The story genre is of very ancient origin. Long before the appearance of writing, people told each other news, narrated about the events that had occurred. Folk tales and parables - these are the progenitors of the modern story.
Some time ago, short epic forms were divided into actual stories, short stories, and essays. Today, the difference between them is gradually blurring
So what is a story today? This is a relatively small form of epic work. Most often, the events and characters of the story are grouped around one episode, one event or character.
Some experts answer the question "what is a story?" less professional, but more understandable. They argue that the story can be considered a story about certain events. This, they are sure, is the story different from the short story or essay. A short story, often with a sharp plot, is considered a novella today. Typically, short stories are characterized by a neutral, unbiased narrative, a sharp plot, and an extremely unexpected outcome.
The essay differs from the story in the absence of conflict, a large number of descriptions.
What is a story? This is a huge number of narrative works, different in theme. It is impossible to accurately list all categories, themes, and varieties of stories.
However, one can single out the main, most popular today, topics of stories.
- Humorous. Their main task is to bring a smile to the audience. This is perhaps the most complex kind of literature of this kind. The great masters of stories of this kind were A.P. Chekhov, M. Zoshchenko and others. Today, M. Zadornov, Krasnaya Burda, representatives of the Anshlag TV program “specialize” in humorous stories.
- Fantastic stories. They can talk about the most incredible events that do not have a place in real life. Fantastic stories today are as diverse as other fantastic genres. They can be popular science, mystical, belong to the category of fantasy, etc.
The famous writer and man of cheerful disposition Alexander Grark offers a recipe for writing a fantastic story. For this, in his opinion, it is necessary to find the most incredible explanation for the simplest (and, especially, difficult) phenomenon. It is also good to include “scientific” or simply obscure phrases in the “body” of a popular science story. Seriously speaking, the peculiarities of science fiction stories are, indeed, a special vocabulary, a special way of storytelling.
- Stories about love. Most popular among girls and women. They do not just convey the story of someone else's love. Authors writing love stories try to arouse emotions, “touch the heart” of their readers.
Regardless of the plot and theme of the stories, they all have common signs characteristic only for this genre.
- Brevity. It is not so much about the number of pages, but about setting the author to the utmost brevity and concreteness. Episodes should be distinct, clearly spelled out, specific.
- All stories must be a stylistic whole. Most often, they are conducted on behalf of only one narrator, who has his own conviction, manner of speech. It does not matter who it is - the author, hero, outsider. It is from his point of view that we perceive current events. Another thing is whether we agree with the opinion of the narrator or not.
- As mentioned above, a story usually tells of only one event, episode or hero.
- Finally, the question of what a story can be answered as follows: this is a small work connected by the unity of style, mood, and situation.