Family Trees & Timelines 2

Family Trees & Timelines 1

Just a small collection of nice family trees and timelines.

Some definition

I thought it was probably time I put a definition up here. I've come across a lot of definitions of narratives but this one seemed the most appropriate.

A narrative can be defined as a sequence of events deliberately arranged to reveal their dramatic, thematic, and emotional significance*. Academic Marie-Laure Ryan has proposed that there are three main elements that qualify a text as a narrative:

'A narrative text must create a world and populate it with characters and objects.... The world referred to by the text must undergo changes of state that are caused by non-habitual physical events ...The text must allow the reconstruction of an interpretative network of goals, plans, casual relations, and psychological motivations around the narrated events."

The 'pregnant moment'

In discussing pictorial narratives there is one big question — and that is whether you can tell a story in one picture. One technique is as German writer Gotthold Ephraim-Lessing described it, 'a pregnant moment'. The pregnant moment technique is when one image encompasses a variety of situations and events seemingly happening at the same time. Often this moment in time is representing the climax of a well known story, and the technique is most commonly used in painting. Academic Emma Kafalenos states that Lessing's 'pregnant moment' is as valid as a sequential narrative because "we ask ourselves what has happened, what is about to occur, and where we are in the sequence of a narrative." 'When thinking of Kafelenos' description, I can't help but think of James Jean's sketchbooks. Although they aren't a traditional moment in a well-known myth or story, I see a moment in time and can't help but be curious of the full story.

2D motion

I got a bit excited when I saw this book. I remember being enthralled with them as a kid and I've loved seeing the card version floating around lately. This is a great example of how motion can feature in a '2D' form (and therefore graphic surfaces can feature a moving narrative).

Triptych

"[In the past] narrative pictures had an essential cultural function to perform: they inscribed stories permanently for those who could not read.'
M.L.Ryan

Temporal sequence?

Opening 'paragraph'

Opening sequence of Gone Baby Gone

"The opening paragraph of a story is its second strongest statement (the final paragraph is the strongest) and sets the tone for all that follows." Janet Burroway and Elizabeth Stuckey-French in Writing Fiction: A guide to narrative craft.

The fable game

A favorite book of mine (The fable game by Enzo Mari) perfectly illustrates an unfortunate point about pictorial narratives.

As Maire- Laure Ryan argues-"It seems clear that of all the semiotic codes language is the best suited to story telling. Every narrative can be summarised in language, but very few can be retold through pictures exclusively."

This weakness may be true but there are two ways in which visual mediums can match the power of language mediums. One way is to reinterpret a known story using pictures. A familiar language dependant story can hold the same power when retold visually, because the verbal summary of the story is within us (as illustrated in the mix and match fable game above).

The second is to use written language in partneship with pictures. A graphic novel would be the best example of this. Marrying pictures with words allows the visuals to express concepts on a deeper level.

Detail

Just a few quotes on detail in fiction, from 'Writing Fiction: A guide to narrative craft' by Janet Burroway and Elizabeth Stuckey-French.

"The points to be made are two, and they are both important. The first is that the writer must deal in sense detail. The second is that these must be details that matter"
Burroway and Stuckey-French

"If those who have studied the art of writing are in accord on any one point, it is on this: the surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definite and concrete. The greatest writers...are effectively largely because they deal in particulars and report details that matter."
'The elements of style' William Strunk Jr.

"Good writers may "tell" about almost anything in fiction except the characters feelings. One may tell the reader that the character went to a private school...or one may tell the reader that the character hates spagetti; but with rare exceptions the charcters' feelings must be demonstrated: fear, love, excitement, doubt, embarrassment, despair become real only when they take the form of events— action (or gesture), dialogue, or physical reaction to setting. Detail is the lifeblood of fiction.
John Gardner