Narrative Writing

1. Narrative Writing

2. OVERVIEW… Narrative text often contain structural and character ELEMENTS that should be familiar to you. These elements can be used as guides to help you think about the actions, themes, and contexts of the story.

3. What does a narrative include? • Tells a story ABOUT a specific moment in one’s life • Presents a conflict and its resolution • Setting: the where and when (why is this important?) • Transitions: the words and phrases that connect ideas in sentences and paragraphs • Imagery: language that appeals to the five senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hear)

4. PLOT • The sequence or order of events in a story. The plot includes: • Exposition Statement - The part of the plot that tells how the story begins. • Rising Action - The action in the story leading up to the climax. • Conflict - Struggles or problems between opposing forces.

5. More PLOT • Climax - The point of crisis in the plot. It may be the reader’s point of highest interest. • Falling action - The action in the story after the climax is revealed. • Resolution - The part of the plot that reveals the final outcome.

6. PLOT DIAGRAM Climax Rising Action Conflict Falling Action Exposition Resolution

7. What is purpose of an essay? • The purpose is the intention of the writer, such as to explain, to describe, to entertain, and to persuade.

8. What is point of view? • The perspective from which narration is told is the point of view. • There are three types: • 1st person: uses the pronoun I, and provides a direct connection • 2nd person: uses the pronoun you, and brings the reader into the text • 3rd person: uses the pronouns he or she and distances the reader from the subject

9. Narratives should include: • Both abstract and concrete ideas • Abstract words stand for something that cannot be easily visualized. Ex. freedom, small, cool • Concrete words stand for something easily visualized, such as a red apple or five gallons of water

10. Conflict • Conflict is the struggle between two opposing forces • Internal conflict is within one’s own mind • External conflict is against an outside force, such as another person, nature, society, or fate

11. Great things to include! • Metaphors-comparison of unlike things using “IS” (Her love is a red rose in bloom.) • Similes—comparison of unlike things using the words “like” or “as” – (Life is like a box of chocolates.) • Flashback – stopping the storyline and showing/telling something that happened early that influences the story. • Anecdote: a brief story of an interesting event • Parallelism: the use of a series of words, phrases or sentences that have similar grammatical form • Allusion: a reference to a person, place, thing, or work of literature that was historically important.

12. Things to avoid! • Clichés: overused expressions • Lack of detail • “I am going to tell you…” • “Have you ever…?” • “Ring, ring, ring” went the phone

13. So… • In a well-crafted paragraph, EXPLAIN The elements of a narrative text. Give an example topic for a narrative text. “Narrative text is described as…. The elements of narrative text are… Each element has a precise job,…”