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

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.

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 of Nichols' and a few of 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, and 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.