narrative

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French narratif.

adj

1. Telling a story.
2. Overly talkative; garrulous.
3. Of or relating to narration.
   the narrative thrust of a film
   There is a deep divide in our species. On one side, the narrators: those who are indeed intensely narrative, self-storying, Homeric, in their sense of life and self, whether they look to the past or the future. 2004-01-10, Galen Strawson, “Review: Making Stories by Jerome Bruner”, in The Guardian

noun

1. The systematic recitation of an event or series of events.
2. That which is narrated.
3. A representation of an event or story in a way to promote a certain point of view.
   changing, controlling the narrative
   Yes, there were instances of grandstanding and obsessive behaviour, but many were concealed at the time to help protect an aggressively peddled narrative of [Oscar] Pistorius the paragon, the emblem, the trailblazer. 21 October 2014, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport)
   [Alexandra] Bell challenges the dominant coverage of Brown’s killing with the aim of introducing “a perspective and a narrative which is probably how a lot of people from these communities saw it go down”. 2017-05-30, Francisco Navas, quoting Alexandra Bell, “'It feels important': the counter-narrative artist challenging how news is reported”, in The Guardian
4. (creative writing) A manner of conveying a story, fictional or otherwise, in a body of work.
   The plot is full of holes, but the narrative is extremely compelling.
   The player is free to create their own narrative within a much larger set of possible designed narrative options, or, given the geographic and dialogical openness of Morrowind, to refuse the creation of any narrative but their own and wander aimlessly through the game. 2015, Angus Slater, “Prophecy, Pre-destination, and Free-form Gameplay: The Nerevarine Prophecy in Bethesda’s ‘Morrowind’”, in Online: Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet, volume 7, →DOI, page 175