Last week, we were talking of literary styles that identify a writer?s genre and mastery over the medium (read language).

Picking up from where we left off, this week we will take a look at structure, form and maybe narrative. Style without structure is like life without love ? kind of hollow and anchorless.

A good prose or an article is characterised by a sound narrative and a distinctive style. Together, they make the printed word readable.

We often come across articles in newspapers or magazines, which rivet the eye with its linguistic chicanery.

But a careful reading reveals paucity of ideas and lack of originality. The reader tends to lose interest. The content and the narrative play a crucial role in building a sound structure.

In a novel ? especially the modern or the slightly surrealist ones ? the narrative takes precedence over form and style. The narrative or the content should not get lost in the maze of words. Right from the first chapter itself, the reader should have a fair idea of the story the writer is striving to narrate.

It is important for the writer to keep in mind that a scene or the stage for the plot should be set in the first chapter itself.

Once the chessboard is ready for the game, the writer can make the first stylistic move. Only then can a reader identify with the style and get into the groove of the novel.

As the chapters progress, the narrative must keep pace, building up the plot, adding new characters and sub-plots. If too many characters are introduced in the initial chapters, a novel tends to get clogged ? chokes in its own congestion.

Hence, it is not advisable to introduce more than two characters in every chapter, though one is the best ideally.

Similarly, the number of sub-plots should be best kept in check. At the most ? three. Too many subplots take sting away from the central narrative.

Mind you, a novel should never climax in haste ? a sudden peak followed a vacuum ? the end. It should rather be treated gently ? a gradual ascent to the peak and an explosive finale that leaves the reader either gasping or basking in its warm afterglow, not easily forgotten. So much for the novel or the prose.

Journalistic English is an antithesis. No scope for passion or lyricism, unless the copy merits so. Structure is central to a news story. The scribe must tell his story in a nutshell in the introductory paragraph, with the four ?Ws? and one ?H?.

From the second paragraph, one must launch into the story straightaway ? packed with facts and figures.

It should flow without any hitches and the time sequence must be rigidly adhered to. Quotes and details must not be given the go-by and the perspective should not be lost.

Every news story must have a peg. This is perhaps the thread that binds the novel to the hard news report.