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Exhausted from a relaxing weekend at the hot springs, Arthur\u2019s parents looked at their living room with horror. All of the lamps lay broken in a heap in the middle of the room, broken as if they had been through a turbofan aircraft engine\u2014mangled, obliterated, destroyed.<\/p>\n
Arthur, mighty captain of his high school chess club, sauntered in dressed in a tuxedo and top hat, \u201cMom! Dad! You\u2019re home early! What are you\u2013?\u201d<\/p>\n
In unison, Arthur\u2019s parents cried out, \u201cWhat happened here?! What\u2019s going on?!\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead, replied, \u201cOhh\u2026 now\u2026 that\u2019s a good question. I\u2019m glad you asked. Well\u2026 I\u2019ll be honest with you. I mean\u2026 let<\/em> me be honest with you. You see, there once was this chess-club geek<\/em> from a fine, upstanding family. Naturally, he was happy with his station in life, or so he thought. But then one day, while studying Bobby Fischer\u2019s astonishing defense strategy against Spassky\u2019s King’s Gambit, he had an idea. It was an idea unlike any idea \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n Arthur\u2019s father sternly interrupted Arthur, \u201cStop right there. Wrong kind of narrative. Tell us what happened. Now!\u201d<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n Put simply: A narrative tells what happened<\/em>. As we can see from Arthur\u2019s account, we have more than one type of narrative. Sadly, for Arthur, his lack of understanding of this fact led to even greater consequences. His parents were not amused or entertained by his narrative. They did not want to be told a story. They wanted to know what happened\u2014that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n Narrative, descriptive, expository, and argument are the four main genres of writing. Genre<\/em> simply means shares similar characteristics<\/em>. All narratives share the characteristic of telling what happened<\/em>. If a writer is not telling what happened, it can\u2019t be a narrative.<\/p>\n But genres are fluid. They exist on a spectrum. If a writer is writing a mystery story, the story must have at least some characteristics of a mystery story. Doesn\u2019t that make sense? If a writer\u2019s mystery story has all of the characteristics of a mystery story, it may be a classic mystery story, or perhaps, a formulaic mystery story. If the story has few characteristic of a mystery story, it may be better to classify the story as a thriller or an adventure story, or even a drama.<\/p>\n The following Five Levels of Narrative model captures the spectrum of both narrative and story and illustrates how they interact.<\/p>\n I love the term LEVELS. But truthfully, we could also call this model the five TYPES of narrative, which is really the five GENRES of narrative. Here is why I prefer the term LEVELS for this model. In this model, for the most part, we move from STORY (Level 1) down to INFORMATIONAL\/EXPOSITORY text. In fact, the bottom two levels are NOT narratives. While the bottom two levels use narrative or narration, their main genre is not narrative. Here are the five levels:<\/p>\n 8<\/span>\u00a0 Level 1: Narrative Story 8<\/span>\u00a0 Level 4: Expository Text that Is Narration People use the terms narrative<\/em> and story<\/em> as synonyms. Actually, many people use the terms as if they are one in the same. This practice is unavoidable, but it\u2019s not accurate.<\/p>\n 8<\/span>\u00a0 Narrative (or narration) is the act of telling what happened.<\/p>\n 8<\/span>\u00a0 Story is adding story structure, story elements, and narrative and literary techniques on top of narrative to create a narrative story.<\/p>\n Every story is a narrative, and truthfully, every narrative probably has a little bit of story in it. The point here is to think about how much STORY is in the NARRATIVE\u2014you know, on a scale of 1-10.<\/p>\n In a narrative story, the goal is to tell a story. We have three kinds of stories: 1) a true story, 2) based on a true story, and 3) an imaginative story.<\/p>\n What makes a story a story? Here\u2019s the answer in order of importance: 1) story structure, 2) story elements, and 3) narrative and literary techniques. Each of these topics is a full topic of discussion that we won\u2019t get into here. But I will say this: If we tell what happened, it will be a narrative. If we want to create a narrative story, we must begin with a narrative story structure and then layer on story elements, narrative techniques, and literary techniques.<\/p>\n It\u2019s rare that a person tells a great story without trying to tell a great story. Admittedly, sometimes we get lucky and what happens falls into a story format. Furthermore, some people have a gift for telling stories. They pick up on the rhythms of story without formal study in the same way that some people pick up on the rhythms of music. These people can see the story structure in what happened (and many of these people seem quite comfortable with bending the truth just enough to make it fit into a story format). In short, some people just know how to tell a good story.<\/p>\n A huge part of story is the intent to tell a story. As an example, many true-life stories have been nominated for best picture Academy Awards, and someone always complains, \u201cThat\u2019s not what happened, exactly.\u201d Point being: A story is not just telling what happened. It\u2019s taking what happened and telling what happened in story format. A writer must find the story in what happened. Mark Twain put it this way: \u201cNever let the truth get in the way of a good story.\u201d That\u2019s not commentary on truth; that\u2019s commentary on what it means to tell a good story.<\/p>\n Some state writing assessments ask students to tell a story, and some assessments ask students to write a personal narrative essay. Regardless of the intent of the prompt, some students will write more of a story, and some will write more of an essay. For the most part, the rubrics are constructed in a way that either is fine. This is one reason why it\u2019s difficult to make a distinction between a story and a narrative essay.<\/p>\n The easiest way to understand a personal narrative essay is to think of a college admissions essay. Do you think they just want to hear a good story? No. They want to learn something about the student. They want to understand who the student is, but probably more importantly, they want to see if the student is self-reflective enough to be able to think about who he or she is. Surely, they want to see if the student can write. And when students use story elements, narrative techniques, and literary techniques, it demonstrates high-level writing skills.<\/p>\n Do you remember what Mark Twain said about story? \u201cNever let the truth get in the way of a good story.\u201d Well, for a personal narrative essay, we may want to let the truth get in the way. Story structure is not the most important thing in a personal narrative essay. We don\u2019t want to abandon story structure, but we do want to understand what an essay is.<\/p>\n The term essay<\/em> has become a generic term for any short composition where students write from their personal perspective. The five-paragraph essay is an essay because students write it from their personal perspective. \u201cThis is how I see things, and here is my support and evidence.\u201d This personal perspective is what makes an essay an essay. But most academic essays are, for lack of a better word, formal essays. Many essay enthusiasts say that they are not essays at all.<\/p>\n A Narrative Tells What Happened<\/h3>\nAre you an elementary or middle school teacher? Have you taken a look at Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay on the homepage?<\/span><\/a>\n The Five Levels of Narrative and Story Model<\/h3>\n
\n8<\/span>\u00a0 Level 2: Narrative Essay: Personal Narrative Essay
\n8<\/span>\u00a0 Level 3: Narrative Non-Fiction<\/p>\n
\n8<\/span>\u00a0 Level 5: Narrative as a Tool in Other Types of Writing<\/p>\n Narrative vs. Story<\/h3>\n Level 1: Narrative Story<\/h3>\n Level 2: Narrative Essay: Personal Narrative Essay<\/h3>\n