FANTASTIC TALE: CHARACTERISTICS, STRUCTURE AND EXAMPLE - LITERATURE - 2025

A fantastic story is a literary narrative that consists of telling stories that are far from reality. Another way to define it is as a text that recounts a succession of supernatural and extraordinary events that do not occur in the real world, therefore they can seem illogical, incoherent and irrational.

The fantastic tale can incorporate real elements or actions of everyday life, but it will always be oriented to unleash surprising, imaginary and inexplicable situations. The purpose of this type of storytelling is to arouse curiosity, provide different views of things and leave a lesson.

The fantastic tale, a window to the imagination. Source: pixabay.com.

The fantastic tale mixes the real with the unreal. On the one hand, the characters show credible characteristics and even the receiver can identify with them, while the imaginary and out of the ordinary is manifested in the experiences that occur to the protagonists. These stories are usually aimed at a child and youth audience.

Characteristics of the fantastic tale

The fantastic tale has the following characteristics:

- It's a short story.

- It must have a plot or argument that of logical sequence to the story.

- It has extraordinary elements and circumstances that defy natural or real world laws.

- Supernatural events happen to characters who usually have real characteristics.

- The fantastic story must have an environment in which the characters carry out their actions. The setting of the story can combine real and fictional elements.

- For the fantastic story to have a reason for being, there must be a reader who believes, becomes involved or is a momentary accomplice of what happens in the narrative.

Structure

Start

It is the part that begins the fantastic story. In this section the characters and their main characteristics are presented, the environment where the actions take place is also described. At the beginning, the situations that lead the story towards the knot or conflict are presented.

Development

The development exposes the conflicts or unexpected events of the narrative. In this part of the fantastic story there is a breakdown of the facts raised at the beginning. This phase of the story is the most substantial, expected and attractive because it constitutes the most relevant part of the story.

Final

In the fantastic tale, the ending refers to the end or denouement of the story. In this part the problems or conflicts that originated in development are resolved. The culmination of the narrative is generally characterized by the triumph of good over evil.

Elements

Characters

They are the ones who carry out the actions within the fantastic tale and to whom extraordinary situations happen. The characters can be represented by human beings, animals, plants or objects. In the narratives, the participants have characteristics that differentiate them from others.

Ambient

The atmosphere in fantastic tales is related to the place where the characters unfold and events take place.

Weather

Time is related to the time or year in which the story unfolds. In addition, it refers to the duration of events, if they happen in hours, in a day, in months or years.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is related to the sensation and the "air" that prevails in the different circumstances of the narrative. This means that the story can have moments of emotion, sadness, anguish, mystery, loneliness or another emotional state.

Plot

In the fantastic tale the plot refers to the conflict that motivates the development of the narrative. The plot is the one that gives way to the drama, the tension and the attractive power of the story.

Traditional fantastic tales for children

Lewis Carroll, writer of fantastic stories. Source: Lewis Carroll, via Wikimedia Commons

Invented example of a fantastic tale

The power of faith

Years ago, many years ago, in a very distant place near immense mountains there was a town called “Sin Pan” in which its inhabitants were very poor due to the spell of a shoemaker witch to whom they were owed money. Among the settlers there were three children who dreamed of eating every day; their names were: Baguet, Bologna and Dulce.

Baguet was a boy of about ten years old, he was tall, thin and haggard. Although he did not eat well, he had energy and strength. For his part, Bologna was eight years old, he was chubby and hunk, his main strength was kindness. Dulce was a six-year-old girl, small, smiling, lively, and had long hair.

The mysterious dream of the people

One day, the three children went out to look for food like every morning and they realized that the rest of the town had not woken up.

"Everything is very quiet and the streets are very lonely," said Bologna.

-It's true, something is wrong. We're going to find out what's going on, ”Baguet replied.

The three children passed through each of the houses, looked out the window and realized that the neighbors were in a deep sleep. Hunger had apparently robbed her of all her strength.

"We have to do something, we all need food," said Dulce.

The strange snail

Baguet, Bologna and Dulce sat on the banks of the river to devise a way to help the town get out of poverty. After a few minutes, a small snail passed near Dulce's feet, she took it, while holding it in her hands she realized that the little animal left a bright trail when it crawled. Surprised, the girl showed her friends what was happening.

-It's a magical snail! exclaimed Bologna.

"It's fantastic, maybe I can't help save the town," Baguet said.

The three friends hugged and jumped for joy. The snail complained and said:

"Hey, they're crushing me!"

The children stopped when they heard the voice, and their surprise increased when they realized that it was the snail that spoke. A few seconds later they regained their breath and entered into trust with the magical animal. The snail told them that in its shell it kept an inexhaustible source of gold frost, which had the power to help those who believed that size did not matter to do great things.

The strange magic

The innocence of the children and their desire to get out of poverty led them to put all their faith in the snail. Then the animal explained to them how magic worked.

-The first thing they must do is take each one or a little of my magic powder between their hands, close their eyes and imagine the shoemaker witch releasing the spell on the town. Afterwards, they must spread the frost on the doors of each house. The incandescent brilliance of gold will renew the forces of the villagers and they will awaken -said the snail.

Baguet, Bolognese and Dulce did everything as the snail told them. The results were immediate, but the most fantastic thing was that when the inhabitants of the town touched the golden frost, the trees, rivers, mountains, flowers and roads were turned into food. From that moment, "Sin Pan" did not suffer again due to lack of food.

The three friends rejoiced over what happened and wanted to thank the magical snail, but when they went to look for him they only got a trace of his footprints. Baguet, Bologna and Dulce understood that faith transforms everything.

End.

References

1. Fantastic tale. (S. f.). Cuba: EcuRed. Recovered from: ecured.cu.
2. Fantastic tale concept. (S. f.). (N / a): Concept. From. Recovered from: concept.de.
3. Pérez, J. and Merino, M. (2017). Definition of fantastic tale. (N / a): Definition. From. Recovered from: definition.de.
4. Ucha, F. (2012). Definition of fantastic tale. (N / a): ABC definition. Recovered from: definicionabc.com.
5. Definition of fantastic tale. (2016). Mexico: Definition. Recovered from: definition.mx.