1.

Introduction

A Literary Recount text is like the sibling of Procedural Recount and the offspring of Factual
Recount.

If Procedural Recount is an attempt to recall past procedures, and Factual Recount is

recounting of factual events which happened in the past (which also includes procedures),
then a Literary Recount is not much different (but still has some differences).

A Literary Recount is a recalling of factual past event in which its main purpose is to
entertain the reader. This is where it differs greatly from Factual Recount text. Whereas a
Procedural Recount text attempts to inform the reader with accurate details and sequence, a
Literary Recount's main objective is to make you laugh. Or cry. Or angry...but still delivers
information.

And because the way a text is written is determined by its purpose, then a Literary Recount
text has several features that a Procedural text does not have. All for the sake of
entertainment.

Please read on to find out about its features.

2. Features of Literary Recount

The first thing we have to remember when it comes to Literary Recount is that it is a creative
writing, not some cold, factual report. It needs to attract and engage its readers, and since its
main purpose is to entertain the reader, a Literary Recount has to have:

 strong words to show expressions of attitude and/or feelings (descriptive language)

 a particularly quirky or humorous or empathetic (or other adjectives) writing style
 a dialogue between characters (not always, but most of the times)
 the use of past tense (except in some particular cases)

There are other characteristics of Literary Recount which are exactly the same as a Factual
Recount so they will not be covered here.

The next chapter will get you acquainted with several examples of Literary Recount.

3. Examples

Literary recounts include more emotional connections between the reader and the story than
factual recounts. Some examples of literary recounts are:

 short stories and novels

 biographies, letters, memoirs, travelogue
 fables, myths and legends
  plays, films and television programmes
 poems and songs
 picture books.

The next chapter contains the structure of Literary Recount text.

4. Structure of a Literary Recount text

A literary recount must begin with a title or a heading. The title should relate to the text, but
can be creative.

The introductory paragraph is called the orientation. In this paragraph the setting and
characters are introduced. This may also give the reader a general idea of what the text will
be about, or may contain background information that helps to explain the first scene of the
text.

The body of the text contains the sequence of events. The sequence of events is usually
written in chronological order (the order they occurred). The purpose of these events is to tell
the story. This includes what happened, how characters (or people) within the text felt about
the events, and how any problems were dealt with.

The concluding paragraph is called the reorientation. This paragraph sums up the recount.
This is where the sequence of events ends and any issues or problems are completely
resolved by the characters. The emotional responses of the characters involved may also be
included in this section.

And while this is the generic structure of a Literary Recount text, it does not exempt
exceptions. There are Literary Recount texts out there that have unconventional structures but
are still called Literary Recount.