Many stories are told through narration. Narration helps the reader figure out what actions and setting are changing around the characters in the story or what the character is thinking. They can create a visual picture of the story in the reader’s mind and often describe what’s going on using the Five Senses to make the reader feel as though they’re in the story. When an author uses narration, the story jumps around a lot and allows the narrator to take the story wherever they want. When a narrator tells a story, the reader knows what is happening at that moment and is guessing what will happen next.

Sometimes stories have no narrator. Instead, stories are told through dialogue. Dialogue is when two or more characters are talking. When we come across dialogue we are watching the story unfold between characters. When an author uses dialogue, the timeline of the story slows down. When there is dialogue, we are in real time with characters and should focus carefully on each sentence that the character says.

Let's take a look at an example of a story written with all dialogue.

Here we have a play script -

Peddler Polly and the Story Stealer

SPELLBINDER: You’ve heard of a storyteller. And you’ve heard of a storybook. Well, I’m here to show you something finer still: The brand-new, patented Spellbinder Storybox!

PENNY: (delighted) Oh, Peddler Polly! He’s selling stories!

NARRATOR 2: Dr. Spellbinder held up one of the wooden boxes, showing a pane of glass on one side.

NARRATOR 3: He flipped a switch and the glass came to life. Tiny characters moved across the pane, and tiny voices came out.

NARRATOR 1: Someone in the crowd yelled,

CROWD 1: It’s “Cinderella”!

• Who is telling the reader the action in the story?

• How does that change the way you read the story?

Additional Resources:

http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE.html

https://a2zhomeschooling.com/all_time_favorites/free-scripts-for-kids/

You click on a tab titled “Interactive/Choose Your Own Path Stories” on an interesting website:

Do you continue reading, or go back to the homepage and choose a different option?

You choose to continue reading, where will this adventure take you next?

As this opening suggests, Interactive stories are those that you the reader can actively control aspects of the story. These stories can be in print form like the Choose Your Own Adventure Stories that gained popularity in the 1970s and 80s, but can also be virtual such as hypertext fiction, visual novels, certain plot-based video games. There can even be interactive movies like Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not To Steal (2020) and Captain Underpants: Epic Choice-o-Rama (2020). Interactive Storytelling can also be collaborated on as a group. A common example of this is Dungeons & Dragons or similar roleplaying games in which a group of people collaborate on the story arc and make decisions based on the skills and backstory of the characters they create. These stories are fun because you can end up with a different story every time, depending on the choices you make!

You reach the end of the paragraph and realize there are two links to examples of interactive stories. Do you:

Choose to read -

Gametale: The Big Adventure of the Little Gremlin

Or play -

Xavier’s Story Creator

• How did you influence the story? Did you read/play the story once, or did you investigate the other stories as well?

You can try writing interactive fiction by writing a story that has two possible endings - your character reaches a fork in the road and they have to choose to go left or right. Your reader has to choose one way or the other and they end up in two different places with different endings! You, your parent, or your teacher can also look into the resources below to make an interactive story.

How To Create Your Own Interactive Story:

https://www.teachervision.com/creative-writing/choose-your-own-adventure-stories

https://mytechadventure.weebly.com/blog/google-forms-choose-your-adventure-stories

https://sites.google.com/a/iowacityschools.org/pennownadventures/

https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/gamebasedlearning/chapter/interactive-stories/

Metafiction is a story form that reminds you over and over again that you’re reading a book. Sometimes the narrator will talk to the reader (called breaking the fourth wall) or the characters will be aware that they’re in a book. The prefix meta- is Greek, and means “above” or “at a level above” and means that you aren’t completely within the world of the book - you’re able to reflect on the fact that you are holding a book in your hands and reading the words on the page.

Has a storybook character ever asked for your help to solve a problem or mystery? Do you get to read a book within the one you’re holding that only exists inside of the story world? Does the narrator talk to you about the characters and action happening in the story? Writers use a lot of different methods to alert the reader that the work of fiction they’re reading is meta. Sometimes this is referred to as “breaking the fourth wall” which occurs in theatre when an actor ignores the imaginary “wall” between the stage and the audience to talk to them.

Open Very Carefully (read, listen, and watch along with signing):

• Did you recognize the story at the beginning of the book? What happened that changed the story?

• How did you, as the reader, affect the story? (rock the crocodile to sleep, try and shake him out)

• What happened at the end?

What about this excerpt from The Story of The Treasure Seekers?

Chapter 1: The Council of Ways and Means

This is the story of the different ways we looked for treasure, and I think when you have read it you will see that we were not lazy about the looking.

Chapter 2: Digging for the Treasure

I am afraid the last chapter was rather dull. It is always dull in books when people talk and talk, and don’t do anything, but I was obliged to put it in, or else you wouldn’t have understood all the rest. The best part of books is when things are happening. [...] I have often thought that if the people who write books for children knew a little more it would be better. I shall not tell you anything about us except what I should like to know about if I was reading the story and you were writing it. Albert’s uncle says I ought to have put this in the preface, but I never read prefaces, and it is not much good writing things just for people to skip. I wonder other authors have never thought of this.

