Lit Theory 101 | Narrative Structure & Time
A practical guide to help make you a better writer and reader | PART 1
Literary theory has a reputation problem. Most of us might have encountered it in some airless seminar where a professor droned on about the death of the author while we wondered if we were dead too. Or it was rammed down our throats as the jargon that gets between us and the actual pleasure of reading—like someone explaining a joke until it stops being funny.
Fuck that version of theory.
Theory done right is electric. It’s the moment you realize why a story you love works. We’ve created this crash course for folks who devour literature and want to write better. We’ll cover concepts that have beguiled us in our own quest to be better readers and writers and editors. And because lit theory is the behemoth you didn’t know you needed to experience, we’ll divide this up into (hopefully!!) manageable parts consisting of six different units:
Narrative Structure & Time
Voice, Consciousness & Distance
Language & Perception
Reader, Text & Interpretation
Affect, Atmosphere, & the Ineffable
Character & Characterization
All six of these units will be completely free to read when first sent out. We believe learning ought to be accessible and practical insofar as it can be. This is our little effort in trying to do so.
Alongside them, each unit will come with a couple writing exercises we’ve designed to get you working with the techniques and concepts learned in the lessons. Our intention for these additional materials is to help you make tangible something that is innately intellectual. There will also be an opportunity to share your own writing in the comments and receive feedback from peers.
Today, we’lI focus on Narrative Structure & Time: how stories arrange events, break chronology, refuse linearity, and let structure emerge from content instead of imposing it from outside.
Here are the writing exercises that pair with the lessons below:
