Narrative and Story

Narrative - an account of a series of related events or experiences, fictional or not.

Story - tale, accounts of happening, description of a scene or a character, including visuals; technique and process of narrating.

Narratives or stories can be presented verbally, via still or moving images, or through a sequenced combination of media.

Narrative Modes

Many of my texts and visuals contain some forms of narrative presentation. To sort them efficiently, I have combined formal types of writing and narration, most Nichols' and a few De Bromhead’s documentary modes, and some other classifications - because no system was sufficient or universal enough for my needs. First, I came up with five modes: expository, linear, observational, participatory, poetic.

For my needs though, observation is very close to exposition, linear classic narration I call simply story, and poetic mode became a part of several moods.

These modes are not entirely mutually exclusive, but I attempt to order my material by most prominent features, and tend to assign only one mode-label to each piece.

Other Modes of Narration

Sets of methods authors or artists often use in verbal works:

1. By point of view: first-person view, second-person, third, and alternating.
2. By voice: stream-of-consciousness, voice of a character (both could be unreliable or not credible), epistolary (from writing), and third-person voices.
3. By time: past, present, and future tense.

By the way, many paintings are performative: the brushstrokes and line quality matter.

Documentary mode is a conceptual scheme developed by Bill Nichols that distinguishes particular traits and conventions of various documentary film styles.

Documentaries - nonfictional stories about some aspect of reality - emphasizing or expressing things as perceived, possibly without distortion or insertion of fictional matter: documentary films, novels, books, comics, animations, etc.