Storytelling Genres: Tales, Legends, Stories, and Novels

The Tale

The tale is a result of centuries of oral transmission, a short narrative aimed particularly at children's entertainment. It features fantastic characters.

Characteristics:

• Characters: Usually beings with magical powers; some items have supernatural virtue. The protagonist typically has a goal or mission, with an antagonist trying to impede them.
• Time and Space: Vague and distant.
• Structure: Simple and repetitive plot.
• Author: Anonymous.
• Language: Very simple.

The Legend

Legends are about the origin of a tradition, belief, or a known place. They seem real but contain elements of imagination.

Characteristics:

• Theme: Based on a true story, an extraordinary place, or known elements.
• Characters: Usually a protagonist who bears the brunt of the action and an antagonist. They represent conflicting values.
• Setting: Many legends are set in the Middle Ages.
• Author: Anonymous.
• Structure: Similar to any narrative text.

Subgenres

Perhaps the best-known subgenres:

• Detective or Mystery: Revolves around a riddle to be solved.
• Science Fiction: Set in the future, focusing on scientific and technological aspects like robots and space travel.
• Historical: Fiction recasting historical facts, mixing historical and fictional characters.
• Realistic: Faithfully represents the life and customs of a society in a particular time and real space.

The Story

A story is a usually brief narrative explaining fictitious, legendary, or sometimes real facts in a simple manner.

Stories follow the classical plot structure:

• Setting (Space and Time): Indefinite or vague.
• Characters: Few and hardly described, sometimes representing models like hero or antihero.
• Plot: Very simple, starting with an event causing the protagonist's response and action, leading to an outcome. Conflict resolution may provide a moral.

The Novel

The novel is a significant, long fictional narrative intended for the reader's enjoyment, following the same framework structure and plot.

Characteristics:

• Setting:
  • Space: Where the events develop, well-described to place the reader and transmit sensations and credibility.
  • Time: When the events occur.
• Characters: Classified into primary and secondary, round (evolve) or flat (do not evolve).
• Events: Divided into chapters, discussed within the plot. Events can be linear or non-linear.
• Narrator:
  • Internal: A character in the story, explaining events in the first person singular.
  • External: Not involved in the story, explaining events in the third person singular.
• Pace and Speech Pattern: Various narrative techniques like description, dialogue, exposition, and character thoughts. The pace can vary.