The division of literature into types of narrative forms and genres is often very conditional. And if, for example, a story from a novel can be distinguished by volume, then sometimes more complex situations arise. So, to understand the difference between a story and a fairy tale, only an analysis of the content of a work can help.
What is a story?
First you need to identify the main features of the story. By itself, this genre in Russia did not exist until the nineteenth century, but was only a subspecies of the story. However, the border between these two varieties of prose is still very vague.
Most often, the stories basically have a certain life story that happened to the main character, which could happen in reality. This is the main difference between a story and a poem and a fairy tale, where situations can be fictitious and completely unrealistic. The number of main characters and plot lines described is an indirect sign that helps not to confuse this small literary form with a story where there are several described characters and situations.
The main thing (and sometimes the most difficult for the author) in the story is its brevity. In a very small volume of the narrative, it is necessary to fit the main idea that the author wanted to reveal in his work. In such a situation, there is no possibility for lengthy descriptions of the hero’s thoughts. Instead, more attention has to be paid to details, making them vibrant and distinctive.
Unlike a fairy tale
The most important thing that distinguishes a story from a fairy tale is the realism of the plot and the characters. A fairy tale is by its nature a fictional adventure story, which is intended to convey to the reader (most often, a child) a certain thought.
The target audience of fairy tales dictates the principles of storytelling. Each hero here is not just an ordinary person, but a certain symbol that personifies a certain character trait (sly fox, evil wolf, cowardly hare, modest stepdaughter, brave prince and the like). So, from a very early age, a child is inculcated with the concepts of good and bad, the consequences of certain actions, and they establish moral standards.
Remember how the story differs from the tale from your own experience. Many traditional fairy tales are similar to each other and are subject to a certain pattern. If the story only tells about a single scene from the hero’s life, then a fairy tale is always a chain of events experiencing a character and either changing his life for the better (if the character was originally kind) or helping him to become different.
To the question of how the story differs from the fairy tale, the answers should be sought in the legends that have come down to us from the depths of centuries, because it was they who became the founders of the stories that we are now telling children.
The difference between fiction and fairy tales
There is one literary genre, for example, which is difficult to determine how the story differs from the fairy tale. We are talking about science fiction, where the world is a figment of the author’s imagination, and the narrative is literally saturated with conventionality and symbolism.
To determine exactly how a fairy tale differs from a fantastic story, you can take a look at the place and time of the action in the work. Fairy tale events most often occur in the long past or have no relation to time at all, while fiction prefers to predict future events or represent other planets.
Another difference between these genres is that fairy tales in their finale usually contain a pronounced morality, and fantastic stories show us what can happen in the future or what life might be in other worlds other than ours.
The world of a fairy tale is magic, miracles and humanized animals (sometimes even objects), while the story, even if fantastic, puts the story at the forefront with a minimum of expressive means. This is what distinguishes a story from a fairy tale.
Difference from the short story
The short story is a short prosaic form, like a story, but it has a number of differences from it.
The conciseness and brevity of presentation characteristic of the story is even more pronounced in the short story. There is no place for the author’s image of the character and a description of his psychological state. Instead, the center of the story becomes an unusual event, a plot that holds the reader's attention.
A catching eye-catching plot, a dynamic plot, an unexpected ending - these are the three pins on which the short story is built. The main theme here is clear, without any double interpretation (which is permissible in the story). The style of writing a novel is usually neutral, but the story can be humorous, philosophical, tough or melodramatic, depending on the author’s idea.
Unlike poems
The poem is almost impossible to confuse with the prosaic form, which is the story. Poems are characterized by the rhythmic construction of the text, in which stressed and unstressed syllables clearly alternate, forming a poetic size.
Usually a poem is divided into segments - stanzas - of several lines, the endings of which rhyme with each other. However, there are also white verses in which rhyme is absent.
Symbolism, a description of the experiences of the lyrical hero and a deeply personal description - this is what is always characteristic of poetry.