Story Telling

"Story telling can be oral, traditional telling of a tale, visual as in an information graphy or movie; or textual as in a poem or novel."
(Lindell 2003, P.186)

Narratology, the art of telling story.

Techniques
Diegesis- having a narrator in a story.
Mimesis- not having a narrator but the visual will tell the story.

The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations is a descriptive list which was created by Georges Polti who was a French writer from the mid 19th century to categorize every dramatic situation that might occur in a story or performance.

1. Supplication - a Persecutor; a Supplicant; a Power in authority, whose decision is doubtful.
2. Deliverance - an Unfortunate; a Threatener; a Rescuer
3. Crime pursued by vengeance - an Avenger; a Criminal
4. Vengeance taken for kin upon kin - an Avenging Kinsman; Guilty Kinsman; remembrance of the Victim, a relative of both
5. Pursuit - Punishment; a Fugitive
6. Disaster - a Vanquished Power; a Victorious Enemy or a Messenger
7. Falling prey to cruelty/misfortune - an Unfortunate; a Master or a Misfortune
8. Revolt - a Tyrant; a Conspirator
9. Daring enterprise - a Bold Leader; an Object; an Adversary
10. Abduction - an Abductor; the Abducted; a Guardian
11. The enigma - an Interrogator; a Seeker; a Problem
12. Obtaining - (a Solicitor & an Adversary who is refusing) or (an Arbitrator & Opposing Parties)
13. Enmity of kin - a Malevolent Kinsman; a Hatred or a reciprocally-hating Kinsman
14. Rivalry of kin - the Preferred Kinsman; the Rejected Kinsman; the Object of Rivalry
15. Murderous adultery - two Adulterers; a Betrayed Spouse
16. Madness - a Madman; a Victim
17. Fatal imprudence - the Imprudent; a Victim or an Object Lost
18. Involuntary crimes of love - a Lover; a Beloved; a Revealer
19. Slaying of kin unrecognized - the Slayer; an Unrecognized Victim
20. Self-sacrifice for an ideal - a Hero; an Ideal; a Creditor or a Person/Thing sacrificed
21. Self-sacrifice for kin - a Hero; a Kinsman; a Creditor or a Person/Thing sacrificed
22. All sacrificed for passion - a Lover; an Object of fatal Passion; the Person/Thing sacrificed
23. Necessity of sacrificing loved ones - a Hero; a Beloved Victim; the Necessity for the Sacrifice
24. Rivalry of superior v. inferior - a Superior Rival; an Inferior Rival; the Object of Rivalry
25. Adultery - two Adulterers; a Deceived Spouse
26. Crimes of love - a Lover; the Beloved
27. Discovery of the dishonour of a loved one - a Discoverer; the Guilty One
28. Obstacles to love - two Lovers; an Obstacle
29. An enemy loved - a Lover; the Beloved Enemy; the Hater
30. Ambition - an Ambitious Person; a Thing Coveted; an Adversary
31. Conflict with a god - a Mortal; an Immortal
32. Mistaken jealousy - a Jealous One; an Object of whose Possession He is Jealous; a Supposed Accomplice; a Cause or an Author of the Mistake
33. Erroneous judgement - a Mistaken One; a Victim of the Mistake; a Cause or Author of the Mistake; the Guilty One
34. Remorse - a Culprit; a Victim or the Sin; an Interrogator
35. Recovery of a lost one - a Seeker; the One Found
36. Loss of loved ones - a Kinsman Slain; a Kinsman Spectator; an Executioner

Point of View
- first person
- second person
- third person (usually on documentary programs or sensitive issue)

Plot is the events that happen to the characters in a story.

Plot Devices, something introduced into the story to advance the plot.
- items
- vision
- finales

Plot hole is a gap in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic set-up by the plot. Plot holes are usually seen as weaknesses and flaws in a story, and writes try to avoid them( except in certain deliberate circumstances, usually for humorous effect) to make their stories seem as realistic ans lifelike as possible.

Plot Structure, how to link everything together.

According to Aristotle's Poetics, a plot in literature is "the arrangement of incidents" that (ideally) each follow plausibly from the other. The plot is like the pencil outline that guides the painter's brush.

Elements of plot in a narrative
Initial situation - the beginning. It is the first incident that makes the story move.
Conflict or Problem - goal which the main character of the story has to achieve.
Complication - obstacles which the main character has to overcome.
Climax - highest point of interest of the story.
Suspense - point of tension. It arouses the interest of the readers.
Denouement or Resolution - what happens to the character after overcoming all obstacles/ failing to achieve the desired result ans reaching/ not reaching his goal.
Conclusion - the end of the story.

Dramatic Structure

Dramatic structure refers to the parts into which a plot of a short story, a novel, a play, a screenplay, or a narrative poem can be divided. Larger texts may contain several simultaneous plots that also follow this structure. The dramatic structure has been described by Gustav Freytag as follows:

Characters , the actions and reactions of the characters drive the plot forward. Characters create their own realities as externalizations of their inner worlds in a sense.
Protagonist - somebody who carried the story
Antagonist - someone who opponents the protagonist
False Protagonist - someone who was thought as the lead character
Fictional - someone who does not exist
stock characters - sub characters

Genre, the main theme of the story. The theme is the invisible underlying universal- controlling idea, moral, message, concept, emotion, issue, essence or soul of the story.

Invisibility, what the audience can not see. (form/ media/ content)

Mood, the emotion.

Movement, the flow of the story.
- motion
- coherent
- logical
- sequence

Setting is the location where the story takes place. It is a sense of time and place.





Related websites:
http://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/theory/narratology/modules/introduction.html
http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-921/story.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_telling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narratology
http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/3act/index.html