The narrator speaks directly to the reader. They wrote this book by imagining they were having a conversation with you the reader.

• If you were going to write a book like this, how would you talk to the reader?

• Would they help you solve a mystery? Would you tell them information that the characters don’t know yet?

The possibilities are endless!

More Metafiction

Chapter Two is Missing: Josh Lieb

A book in a book in a book: Julia Baer and Simon Bailey

The Princess Bride: William Goldman

The Neverending Story: Michael Ende

The Great Good Thing: Roderick Townley

The Rocket Book: Peter Newell

The Name of This Books Is Secret: Pseudonymous Bosch

The 13-Story Treehouse: Andy Griffiths

Project Mulberry: Linda Sue Park

Down the Mysterly River: Bill Willingham

The Book Thief: Markus Zusak

Other Stories with Multiple Storylines

Intertwined Storylines (Click Each one to Listen to the Story):

Grandpa: John Burningham

Time to Get Out of the Bath: Shirley (1978)

The Pain and the Great One: Judy Blume

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales: Jon Scieszka’s and Lane Smith’s (1992))

Voices in the Park: Anthony Browne

Zoom: Istvan Banyai

Unrelated Storylines (Click Each one to Listen the Story):

Anno’s Alphabet: An Adventure in Imagination: Mitsumasa Anno

Nine Lives: Jan Brett’s Comet

Simple Simon: Chris Conover

Something From Nothing: Phoebe Gilman

Stellaluna: Janell Cannon

Zoo: Anthony Browne

The Jolly Postman: Janet and Allan Ahlberg

In expanding our understanding of alternative forms of storytelling and narratives, it’s important to look at cultures whose storytelling traditions have changed due to colonialism. Many folk- and fairytales from around the world are tied closely with a culture’s history and values. As these groups of people are impacted by the world around them, their stories also change to reflect their current situations. New stories are developed, old stories are repurposed, and the values and ideals of many different cultures can come together to alter the meaning of the story.

The story that I am looking into would be Meena cartoons made by UNICEF to educate the children of the developing countries on the issues of gender equality, healthcare, sanitation, and social equality. Meena is a girl from a village in Bangladesh, where she resides with her father, mother, brother, infant sister, grandma, grandpa, and a talking parrot named Mitthu. She goes to a village school with her brother and looks after the household and the farm in her village. The cartoon and the characters have found popularity across boundaries as there is similarity among the rural population in many developing countries.

Watch Meena: Count Your Chickens Here

In this episode, Meena is discouraged from going to school by her parents as girls are not supposed to pursue education, but stay at home and help with house chores, as this is the prevalent line of thought among girls’ parents in South Asia. Meena stays home but sends her parrot, Mitthu, to school to help her with courses. Mitthu teaches Meena multiplication and she uses this to count the chickens, when she notices that one chicken is missing. Discovering this, Meena alerts her parents that there has been theft. Her parents locate the chicken and the thief, thanks to Meena’s ability to count. After seeing this, Meena’s parents agree to send her to school, as girls’ education is important.

This cartoon is very important to show how stories in different parts of the world have different messages, and that storytelling can change over time to address new issues and teach lessons to new generations.

Oral stories and oral storytelling can be spoken, danced, sung, and acted out. Many cultures around the world have oral storytelling in some form or another. These can be in the form of fables, folk tales, or myths and teach lessons or pass on useful information from one generation to another. Storytellers use their voice, expressions, imagery, context, pace and many other factors to deliver a thrilling and engaging story. These stories can also change, depending on who, when, and where the story is being told. Storytellers have to be adaptable and knowledgeable. In many cultures, stories are told to share knowledge about history, survival and beliefs with one another. Indigenous scholar and author Jo-Ann Archibald says,

“Patience and trust are essential for preparing to listen to stories. Listening involves more than just using the auditory sense. Listening encompasses visualizing the characters and their actions and letting the emotions surface. Some say we should listen with three ears: two on our head and one in our heart.” (Archibald, 1997, p. 10).

So when we hear these stories, listening with our hearts and emotions is as important as listening with our ears.

Read Crow and Little Bear (A Canadian Indigenous Story)

Oral Stories are a lot different from written stories. When a story is written down, it stops growing and changing and follows rules like “beginning, middle, end,” and punctuation. For many oral stories, this means that the rhythm and the melody, as well as the relevance to what’s happening in the world or someone’s personal life can be lost.

• Did you notice the rhythm, emphasis, and imagery that the storyteller used to tell the story? Do you think the stories would have felt the same if you read them on paper? When do you tell or hear stories in your everyday life?

Try creating a storytelling circle:

Find a stick or another object you can pass around, and gather your friends or classmates in a circle - whoever has the “story stick” will tell a story. This can be a story their parents have told or something that has happened recently. Talk about your day or a fun event you went to! It’s important to listen with your ears and your imagination while your friends and classmates are telling their stories.

Additional Information on Oral Storytelling

Types of Oral Stories:

• Fables: A short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying moral and ethical beliefs.

