Narrative Terminology
Definitions + Sources
What is narrative?
And why is it so difficult to get a clear answer?
Everyone knows what a story is.
But if you’ve ever tried to define what makes it a story — or even what makes something not a story — you realize that defining stories isn’t as easy as recognizing them. Even more so, if you tried to find out the difference between narrative and story you probably found yourself quickly confused: answers range from “something with a beginning, middle and end” to “deep themes” or “they mean the same thing”.
Why?
Simply put: different people are using terminology differently. But it’s not as haphazard as it sounds… there’s a story to it.
Today, there are three main groups using narrative terminology:
Scholars of Literature. Includes narrative theorists and narratologists.
Interdisciplinary scholars. Academics outside the humanities, from disciplines including medicine, mental health, human cognition and wellness.
Practitioners of Communications, PR, Journalism + Media. People who produce narrative texts as a business activity (operations) or business product (to be sold).
Literary scholars were the first to take a closer look at narrative — and are the original creators of the lexicon; they looked at narrative texts and asked questions like “what is it made of?” and “what makes it good?” When they started doing this the only texts were live performances: in an amphitheater, on a stage or in the town center. Over time the texts expanded — to include books and novels and radio and film — and the types of texts evolved, reflecting narrative inventions and changes in human society. This group of scholars invented new words to describe the parts of narrative they observed (metalepsis, anyone?), new types of storytelling as technology created new mediums, and the techniques and inventions that emerged within new mediums. And that’s still going on today.
The second group — interdisciplinary scholars — came during a period called the Narrative Turn which started around the 1960s. Essentially, people who were not studying literature, became interested in some of the concepts coming out of literary studies — or narrative theory. If narrative is how people make sense of the world, it made sense that narrative might be relevant to other studies in the humanities — such as history and sociology — and even outside the humanities including medicine, cognition and psychology. Turns out — it was. Interdisciplinary scholars borrowed narrative terminology developed by narrative theorists, but new applications meant the meaning is sometimes stretched beyond its original use: for example, in neuroscience “narrative” refers to a brain function — organizing information — which is different from — but related to — the structure of a text.
The third group is where terminology differs the most. Web 2.0 changed the media landscape and storytelling shifted from (mostly) the entertainment industry into business operations and products. Practitioners borrowed language from narrative theory, but when the text is a business product, it’s a fundamentally different thing. As a result, some narrative terms have a completely different meaning when used within a communications/public relations context.
As someone who has worked in communications for 20 years, I’ve mapped the connections — and departures — that I’ve come across, below. The definitions in Shared Terminology are mine: my goal is to describe the differences, not define the term, so my definitions are over-simplified. Other Definitions are included to demonstrate the diversity of definitions that are discoverable. Feedback is welcomed.
(The definitions I use are those I find useful for my work, and discoverable here.)Shared Terminology
Ethics
Narrative
Narrative Research
Story
Same words, different meaning.
Different words, same meaning.
Narrative Theory
Narrative Theory
Impact of a narrative text on the reader.
A text that provides an account of events from a point of view, with a structure that includes a beginning, middle and end.
Analysis of narrative texts to understand how people understand their own experiences.
A narrative text.
Corporate storytelling
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Organizational storytelling
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Instrumentalized storytelling
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Rhetorical narrative
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Persuasion
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Rhetoric
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Communications + public relations
Media Narrative
Messaging or Narrative
Narrative landscape
Narrative power
Messaging or Narrative
A story that is narrated by a media publication (such as a newspaper).
Point of view.
Mapping and measuring public opinion on a single subject.
Political power through public opinion.
Communications + Public Relations
Factual corretness.
Point of view, e.g. “my narrative” to mean “my point of view”.
Public opinion research, typically collected through surveys. (Example)
An article (or “piece”) published in the media.
Communications + Public Relations
Strategic storytelling
Strategic storytelling
Strategic storytelling
Narrative
Narrative Change
Narrative Ethics
Narrative Landscape
Narrative Power
Narrative Research
Narrative Theory
Narrative Therapy
Narratology
Story
“Narratives are systems of stories that shape our attitudes and behaviors and help us make meaning of the world around us.” — The Math Narrative Project
“Narratives are the ideas and themes that permeate collections of stories. The ideas can appear in any structure, and are articulated and refined repeatedly in a variety of stories and messages.” — Narrative Initiative
“Narrative is another word for story.” — BBC
My Story, Your Narrative: Scholarly Terms and Popular Usage in The Routledge Companion to Narrative Theory discusses the change in use of “narrative”.
“A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences.” — Wikipedia
“Narratives (are) collections of stories circulating within a society that convey themes, frames, and worldviews that are collectively recognized, understood, and embraced by its members.” — BLIS Collective
“A narrative consists of a collection or body of stories which together convey a common worldview or meaning — an interpretation of the world and how it works.” The Narrative Directory.
“Narrative change is an effort to counter, modify, or replace existing narratives by creating and deploying new or different narratives.” — The Math Narrative Project
“Narrative change rests on the premise that reality is socially constructed through narrative, and that in order to bring about change in the world we need to pay attention to the ways in which this change takes place.” — More at The Narrative Directory.
“Narrative ethics explores the intersections between the domain of stories and storytelling and that of moral values.” — Living Handbook of Narratology
“A narrative landscape is a map of the harmful and helpful narratives that affect how people think about, talk about, and make decisions about your cause.” — Narrative Initiative
“Narrative power refers to the ability to shape and control the stories told within a society, including which ones are told, who tells them, and how they are interpreted.” — Shanelle Matthews and Marzena Zukowska
“The ability to tell stories that shift the mental models and cultural mindsets that define our cultural norms.” — The Narrative Directory
“Narrative research is the study of circulating stories, where they come from, how they spread and coalesce, and how they impact public sentiment, policy, and broader culture. Applied narrative research encompasses all of this, with the crucial addition that it is designed, from start to finish, to serve movement strategy, with the ultimate goal of deepening collective power.” — BLIS Collective
“Narrative theory starts from the assumption that narrative is a basic human strategy for coming to terms with fundamental elements of our experience, such as time, process, and change, and it proceeds from this assumption to study the distinctive nature of narrative and its various structures, elements, uses, and effects.” — Project Narrative.
“Narratology… is a field of study concerned with the distinctive and optional properties of stories.” — Encyclopedia of Ludic Terms
“A story describes an event or sequence of events that include characters, conflict, and imagery. It has a beginning, middle and end.” — Narrative Initiative
“Stories consist of characters, joined in some common problem in a temporal trajectory (plot) leading towards resolution within a particular setting or context.” — The Narrative Directory
My Story, Your Narrative: Scholarly Terms and Popular Usage in The Routledge Companion to Narrative Theory discusses the change in use of “story”.
Other
Definitions
Definitions online are diverse. Other sources include The Living Handbook of Narratology, The Living Glossary of Digital Narrative, The Encyclopedia of Ludic Terms and The Narrative Directory.