Understanding Narrative, Description, and Dialogue Techniques
The Narrative
The narrative is an account of actions, real or fictitious, carried out by characters. Texts may be literary or narrative nonfiction.
Elements of the Narrative
- The Narrator: The voice the author uses to tell the facts. An external narrator does not participate in the events, while an internal narrator is the protagonist or a witness. The external narrator recounts events in the 3rd person, and the internal narrator in the 1st person.
- The Action: A set of facts located in time and space. Events occur within an external time and follow a specific sequence.
- Narrative Space: Can be real or imaginary.
- Characters: Those who carry out the actions. They are classified as primary (protagonist and antagonist) or secondary. Characters are also classified as flat (lacking psychological complexity) or round (characterized by deep psychological depth).
Structure and Order of the Narrative
The narrative framework involves the development of initial actions and situations.
The Description
The description is the presentation of characteristic features of people, objects, places, or events—both real and imagined—so the receiver forms a faithful idea of them.
Types and Order
- Objective: Shows reality as it is.
- Subjective: Used in literary and advertising contexts.
- Spatial Order: Often adopted when the description is perceptible by the senses.
Language of Description
Descriptions abound with adjectives and space markers. Epithets and metaphors are frequently used.
Description in the Story
- Prosopography: Description based on physical traits.
- Etopeya: Description based on psychological traits.
- Portrait: Includes both physical and psychological aspects.
Dialogue
A dialogue is an exchange of information between two or more partners who alternate in the use of the word.
Organization and Language
- Combines different modalities of statements.
- Continually uses calls to the speaker.
- Employs different linguistic formulas to manage the dialogue.