Story Structures

The term 'storyLINE' suggests a visual line of development where one can mark off the events as they happen. All stories have some form of structure. The most basic is the Linear structure where the story unfolds sequentially. Here again is Humpty Dumpty:

Event 1 Humpty sits on the wall.
Event 2 Humpty falls off the wall.
Event 3 All the Kings horses and men come to his aid.
Event 4 Attempts to save him fail.

This can be graphically shown as a straight line:

Red Riding Hood has a slightly more complex form. It is linear up to the point of her meeting the wolf, but then becomes PARALLEL till they meet again at grannies cottage.

Event 1 RRH goes to see Granny with goodies.
Event 2 RRH meets the wolf and tells of her errand. They part.
Event 3 Wolf goes to Granny's cottage, eat Granny and takes her place.
Event 4 RRH arrives at cottage. Questions Granny.
Event 5 Wolf about to eat RRH but is rescued.

The storyline looks like this:

Parallel structure

When the wolf leaves Red Riding Hood and goes to Granny's house, Red Riding Hood continues her journey as a 'Background' event. The PARALLEL structure allows several events to be going on at the same time. This is parallel line of story is commonly used where the actions of two or more characters need to be seen in the same time span.

		Make up a parallel diagram sequence of two people meeting, parting, and meeting again. 1. As friends 2. As enemies