Fiction

Lore & Background

Storytelling has existed in all human cultures, and each culture incorporates different elements of truth and fiction into storytelling. Early fiction was closely associated with history and myth. Greek poets such as Homer, Hesiod, and Aesop developed fictional stories that were told first through oral storytelling and then in writing. Prose fiction was developed in Ancient Greece, influenced by the storytelling traditions of Asia and Egypt. Distinctly fictional work was not recognized as separate from historical or mythological stories until the imperial period. Plasmatic narrative, following entirely invented characters and events, was developed through ancient drama and New Comedy. One common structure among early fiction is a series of strange and fantastic adventures as early writers test the limits of fiction writing. Milesian tales were an early example of fiction writing in Ancient Greece and Italy. As fiction writing developed in Ancient Greece, relatable characters and plausible scenarios were emphasized to better connect with the audience, including elements such as romance, piracy, and religious ceremonies. Heroic romance was developed in medieval Europe, incorporating elements associated with fantasy, including supernatural elements and chivalry.

Reader's Guide

The structure of the modern novel was developed by Miguel de Cervantes with Don Quixote in the early-17th century. The novel became a primary medium of fiction in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were often associated with Enlightenment ideas such as empiricism and agnosticism. Realism developed as a literary style at this time. New forms of mass media developed in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, including popular-fiction magazines and early film. Interactive fiction was developed in the late-20th century through video games. The Internet has had a major impact on the creation and distribution of fiction, calling into question the feasibility of copyright as a means to ensure royalties are paid to copyright holders. Digital libraries such as Project Gutenberg make public domain texts more readily available. The combination of inexpensive home computers, the Internet, and the creativity of its users has also led to new forms of fiction, such as interactive computer games or computer-generated comics. Countless forums for fan fiction can be found online, where loyal followers of specific fictional realms create and distribute derivative stories. The Internet is also used for the development of blog fiction, where a story is delivered through a blog either as flash fiction or serial blog, and collaborative fiction, where a story is written sequentially by different authors, or the entire text can be revised by anyone using a wiki.

Did You Know?

• The broad study of the nature, function, and meaning of fiction is called literary theory.
• Literary critic James Wood argues that 'fiction is both artifice and verisimilitude.'
• The umbrella genre of speculative fiction is characterized by a lesser degree of adherence to realistic or plausible individuals, events, or places.
• Milesian tales were an early example of fiction writing in Ancient Greece and Italy.

Definition and Purpose

A narrative technique—sometimes called a narrative device or, within the world of fiction, a fictional device—represents any storytelling strategy that a creator deliberately employs in the construction of a work. Its core function operates on two levels simultaneously: it relays information to the audience while also enriching the narrative, making it more complete, more complex, or more engaging than it would be in the absence of such deliberate choices. These are not passive or accidental features of a story; rather, they are active tools in an author's repertoire, selected with intention to shape how a narrative is received and experienced by its audience. They occupy the space between craft and communication, serving as the working bridge between what a writer intends to convey and what a reader ultimately perceives on the page.

Technique Versus Element

One of the most important conceptual boundaries in narrative theory is the distinction between narrative techniques and narrative elements. Narrative elements are inherent by definition—they exist in every work of narrative as a matter of course, forming the foundational architecture upon which all storytelling is built. Narrative techniques, by contrast, are optional strategies; they are choices a creator makes or deliberately forgoes. A story cannot exist without its basic narrative elements, but it can exist without any particular technique. This means techniques are additive, deliberate, and variable from one work to the next, while elements are constitutive and universal across all narrative works. Understanding this difference is essential for separating what is structurally necessary in any story from what is artistically chosen by a specific creator.

Taxonomy of Narrative Craft

The landscape of narrative techniques is organized around several key domains: setting, plot, perspective, style, theme, and character. Each of these categories represents a distinct axis along which a creator can exercise deliberate craft. Whether a writer manipulates how a story's world is presented to the audience, structures the sequence and arrangement of events, chooses whose eyes the reader sees through, calibrates the language and tone of the prose, foregrounds certain ideas or concerns, or shapes how people are rendered and developed—each such choice falls under one of these headings. This taxonomy provides a shared vocabulary for discussing what makes one narrative approach distinct from another, and it reflects the multiple dimensions along which a story can be made more complete, complex, or engaging through the deliberate application of craft.

Terminology and Related Concepts

The vocabulary surrounding narrative technique is not entirely settled, and terminological overlap can create genuine confusion. Some scholars prefer the term "narrative mode," though this label carries an additional, narrower meaning in certain academic contexts: it can specifically denote the technique of delivering a story through the medium of commentary. Thus, "narrative mode" in one usage functions as a synonym for narrative technique broadly, while in another it refers to a particular method of storytelling delivery. Related concepts that occupy adjacent territory include the plot device—a specific type of narrative technique focused on story structure—and the rhetorical device, which operates in the broader realm of persuasive and expressive language. The 1969 Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, published by G. & C. Merriam Company in Springfield, stands as one of the reference points grounding these definitions in established lexicographic tradition.