and in all the narratives there must be, at least, an action, a conflict that involves the characters. The plot can be real or fictitious or a hybrid of both (such as the legends, for example) and the text can be presented both in prose as in verse, therefore, never confuse a narrative with prose because there are narrative texts written in verse.

A narrative text it doesn't have to always be literary, that is, in our day to day we can use the genre of the narrative to explain something that has happened to us. All the stories that we tell have the narrative structure that we have explained: the story begins with the approach, the knot is told, and then the end is explained. Therefore, the narrative exists inside and outside of literature.

Characteristics of a narrative text

We are going to make a brief summary of the characteristics of a narrative text, so that you can better understand the key elements of this type of text:

• The objective is to tell, narrate, a story.
• It has the narrator figure which can be omniscient, in the first or second person.
• The agents who live the narrative are the characters.
• The narration is situated in a specific space / time.
• It is essential that there is an action, otherwise, we would not be facing a narrative text but rather another type of textual typology (descriptive, argumentative, etc).

Within any narrative we find a series of elements that make up the text:

• The narrator: it is the voice that the writer uses to tell the reader what happens in the narrative. The narrator is in charge of presenting and describing the rest of the characters, placing them in a specific space-time context. He is one of the most important and representative figures in the narrative text.
• Time: the events that develop throughout the narrative text are located in a limited time; that is, the time in which the action occurs. This can be linear, that is, follow a chronological order or quite the opposite, be a narrative text in which fragments that correspond to different times are interspersed.
• Space: It is the place or the different settings in which the main action of the narrative takes place. A narrative text can have a single space or many and very varied, depending on the type of action that is told and the events that happen to the characters.

Image: Suro grade 10. group 1

Although there are different types of narrative textsThe truth is that they all meet a series of characteristics that can be summarized globally. Next we will discover the keys so that you know how to make a narrative text in a simple way.

1. Decide the structure that you will carry out for your narrative text, both internal and external
2. Think about the plot or in the events that will take place throughout the text
3. The figure of the narrator has to be present, therefore, decide what this narrative voice will be like and what type of narration it will carry out
4. Think about the narrative line, that is, if the time will be linear, if it will jump in time, if there will be flash-backs, etc.
5. Determine what your characters, both the main ones and the secondary ones: it details the characteristics, the most notorious elements, and so on.
6. Think about the presentation, the middle and the denouement of the plot so that it is carried out in a logical, coherent way and with a good rhythm

To conclude this lesson on the structure of a narrative text, we will leave you some examples of these texts that will help you better understand their most important elements and characteristics. Examples of narrative texts are as follows:

• A novel or a short story. They are part of literature and are fictional stories (although they can include real elements) in which a story starring characters is explained to us.
• Myths. Myths are also narratives that were used in ancient cultures and civilizations to explain the origin of the world, of the human being, to defend moral behaviors, etc.
• Legends. They are a mixture of reality and fiction that are based on a hero or popular character with the aim of highlighting elements of a community or nation.
• Fables. They are similar to stories with the difference that they have a didactic intentionality and that they are carried out by animals that are personified.
• Etc.

If you want to read more articles similar to Structure of a narrative text, we recommend that you enter our category of Writing.

• Teberosky, A. (1989). The writing of narrative texts. Childhood and Learning, 12 (46), 17-35.
• Pimentel, L. TO. (2001). Space in fiction, spatial fictions: the representation of space in narrative texts. XXI century.
• Hocevar, S. (2007). Teach to write narrative texts. Design of a didactic sequence. Reading and Life: Latin American Reading Magazine, 28 (4), 50.