PURPOSE

To tell a story, to provide entertainment, or make an audience think about an issue, teach the reader a lesson or excite their emotions.

Novels, short stories, diaries, biographies, some songs, dramatic monologues, plays, narrative films, poems can all use this format.

STRUCTURE

Orientation

Tell the audience who is in the story, when is it happening, where it is happening and what is going on.

Complication

This is the part of the story where something happens, usually a problem for the main character, which triggers a chain of events.

Series of events

This tells how the characters react to the complication; rising tension occurs, leading to a climax (high point/major drama). It includes their feelings and what they do. The events can be told in chronological order (the order in which they happen) or with flashbacks

Resolution

The complication is sorted out or the problem is solved.

Coda

The narrative includes a coda (an additional section) if there is a moral or message to be learned from the story.