A narrative or story is a construct created in a suitable format (written, spoken, poetry, prose, images, song, or dance} that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events. It derives from the latinverb narrare, which means “to recount” and is related to the adjective gnarus, meaning “knowing” or “skilled”. The word “story” may be used as a synonym of “narrative”, but can also be used to refer to the sequence of events described in a narrative. A narrative can also be told by a character within a larger narrative. An important part of narration is the narrative mode.

Along with exposition, argumentation and description, narration, broadly defined, is one of four rhetorical modes  of discourse. More narrowly defined, it is the fiction-writing mode  whereby the narrator communicates directly to the reader.

Stories are an important aspect of culture. Many works of art, and most works of  literature, tell stories; indeed, most of the  humanities involve stories.

Stories are of ancient origin, existing in ancient Egyptian, ancient Greek, Chinese and Indian culture. Stories are also a ubiquitous component of human communication, used as parables and examples to illustrate points.

Storytelling was probably one of the earliest forms of entertainment. Narrative may also refer to psychological processes in self-identity, memory and meaning-making.

In postmodern theory,semiotocs begins with the individual building blocks meaning called signs — and  semantics, the way in which signs are combined into  codes to transmit messages. This is part of a general communication system using both verbal and non-verbal elements, and creating a discourse with different  modalities and forms.