“Once upon a time…”. This well-known construction resonates in our minds as the one that begins a large part of the stories we have heard in our childhood.
The story, like other types of literary genre, is a form of narration that explains a story to us in prose form. Another genre that works with narration from prose is the novel. Both types of narration have characteristics in common that sometimes cause them to be confused, but nevertheless they also have multiple differences that make them recognizable and different.
In this article We are going to expose the main differences between story and novel
The novel and the short story are, as we have said, literary genres written in prose that tell and transmit a story in the form of a narrative. Although similar in some ways, they have multiple differences that make them easily recognizable.
A novel is a relatively long narrative that tells a fictional story (whether it is totally fictitious or based in part on real events), prepared for recreational purposes. A series of events are presented in which a series of characters will be involved, which will also develop throughout the story. The action is contextualized at a certain point in space-time, even if it refers to non-existent environments or worlds. The themes of this can be varied and have different structures and ways of being carried out.
Regarding the story, it is a short and concise form of narration that relates a specific fictional situation in which a few characters are involved and whose main function is to both entertain and transmit certain values or teachings. Its structure is simple, and although there are exceptions, they are generally not located at a specific time or special moment.
Main differences
Although in the previous section some differences between a story and a novel can already be deduced, Next we proceed to highlight and explain them
1. Extension
One of the easiest differences to detect between a story and a novel is the difference in their length While the short story is generally brief and does not usually cover more than a few pages, the novel is generally quite long. Despite this, it must be taken into account that length is a confusing parameter when establishing a limit between both types of narration, since there are very long stories and short novels that can be similar in this factor.
2. Level of concreteness and complexity
As a general rule, the novel presents a high level of complexity , presenting various situations that may be difficult to understand at first and that will develop and vary throughout the narrative. However, the story tends to be simple and concise, proposing a very delimited and easy-to-understand situation and without usually seeming complications beyond those initially proposed.
3. Thematic variation
While short stories generally relate to a single theme to work on throughout the story, In novels, different themes, subplots and script twists can emerge that enrich reading but make it more complex and difficult to follow.
In both narrative genres we find a structure in the form of an approach, middle and end. However, while the story adheres firmly to this structure and it is easy to delimit where we are in the story, script twists may appear in the novel **, new beginnings or even a series of parallel stories** that make its structure more complex.
5. Characters
The emphasis given to the characters also differs in novels and short stories While the story usually focuses on what happens to a few characters, most of whom are defined from the beginning, in the novel a wide variety of characters can appear whose role can vary and who will develop with certainty. different levels of depth.
6. Scenario
Another point in which story and novel differ is the use given to space and time The events recounted in the story tend to take place in a single area or place or relate to a single trip, while in the novel the plot can take the characters to different environments that are very different from each other. Regarding time, although in both types of narration the events can happen in a short or long interval of time, it is more common that in the story things happen in short periods of time while in novels the events are prolonged.
In the same way, often neither the time nor the place are the object of analysis in the story and are only inferred, while in novels these aspects are usually delimited more precisely, the story being much more contextualized (even if they are places). and times that have never existed).
The purpose of both genres also presents differences. Although it is true that both are a playful element, The sole purpose of the novel is to entertain and in some cases to make you think, while the story focuses on transmitting a lesson (usually in the form of a moral).
8. Form of transmission
A final difference can be found in that the novel is a literary elaboration that is transmitted in writing On the other hand, although the story can appear in writing, it has traditionally been transmitted orally.
