What is narrative? 9 narrative types and examples

Every story has a voice, a perspective, and a particular way it unfolds. Together, these things are known as the narrative.

Whether linear or nonlinear, descriptive or “viewpoint”, choosing the right type(s) of narrative for your story is crucial to its success. In this post, we’ll look at nine of the most common narrative types, how you might use them, and an example of each.

What is narrative?

Narrative is the choice of which events to relate, in what order, and from whose perspective. In other words, it is the way in which a story is told — whether fiction or nonfiction. 

A story is a set sequence of events, but the same story can yield many different narratives. Imagine if the Harry Potter series was rewritten from Draco Malfoy’s point of view; it would be a very different narrative, even though the “facts” of the story would remain the same!

This is because a narrative doesn’t just present the facts. It connects events and relates them to each other or to specific ideas, themes, or concepts — all based on who’s “telling” the story and who the audience is. 

The ideal witness in a courtroom gives an unbiased account, but the author of a narrative has an ulterior agenda (whether consciously or subconsciously): to mold the story to fit an overarching set of aims or effects. For example, in a comedic narrative, the overarching aim is to amuse the reader, while in a fable, the aim is to teach the reader a moral.

Almost all narratives contain the same seven elements of a story: theme, characters, setting, plot, conflict, point of view, and style. However, different narrative types place more emphasis on different elements. Let’s look at nine of the most common narrative types and how they differ.

1. Descriptive narrative

Descriptive narrative immerses the reader in the story world by describing all the little details of the setting. Descriptive narrative has two key purposes:

1. To create a sense of time and place.

2. To convey the mood or tone of said time and place (e.g. threatening, peaceful, cheerful, chaotic).

Descriptive narrative needs to be descriptive enough to live up to its name, but not so minutely detailed that it gets boring for the reader! A good way to keep descriptions engaging is to use rich figurative language such as similes and metaphors, as well as sensory language involving all five senses. This will invite the reader to really imagine themselves in the story’s setting.

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Descriptive narrative example

F. Scott Fitzgerald employs descriptive narrative regularly throughout The Great Gatsby. Our narrator Nick captures the setting and mood of Gatsby’s Friday night parties perfectly:

The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music and the opera of voices pitches a key higher. Laughter is easier, minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word. 

 

The groups change more swiftly, swell with new arrivals, dissolve and form in the same breath—already there are wanderers, confident girls who weave here and there among the stouter and more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment the center of a group and then excited with triumph glide on through the sea-change of faces and voices and color under the constantly changing light.

 

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925)

Fitzgerald’s use of the present tense, and sounds as well as sights, immerses the reader in the scene. The exuberant mood is conveyed by figurative language, such as the description of the music as “yellow”.

2. Viewpoint narrative

If descriptive narrative immerses the reader in the story’s world, viewpoint narrative immerses them in a character’s mind. The purpose of this narrative type is to help the reader understand the views, feelings, desires, beliefs, or values of the “viewpoint” character(s).

In omniscient narration, the all-knowing narrator may share multiple characters' private thoughts, even in a single scene. By contrast, in limited narration, we can only know a single person's perception of events and relationships.

Because of this, viewpoint narrative has an enormous influence over the story. We might interpret events the way the narrator does — either because we don't have a different viewpoint for comparison, or because their voice is strong and self-assured. 

Yet the viewpoint narrator in a scene may be unreliable; they could lie about what truly happened, or gloss over details that make them look bad. Classic examples of unreliable narrators include Amy and Nick, a married couple in Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, whose conflicting versions of events don’t add up.

Viewpoint narrative examples

Viewpoint narratives are generally written in either the first or the third person. John Green uses first person narration in The Fault in our Stars to foster an intimate connection between the reader and teenage cancer patient Hazel, making her suffering all the more tragic.

A viewpoint narrative with third person omniscient narration is Middlemarch by George Eliot. The all-knowing narrator is able to delve into the lives and relationships of the characters in the provincial town of Middlemarch, providing a richly layered story that highlights the complexities of human relationships and community dynamics.

In Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, on the other hand, the writer uses third person limited narration (meaning the narrator tells the story from one character’s perspective) to delve into the psyche of the protagonist Raskolnikov as he grapples with morality and guilt.

Second-person viewpoint narration is unusual, but not unheard of. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney follows the life of a young man in New York City during the 1980s. The second-person viewpoint narrative immerses the reader directly into the protagonist's experiences.

You can read more about different points of view here.

3. Historical narrative

The defining feature of historical narrative is that it narrates historical events, although the events may be partially fictionalized. Historical narrative appears in genres such as biography, autobiography, and various historical subgenres (e.g. historical romance or WWII fiction).

One common aspect of historical narrative across genres is that it emphasizes causation, showing the chain reactions leading from one event to another. This is why in historical narrative, we often get a clear order of events, and the narrative may span long stretches of time. 

At the same time, what makes historical narrative different from history textbooks is that the narrative forms a compelling story with overarching themes and/or messages, sometimes influenced by the author’s own views.

Historical narrative example

Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson uses historical narrative to build a riveting chronicle around the fatally miscalculated magnitude of a hurricane in Galveston, Texas, in 1900. The well-researched novel depicts the chain of events that caused the tragedy, but Larson also uses foreshadowing and dramatic irony to create a suspenseful and engaging narrative.

4. Personal narrative

Personal narrative includes any piece of creative nonfiction based on the author’s personal experiences, from a memoir to a short essay. It is usually written in the first person and links their personal experiences to broader themes. 

