Often in literature, terms that we have created to explain
what is going on do indeed overlap. I see your struggle because narrative
can have action in it as well as dialogue. A narrative is a story that
contains all kinds of characters through which the author can develop their character
any what he or she wants.
If this were a play, the
distinction could be very clear. A narrator's words or paragraph summaries inbetween
dialogue passages could easily function as the narrative. Action would be given as stage
directions which are usually italicized in parentheses within a character's lines.
Dialogue would be easily identified because character's words are labeled with their
names, not just quoted. I am wondering if your task was to rewrite the chapter as a
scene from a play.
Let's say your job is to highlight your
chapter with a color that represents each concept (narrative, action, and dialogue) and
you cannot overlap them. I would recommend thinking along these
lines:
- Use one color for everything within
quotes, this is obviously DIALOGUE. Also use this same color for anything that the
author paraphrases from what a character said. - Use
another color for anything that characters are doing. That
is the ACTION of the play. A dog barking in the distance is not a character of the
story. A wave is not a part of action unless a character caused it. A character dragging
a shovel is action, even though it is boring. The acts that characters complete are
often very intentional and will matter more later in the
story. - Everything else is NARRATIVE because the author
knows that readers need answers to questions. The author wants to offer clues and
background on characters or circumstances to come. The author does not want holes in the
reader's understanding. Narrative would perform all of these functions for the author
that dialogue and action just cannot do.
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