Narrative Structure

My story is called The Story that Never Ends and it follows a linear structure because it starts at the beginning and it finishes at the end. It’s a Wonderful Life would be an example. A non linear structure however can be found in films such as Pulp Fiction where there are a lot of story lines going on at once.

My story is a closed narrative because it has a conclusion and it doesn’t leave things open for new stories to be told. The opposite of this however can be found in film series such as Marvel and DC cinematic universe because their films always leave things open for future installments.

It follows a single strand because it follows just one story line involving the shepherd and his sheep. The opposite however would be multiple strands where different stories are going on at the same time. This can be found in many TV shows or soap operas where theirs subplots going in each episode. But they always have a resolution.

My story is more of a realist narrative because there isn’t anything supernatural or mythical. It is grounded in reality. The opposite of this however is anti-realist where the narrative involves things that wouldn’t ever happen. A Primary example would be the Lord of the Rings trilogy where it involves dragons, dwarves and magic.

One of the narrative components I used for my story was the manipulation of time and space. The story takes place throughout and entire day in just 8 pages and I have condensed the time in my book by having the book start in the morning, jump through time through each couple of pages as the sheep cross the bridge leading up to the end where the sheep cross the bridge and its night. An example

of this being done somewhere else would be the action comedy Hot Fuzz where there is a scene where a character travels for coupe of hours to where he wants to be that time is condensed using jump cuts.