Parts of a Story

       Stories, through words, oral storytelling, videos, or images have existed since the beginning of man to entertain audiences while leaving them with a nugget of insight to share with others. Real-life incidents are referenced in research papers to let the audience know it is possible or happening in real life, and stories are prepared, detailed recollections of what should be or what is occurring. No matter what format a tale is told, it is composed of a purpose, setting, characters, scenario, point of view, and tone.

Anything serves a purpose its creators gave it, and so does a story. The primary purpose indicates why the creator took the time out of his or her life to do something "less productive," which is often suggesting a solution to a problem, creating simply because he or she has passion for it, or promote certain morals. Frequently, the creator's drive to flesh out the tale is the same reason he or she wants others to see, hear, or read it. If there was no purpose, the creator would not bother to take the first step to approach his or her goal by picking the environment to place his or her tale.

A definite setting for a story helps the audience understand the fictitious account the creator is creating by giving him or her a definitive time and place. Giving the time and place of a story provides the audience information to validate possibility of the characters' existence in a story. How does a setting confirm a character? Take a faulty document reporting that Christopher Columbus first discovered space travel in 1275 for example. With only knowing when and where Christopher Columbus existed, he did not exist in 1275, anyone can declare the report is untrue. Grounding a story in a set time and location also prepares the audience for what they can expect of events that will later unfold. Leaving a story floating on a multidimensional life raft will leave the audience baffled and makes confirming the characters' appropriateness for it difficult.

Characters draw the audience into a story by providing the audience a glimpse into the lives of people inhabiting a story's setting. If a story is meant to send a message to the audience, then characters are people in the creator's acute example. Attaching a name to a person who normally would be stated as a statistic establishes an emotional connection between the audience and the people in the scenario. Without any characters, the audience would see the people's sufferings and triumphs as insignificant, reducing the importance of events vital to fulfill the story's purpose.

Integrating the setting and the characters deepen their importance when they interact to create a scenario that captures the audience's interest. Events in a story draw the audience into the tale by showing the main conflict of the story. Often the events address the purpose of a story by presenting situations related to the purpose, such as a clearly pro-Christianity novel focusing around clashes between biblical demons and angels, with the angels coming out victorious, and salvation of a "lost" soul by finding faith in Christ. No events will make a story as boring as a blank piece of paper, while not taking a certain viewpoint will overload the audience's brains.

Information and emotional connection is good, but too much of both can ruin a story. Using a certain point of view allows the creator to control the flow of these two. Most stories are told in third person omniscient, from a narrator who can see everything; third person limited, from a narrator following a selected character around; and first person, from an involved character. Each of the three points of views listed control the emotional distance with the audience and characters while filtering out information the creator feels is unnecessary. The first person and third person limited viewpoints draws the audience extremely close to the thoughts and feelings of a specific character, but greatly reduces the amount of information the audience receives. On the other hand, the third person omniscient viewpoint provides a flood of information to the audience while forming extremely weak bonds between the audience and the characters. Without a consistent angle on a story, the audience will obtain too much information and come to a different conclusion altogether, which the creator must further control through tone.

Overall tone allows the creator to finely tune the audience's reaction to his or her creation. The creator can subtly indicate how he or she wants the audience to view a story and feel about the events. By glorifying or maligning certain actions and characters through euphemisms, dysphemisms, slanderous terms, and reactions of other characters, the creator can hint at the purpose of his or her creation and his or her attitude towards its purpose. A story that lacks a tone only serves to flavor the piece with more of the "textbook" flavor, ultimately murdering the attention span of the audience.

Crafting a story is not something anyone can do without being able to recognize the importance of each component, for omitting one part causes it to collapse by destroying the audience's interest. The major parts all stories possess make it possible for anyone to enjoy them regardless if they know how to make them since anyone can relate events to his or her life.