Organizing Time – Time in a story can be linear, non-linear, sequential or non-sequential. A story can be viewed chronologically or non-chronologically.
Space – What mechanism the story uses to organize or disorganize space between events and characters.
Theme – Something that links the events, characters and places.
Narrative – The overall structure
Story – the theme, idea or meaning
Plot – The way in which the story is organised and how the events occur.
Todorov tripartite narrative structure: Beginning, middle and end (or equilibrium, disruption and new equilibrium)
Freytag’s pyramid visualizes this tripartite structure where the inciting incident leads to the climax of the disruption until the resolution that leads to the new equilibrium is reached.
Propp Character types and function – Every story includes stock characters that play a role that is described as a stock function because the actions and aims of certain stock characters are generally the same across different stories He also states that stories have set narrative structures that include:
- PREPARATION
- COMPLICATION
- TRANSFERENCE
- STRUGGLE
- RETURN
- RECOGNITION
Levi-Strauss states that stories are about binary oppositions (good vs. evil, old vs. young, etc.)
Seymour Chatman states that stories are composed of two parts – Kernels, the main parts that if taken out would not work and Satellites, the less important parts of the story that are used for embellishment, but they can be taken out of the story without effecting it.