Working in the literary world, you’ll always encounter some familiar terms as well as some that you’ve never heard of before.
We might’ve heard of the word ‘Narrative’ before, but when it’s combined with ‘Text,’ you might start doubting if it has the same meaning you’re thinking of or not.
In this article, we’re going to address the question, “What is narrative text?” We’ll also highlight the different types of narrative text as well as provide a few examples you can refer to.
What Does Narrative Text Mean?
Simply put, the term ‘narrative text’ refers to any complete story that contains an introduction, conflict, and resolution.
Narrative text is what we call the style in which an author tells a story. This story will need to have:
- A beginning that describes the characters and settings.
- A middle where some kind of conflict occurs and has a major effect on the story’s progress.
- An ending where the conflict is usually resolved and the story reaches its climax.
The Different Types of Narrative Text
Narrative text is a diverse term that shouldn’t be placed in a box. A narrative text can be a novel that you’ve read, a game with a story, or a song that tells a tale. As long as there’s a story being told and a lesson to be learned, it’s most likely a narrative text.
Narrative text can also be found in many genres we’re all familiar with. For example, all types of fictional stories like fantasy and science-fiction, as well as realistic stories that are based on real life, contain narrative text. It can also be nonfiction stories like biographies or historical novels.
3 Interesting Narrative Text Examples
For each genre, there’s an abundance of novels that follow the narrative text rules. Up next are just a few examples you can check out!
Fiction – Fantasy
Fantasy stories are usually set in a different world from our own, with many different species that sometimes have human characteristics—like Elves and Dwarfs, for example.
These types of novels are usually just a depiction of the author’s imagination with all the sequences of a narrative text included.
An example of these novels is the “Lord of the Ring” series. With a world-building at the start, conflict in the half-point of the book, and a resolution at the end, it makes a perfect example for fantasy narrative texts.
Fiction – Science Fiction
Science fiction is where futuristic stories are usually told.
With robots or humans traveling in space, you’ll find that they usually tell the story of the main character trying to fight a new threat, virus, or defend the universe with their spaceship.
Either way, they never lack interesting conflicts to draw in the readers! An example would be “Dune”.
Non-Fiction – Historical Novels
Historical novels tell the story of a major historical event that occurred many years ago.
It tells the story of someone’s struggle and their path to success or freedom, with many lessons for the reader to learn from
A historical novel example would be “Last Boat Out of Shanghai”.
Conclusion
Though the literary world doesn’t lack terms to call the different texts available in it, narrative text is one term that can fit many genres inside.
After reading this article, we hope that you have all the information you need to understand what narrative text is better.
