This document discusses different narrative types and provides examples of how a crime story could be told using each type. An anachronic story uses flashbacks and flashforwards and repeats scenes from different perspectives. A forking-path narrative shows alternative outcomes that could result from a single changed event. An episodic narrative is a series of disconnected but related shorter tales, like focusing just on the passerby who discovered the body in the crime story.

1. Crime Story
Narrative Task

2. Different Narrative Types
As part of my experimentation of narrative, I will be attempting to take a
chronological story and change it into an Anachronic story, a Forking-Path story,
and an Episodic story.
An Anachronic story is a narrative which makes the use of flashbacks and/or
flashforwards. There is no clear dominance between any of the narrative threads,
and these narratives will also repeat scenes directly or via a different perspective.
A Forking-Path narrative juxtaposes alternative versions of the story, showing
varying possible outcomes. These outcomes can come from a change in a single
event, or a group of events.
An Episodic narrative is organised as an abstract series or narrative anthology.
Abstract series narrative is characterised by the operation of a non-formal system
which appears to dictate the order of the events.
An Anthology narrative consists of a series of shorter tales which are apparently
dissconected but share a random similarity.

3. Anachronic Narrative
For this narrative I have
started with the crime being
investigated, from here the
crime is then solved and the
culprit is convicted. We then
have a flashback to what the
crime was before ending
with the crime being
discovered.

4. Forking-Path Narrative
For the Forking-Path narrative I have kept the same 3 scenes as in the linear story,
however from this point changed in the third scene could alter the outcome. The
inspector may not find any concluding evidence, and so the culprit is never caught. Just as
the culprit could still be discovered, but may escape. The story could also change from
scene two as the passer-by may not report the murder, or may not even discover it.
These two scenes aren’t
included in the main
storyline as the
outcome could change.

5. Episodic Narrative
For this narrative I started
with the court scene and
focused on the passerby. It
then goes to tell the story of
how they found the body,
told the police and ended up
as a witness in court.
I left out the scene showing the actual murder
as this narrative focused on a different
character.