Personal narrative example

A quintessential example of personal narrative in a memoir is Cheryl Strayed’s Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. Strayed recounts her solo journey hiking over a thousand miles of the PCT, which is made all the more affecting by her recent personal losses. 

Strayed uses vivid storytelling to link her physical journey to broader themes of grief, healing, and self-discovery. She writes:

I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story.

 

Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (2012)

Strayed connects her internal struggles to universal ideas, allowing her personal narrative to resonate with readers on a deeper level.

5. Quest narrative

Quest narrative is a popular narrative type that sees the hero embark on a long and difficult journey in order to prove their worth and/or save the world. It is used to tell adventure stories and typically also focuses on the protagonist’s personal growth and development as a result of their journey.

A successful quest narrative emphasizes the significance of the quest early on, introducing high stakes and tricky obstacles in order to build narrative tension. Usually, the protagonist cannot succeed in their quest alone, instead having to rely on the help of friends or acquaintances. 

Quest narrative example

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is a quest narrative that ticks all those boxes. The stakes are high: the gods will start a war among themselves if Percy does not retrieve Zeus’ stolen lightning bolt. On his journey, Percy faces various monsters, and must rely on the loyalty and skills of his companions Grover and Annabeth to survive. Percy’s character arc sees him grow more confident and find his place in the world of demigods.

6. Linear narrative

Linear narrative is a broad narrative type that often encompasses the other types as well. Linear narrative presents events chronologically, i.e., in the order they happened. This narrative type is typical of nonfiction and more realistic fiction in which the author wants to show a character’s life unfold day to day or year to year.

Similar to historical narrative, linear narrative shows causation clearly. When we see what happened to a character yesterday, then today, then tomorrow, it’s often easier to notice patterns and chains of cause and effect.

Linear narrative example

A classic example of linear narrative is Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. We follow Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy's love story from their first (disastrous!) meeting to their eventual marriage. All the events are presented in chronological order, and we can easily see how one misunderstanding leads to another — which makes it all the more satisfying when everything is happily resolved in the end.

7. Nonlinear narrative

Nonlinear narrative is the opposite of linear narrative: events are told in a non-chronological order. This has two main uses:

1. It can represent the narrator's emotional state or splintered consciousness. For example, a traumatized narrator who has flashbacks might tell events out of sequence, as they try to piece together fragments and memories. This is the case in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried; the nonlinear narrative reflects the psychological impact of war and how trauma distorts and interrupts the flow of time.

2. It can build suspense. For example, from the beginning of Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, the narrator repeatedly comments that Rudy didn’t deserve to die — leaving the reader wondering how he is going to die and when.

Nonlinear narrative example

Donna Tartt's prologue to The Secret History is a masterful example of how to introduce nonlinear narrative. Within the first page, we know there has been a murder and that the narrator is somehow complicit. Tartt's opening paragraph reveals a lot, but still builds anticipation:

The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. He'd been dead for ten days before they found him, you know. It was one of the biggest manhunts in Vermont history - state troopers, the FBI, even an army helicopter; the college closed, the dye factory in Hampden shut down, people coming from New Hampshire, upstate New York, as far away as Boston.

 

Donna Tartt, The Secret History (1992)

Yet the next thing we know, we're back in the days when the narrator first met Bunny, and Bunny Corcoran is very much alive. This nonlinear recalling of events gives us a compelling dramatic moment before its buildup. Yet Tartt still delays our complete gratification by making us wait for a full understanding of what happened and why.

8. Parallel narrative

Parallel narrative can be linear or nonlinear, but it crucially tells two or more stories simultaneously, with two or more main characters. The stories tend to be interconnected, although how is not always apparent until later, when there is often a sudden plot twist or revelation. As such, this narrative type is ideal for thrillers or historical fiction novels that incorporate “real life” twists to increase the drama.

Parallel narrative example

Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is a historical fiction novel that uses parallel narrative to contrast the cities of London and Paris, and their residents, during the tumultuous period of the French Revolution. The novel follows two main characters whose lives gradually intertwine: Charles Darnay, a French aristocrat who renounces his family’s cruel legacy, and Sydney Carton, a disillusioned English lawyer who finds redemption through his love for Darnay’s wife.

9. Episodic narrative

Episodic narrative is a narrative type that consists of a series of short stories — each with its own beginning, middle, and end — that are united by a larger narrative arc. The best way to understand this is to think of a TV sitcom like Friends, in which every episode tells a self-contained story, but big-picture relationships between characters develop across all the episodes.

Episodic narrative allows the author to explore a diverse range of themes, as each episode can handle a completely new subject. The stories must have something in common, though — usually a main character or key premise, like in the Sherlock Holmes books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or perhaps a setting, as in Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the coffee gets cold.

Episodic narrative example

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain exemplifies episodic narrative. The novel presents a series of independent adventures that all occur on Huck Finn’s journey down the Mississippi River. 

The episodic nature of the narrative shows the unpredictability of Huck’s journey and allows Twain to critique a variety of social and moral issues, from slavery to religious hypocrisy. The individual episodes contribute to a larger character arc that sees Huck’s conscience and values evolve.

Mix and match

Excepting linear and nonlinear, none of these narrative types are mutually exclusive. Most stories are told using descriptive narrative at some points, and viewpoint narrative at others. Likewise, historical, personal, and quest narratives can be linear, nonlinear, parallel, or episodic. 

Whether you’re analyzing a text or writing your own, we hope you now understand the main types of narrative and their respective purposes. If you’re an author looking to improve your writing, you might benefit from meeting with one of our writing coaches to help you decide what sort of narrative to use, and how to execute it.