• Folk tales: Encompass the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. These include oral traditions such as tales, proverbs and jokes.

• Myths and Legends: Type of Folklore that is believed by the storyteller and audience to have occurred in history.

• Parable: a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles.

Cultural Forms of Oral Storytelling:

Aboriginal Australian Songlines: Songlines are methods of navigation for Aboriginal Australians. One navigates across the land by repeating the words of the song or re-enacting the story through dance, which in the course of telling the story also describe the location of various landmarks on the landscape (e.g. rock formations, watering holes, rivers, trees)By singing a song cycle in the appropriate order, an explorer could navigate vast distances, often travelling through the deserts of Australia’s interior. (Carylsue)

Cantastoria: Italian story-singer who points to images to illustrate the story they’re singing. (“Cantastoria.”)

Choctaw Storytelling: Choctaw traditional tales employ animal characters to teach such lessons in a humorous vein. (National Geographic Society, 2020)

Kamishibai: A form of Japanese street theatre and storytelling, kamishibaiya ("kamishibai narrator") travelled to street corners with sets of illustrated boards that they placed in a miniature stage-like device and narrated the story by changing each image.

Irish Storytelling: The seanchai were the traditional Irish keepers of stories. They would travel from village to village, reciting ancient lore and tales of wisdom. They told the old myths as well as local news and happenings. Prominent in the Irish oral tradition are tales of kings and heroes. (National Geographic Society, 2020)

Native Hawaiian Storytelling (moʻolelo): It comes from two words, mo’o, meaning succession, and olelo, meaning language or speaking. Hawaiian storytelling was not limited to words alone—it included talking but also encompassed mele (song), oli (chant), and hula (dance). (National Geographic Society, 2020)

North American Indigenous Storytelling: Indigenous cultures share stories in many ways – orally, in song, in drumming, with pictographs, and through medicine wheels and tipi rings. Traditionally, stories are told by elders – known as Knowledge Keepers or Historians in some nations – as well as community members who have earned the title of Storyteller. (“Sharing Through Story”)

Passover Seder: On Passover, families of Jewish faith celebrate the exodus of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. The Passover celebration includes a storytelling ritual known as the seder, or order. During a meal, the story of the Exodus is told, an oral tradition passed down through generations to educate the young. An important part of the ceremony is “four questions” asked by the youngest children present, which are the impetus for telling the story. (National Geographic Society, 2020)

Western African Storytelling: In many parts of Africa, after dinner, the village congregates around a central fire to listen to the storyteller. The storytellers are called griots - they performed the functions of storyteller, genealogist, historian, ambassador, and more. Some of the most famous stories from western Africa are those of Anansi, the trickster spider (National Geographic Society, 2020).

References:

Archibald, J. (1997). Coyote learns to make a storybasket: The place of First Nations stories in education. Simon Fraser University dissertation.

Carylsue. “Aboriginal Songlines Helped Draw the Map in Australia.” National Geographic Education Blog, April 8, 2016. https://blog.education.nationalgeographic.org/2016/04/08/aboriginal-songlines-helped-draw-the-map-in-australia/.

“Cantastoria.” Museum of Every Day Life. Accessed March 20, 2021. https://museumofeverydaylife.org/performance-department/cantastoria.

National Geographic Society. “Storytelling and Cultural Traditions.” National Geographic Society, January 2, 2020. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/storytelling-and-cultural-traditions/.

“Sharing through Story.” Empowering the Spirit, January 31, 2019. https://empoweringthespirit.ca/sharing-through-story/#:~:text=Indigenous%20cultures%20share%20stories%20in,earned%20the%20title%20of%20Storyteller.

https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1302889494709/1534952403997

https://www.historymuseum.ca/history-hall/traditional-and-creation-stories/

Students are often taught that stories have a beginning, middle and end and each time the story is read the beginning, middle and end stay in the same order. What if the ending came before the middle or the middle came before the end? As a reader you have the opportunities to experience stories in different ways each time. These are a few stories which encourage the reader to read in it in any order, whether from beginning to end or end to beginning. Try and see if you understand the story any differently depending on the direction the story is read.

Zoom by Istvan Banyai

The Hug by Eoin McLaughlin

Try and think of a story you already know and try writing down with the ending first, then the middle and then the beginning. How does the order of the story change the meaning? Which way do you prefer? What other order can you make this story?

The ending of a story is where the conflict between the main character and whatever force is standing between him and his goal is resolved. We have been taught that the ending is an important part of storytelling for a few reasons -

First, the ending is where the plot of the story is concluded. Second, the ending of a story is what makes a story dramatic. Finally, and most importantly, the ending gives the story its meaning.

However, not all stories have an ending. In some stories, the story ends before the conflict is resolved. As a result, the main characters are left in a difficult situation, without offering any resolution of conflicts. A story without an ending can be very mysterious and make the reader curious about what will happen next.

Try reading this story:

One New Thing (Stuart Baum)

• How did it feel to get to the end of the story and not know the ending? Did you try to write an ending yourself?

Website with more MOD stories with no ending and encourages children to create their own ending!

https://stuartstories.com/activities/finishme.html