Novel Forms

Novels currently take one of three main forms:

• Narrative: a story told by a narrator, or storyteller.
• Stream of Consciousness: immersion in the ruminations of a character's wandering mind. An example of a stream-of-consciousness novel is Franz Kafka's The Trial.
• Documentary: somebody's story told indirectly through documentation. Document novels tell the story through letters, a journal, a diary, medical records, court records, government records, the contents of a data bank, and so forth.

In other words, there are three types of novels:

• narrative novels
• stream-of-consciousness novels
• documentary novels

There are four types of narrative novels.

Types of Narrative Novels:

• First-Person Novel: a narrative told by a character in it.
• Viewpoint Novel: narrated in the third person from one character's viewpoint.
• Multiple Viewpoint Novel (Shifting Viewpoint): narrated in the third person from varying character viewpoints.
• Collection Novel: a series of short stories with a common denominator.