Narrative structures lewis hill

1. By Lewis Hill
Narrative Structures:
My book is based in an open narrative, which
means that it doesn’t end or have a definite
finish. You mainly find open narrative in
television soaps, like East Enders or Coronation
Street. These are shows, which are continuous
with one underlining story, but then it has
multiple stories built up on top of it.
The opposite of an open narrative is a closed
narrative; this is when the story comes to a
close within the episode or series. For example,
Broadchurch is a closed narrative because it is
based on a boy’s murder, which comes to a
conclusion at the send of the series.
Single Strand stories are when the story is just
one storyline that continues throughout the
whole narrative, whether it’s a book or a film.
I would class my book as single strand as it
mainly focuses on one story.

2. By Lewis Hill
Multi-Strand stories are things like soaps that
have one underlining story, but then have lots
of little stories added on top of the main
storyline.
A story that is linear means that its scenes or
chapters are set in order and there are no
deformities throughout the story, for example
The Gruffalo.
A non-linear story is something that is not in
order, for example if a show has flashbacks or
there are many scenes of different stories.
My book, I feel is a linear story because I just
follow one story line of Perry trying to save
Patty.
Realist shows are stories that reflect reality
and everyday life of an average human being; it
can be something as simple as a soap drama or
as drastic as Sherlock. Where it is possible that
a scenario like that could happen.
A non-realistic story is when something that
isn’t likely to happen, for example an alien
invasion or someone gaining superhero powers

3. By Lewis Hill
like Superman, something that is sci-fi or
fantasy is classed as non-realistic.
My book would be classed as non-realistic
because a polar bear becoming a pirate and
being knocked out by a penguin is highly
unlikely.
Narrative Components:
A good story needs most of these components
to be entertaining and to really draw the
audience in.
The start of a story needs an opening, where
something happens and then the rest of the
story can build on the opening. In my book the
opening is patty getting kidnapped by Captain
Claw.
To really drive the story it needs good conflict,
maybe not in a physical way but the conflict
could be a battle of poverty or a an illness. In
my case though it is conflict between a penguin
and a polar bear, which makes it a physical and
mental conflict.

4. By Lewis Hill
What my story doesn’t have is an Enigma,
which is something or someone that is difficult
to understand and can be hard to work out.
This is mainly used in murder mystery shows
like Midsummer Murders or Death in Paradise.
Where someone dies and then you don’t know
who killed them right up until the very end.
Climaxes in a story are very important as it
means that there is a change of fate in the
story, so it could all be going badly for the
main character and then suddenly he they win
the lottery. A good example of a climax would
be Karate Kid where half way through the film
he starts to believe in himself.
Some stories manipulate or change time and
space, a great example of this is Doctor Who,
which is about a mad man in a box traveling
with a companion throughout time and space.
My book does not contain anything like this.
Every story needs an end or a resolution to
the story. My book ends with the two
penguins waddling away from the burning ship,

5. By Lewis Hill
but then on the last page Captain Claw says he
will be back, which makes my book an open
narrative.