Narrative Technique

When reading a story or book, sometimes we notice there are some elements in the story that we relate to some authors. Sometimes, we even know who wrote the book or story without reading the author of it. This is because every person has a narrative technique, but there are some general narrative techniques:

Point of view: 
Who is telling the story? This question can only really have one of three answers:
The narrator of the story - This corresponds to the first-person point of view.
The reader of the story - This is known as second-person point of view.
Someone else, an outsider looking in - This is what we call third-person narration or point of view.

Narration:
Who is the narrator talking to? This question really has three answers:
Direct narration - The narrator can talk directly to the reader.
Frame narration - A form of direct narration, this is where the narrator tells us someone else's story. Although the story is technically told in the first person, we see more of the third person.
Indirect narration - The narrator may not be talking to us. The narrator may be talking to a nebulous, or absent audience, telling for the sake of telling a story.

Speech:

How does the narrator speak? How does the narrator have character's speak? There are several ways speech is handled in narratives.
Direct speech - The characters speak for themselves. Direct speech includes the use of dialogue and quotations. We hear the character's speak directly. Nothing is summarized for us.
Reported speech - Opposite of direct speech. Here the narrator summarizes what others have said and done. We are retold a story.
Free indirect speech - This is a clever device typical of third person limited narration, where the narrator slips from telling us about the character's thoughts to simple writing the character's thoughts.

Tense:

When does the story take place? Really there are only three answers to this question:
Past - The story is told in the past tense. Since events are already over, the narrator can decide in which order to tell them and which events are most important.
Present - In the present tense, event unfold before the reader's eyes. The narrator is just as surprised by the events as the reader and has no knowledge of where the story is going. Sometimes the story really took place in the past but is told in the present for dramatic effect. This is called the historical present tense.
Future - Sometimes entire narratives are about events that will happen in the future. These take the form of predictions or instructions.

All of these techniques have an impact on how the reader will understand the story. By using a distinctive narrative technique, an author may become unique and attract the reader. There are also other devices such as Flashback, Foreshadowing, Third person omniscient or Dual-narrative. These devices help the author to make the story more entertaining and express himself in a better way.