What is a story and how does it differ from other genres?

The genre of the story has a 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 ancestors of the modern story.

Some time ago, short epic forms were divided into actual stories, novels, essays. Today the distinction between them is gradually erased

So what is the story today? This is a relatively small form of epic work. Most often, events and story actors are grouped around one episode, one event or character.

Some experts answer the question "what is a story?" Less professionally, but more clearly. They argue that the narrative of certain events can be considered a story. It is this, they are sure, the story is different from the novel or essay. A short story today is usually considered a short story, often with a sharp plot. Usually novels are characterized by a neutral, unbiased narrative, an acute plot, an extremely unexpected denouement.

The essay differs from the story by the absence of conflict, a large number of descriptions.

What is a story? This is a huge number of narrative works, different in subject. With an accuracy list all categories, themes and versions of stories is impossible.

However, one can single out the main, most popular topics of the stories today.

• Humorous. Their main task is to make the listeners smile. This, perhaps, is the most complex kind of literature of this kind. Great masters of stories of this kind were A.P. Chekhov, M. Zoshchenko , etc. Today on humorous stories "specialize" M. Zadornov, "Red Burda", representatives of the TV show "Anshlag".
• Fantastic stories. In them, we can talk about the most incredible events that have no 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.

A well-known writer and a cheerful person Alexander Grahrk 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, the more, uneasy) phenomenon. It is also good to include in the "body" of the popular science story "scientific" or simply obscure phrases. If to speak seriously, then the peculiarities of fantastic stories, indeed, is a special vocabulary, a special way of telling.

• Stories about love. The most popular among girls and women. They do not just tell the story of someone's love. Authors engaged in writing love stories, try to excite emotions, "touch the heart" of their readers.

Regardless of the plot and themes of the stories, they all have common features characteristic only for this genre.

• Brevity. It's not so much about the number of pages, how much about setting the author to the ultimate 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, the hero, an outsider. It is from his point of view that we perceive the events taking place. It's another matter whether we agree with the narrator's opinion or not.
• As already mentioned above, the story usually tells only about one event, episode or a hero.
• Finally, when asked about what a story is, you can answer it this way: this is a small work, connected by the unity of style, mood, situation.