Vocabulary

Narrative - A spoken or written account of connected events; a story

Syntax of the plot - The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

Protagonist - The leading character or a major character in a drama, movie, novel, or other fictional text

Antagonist - A person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something

Climax/ crescendo - The most intense, exciting, or important point of something

Equilibrium - A state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced

Disequilibrium - A loss or lack of balance or stability

Enigma code - A person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand

Proairetic - Drives narrative through anticipation of an action's resolution

Linear - Arranged in or extending along a straight or nearly straight line: "linear arrangements

Non Linear - a system which is not linear, that is, a system which does not satisfy the superposition principle

Circular - Having the form of a circle.

Parallel narrative - two narrated parts of a story set in the same place and same time.

Convergent narrative - also known as Hybrid narrative, it is a narrative that mixes conventions of two or more different genres.

Interweaving narrative - a plot with several narrative threads that all take place one after another and are 'interwoven'

Flashbacks/flash-forward - A literary or cinematic device in which an earlier/later event is inserted into the normal chronological order of a narrative.

Real time - a narrative technique whereby events are depicted as occurring entirely within the span of and at the same rate as the depiction

Reversal - when events happen from the latest to the earliest, in back-to-front order i.e. from the most recent event to the first event.

Dream sequences - a technique used to set apart a brief interlude from the main story. The interlude may consist of a flashback, a flash-forward, a fantasy, a vision, a dream, or some other element.

Repetition - when an event in a narrative happens more than once

Different characters' POV - when a narrative is told from the perspectives of different characters rather than just the protagonist

Ellipsis - when a period of time in a narrative is skipped e.g. showing the birth of the protagonist then skipping their childhood to show them as a young adult.

Pre-figuring of events that have not yet taken place - when a narrative suggests that certain events may have taken place, or the audience assumes these events have taken place even though the event itself may not be shown