Narrative Writing
© J Munro 2007
Unit Sequence
1. Voice 8. Good Setting Descritions
• Develop a Personal Voice when Writin • Planning a Setting
g • Create a Setting
2. Point of View 9. Sentence Structure
• Point of View – First and Third person • Add Phrases
3. Structure of a Narrative • Join Short Sentences
• Planning your Narrative • Vary sentence length
• Orientation • Smooth Transitions
• Complication • Using Conjunctions
• Resolustion 10. Appropriate Dialogue
• Sequence of Events • Improve your Dialogue
• Short Stories 11. Descriptive Language
4. Good Beginnings • Create Similes
• Opening Paragraphs • Create Metaphors
• Examples of Story Beginnings • Personification
• The Opening Sentence • Onomatopoeia
• Active Beginnings • Impact
5. Plot Development • Make every Word Count
• Improve your Plot • Create Word Pictures
• Plot Development • Focus on the Facts
6. Good Endings • Replace Overworked Words
7. Good Character Description • Strong Verbs
• Characterisation • Don’t Say…
• Character Profile
• Character Wheel
Develop a Personal Voice when Writing
VOICE shows your personality when writing. The writing has a sound different
from everyone else's. It has feeling and emotion so that it does not sound boring.
The reader should be able to tell if you are happy or sad. The writer should be
writing from the heart and bring the topic to life for the reader.
The hunter had a cottage in the woods. He lived there all alone.
I ride the bus to each every day. I like to sit with my friends.
Joey likes to go swimming. Sometimes he asks his friend Sam to go with him.
He brings his ball to play with.
Frosty the snowman had a hat on his head. He also had a pipe and a carrot
nose. He held a shovel in his hand.
Point of View
The role of the narrator is vital as her or his bias can affect the way the story
develops.
Retell Little Red Riding Hood from two of these points of view:
• grandma
• Red Riding Hood’s mother
• the wolf
• the wood cutter
Use the first person “I” when you write your two or three paragraphs.
Narrative Writing
In a good narrative, the reader relates closely to the story,
feels involved with the plot and often identifies with the
characters. A good story is hard to put down and the reader
feels a sense of loss when it ends. The features of a
narrative are:
1. Hi. My name is Kate. This is a story about the time I went to the zoo.
Put Kate at the zoo doing something
2. This is a story about the time I built a robort in my basement.
Put yourself in the basement doing something
3. I will tell you about my adventure swimming at the lake
Put yourself at the lake doing something
Exercise 1: The Keeper
1. Is the book set in New Zealand? Give a reason for your answer.
2. Is the setting in the past, the present or the future? Give a reason for your
answer.
3. What is meant by “the clemantis was shining in start palaces in the bush”?
Exercise 4: Opening Paragraphs
Choose a title and opening sentence from the list below. Use the sentence
beginnings to write an opening paragraph which will orientate a reader into
your narrative.
Plot
A plot starts with an introduction to the narrative. A
plot will include problems or crises and how these
are solved, and the conclusion to the narrative. If it
is a good plot, there will be situayions which happen
throughout the narrative thaat will make you want to
read on.
What happens in a novel has been carefully planned
by the author. Some authors use a flow chart to plan
their work. Others might write a brief overview of
events noting each crisis, climax or problem and how
each will be resolved.
Improve your Plot
Who are your story’s main characters?
What are their main needs?(motives)
Who or what tries to stop or thwart them from
achieving their needs? (conflict)
Do the characters succeed or fail in achieving
their goals?
How do they succeed or fail? (resolution)
Exercise 1: Plot Development
The folowing extract from The Keeper is an example of a crisis in a plot.
Plot development: The Keeper
1. What is the setting in this extract?
2. Name the people who seemed to be present.
3. Where were Jean and the narrator:
a. at the beginning of the text?
b. when they saw the tiger?
4. How do you think the group felt after this crisis?
This text gives a good example of the rise and fall of a crisis within the
plot. There is a build up with all the action of trying to get out of the way
of the tiger and it leaping, then the feeling of relief when the animal is
dead. Short quick sentences: “Then it looked at me. It did not see me.”
keep the feeling of excitement and suspense going.
This is how the plot of The Keeper might look in graph form.
The plot may have many parts to it. It may have subplots within the main
plot. Whether the plot is action-packed or slow and leisurely, a good plot
will keep the reader interested.
• a greedy child
• a stressed teacher
• a bossy bus driver
• an impatient explorer
• a terrified airline passenger
• a mother trying to get her reluctant todler to eat
Characters
Narrative Characters may be people of animals. Although they are imaginary, the
author may have modelled their character on people they know. A reader can
usually identify with characters, either through a character’s personality, actions or
experiences, or physical appearance.
Characters in a book may be built up over several chapters with the reader getting
an impression of their personality through actions, reactions and relationships to
other characters.
Character Wheels
Planning a Setting
Things to think about
These settings all paint a picture for the
reader. Think carefully about which style
of scene setting appeals to you.
Do you prefer to be given a clear
description?
Do you prefer imagery where the writer’s
use of words lets you use your
imagination?
Do you prefer a character in the text to
help establish the mood of the setting by
talking about it?
Create a setting
Write a setting that vividly portrays the background to the plot.
The setting is where the action is happening and when the action occurs ie.
Time of day, month, year.
Choose one of the following and write a short description of it. The description
should include:
time of day,
the weather,
the sights,
sound and smells.
•The beach
•Inside a restaurant
•A city street
•A favourite park
•A swamp
Add Phrases
Phrases add information and interest to short, dull sentences.
To add an adjectival phrase, you can ask questions like ‘how’, ‘when’, or ‘where’.
Adjectival phrases: The boy was a culprit.
The boy with a cheeky grin was a culprit.
Adverbial phrases: We skipped.
We skipped across the playground.
We skipped across the playground with great abandon
after our win in soccer.
Rewrite the following examples to turn each example into one interesting sentence.
1. It was Sunday. The cricket match was cancelled. The pitch had been ruined by
rain
2. I was not pleased with my sister Natalie. She scribbled on my homework. I told
mom.
3. I’ve been working all day. I’m tired. I think I’ll take a rest.
4. Every night for dinner we have boiled rice. I don’t like boiled rice. It is my least
favourite food.
Vary Sentence Length
When you vary your sentence lengths, it creates a pleasant rhythm.
A story can become boring if all the sentences are the same length.
Example
Listen to what is happening. These sentences have five words. Here are
another five words. Five more words to follow it. The sentences begin to
drone. There is no variety here. It’s like a stuck record. It goes on and on.
1. Write a five sentence story; the first sentence should have one word, the
second two words, the third three words and so on.
2. Write a five sentence story with a different number of words in each
sentence.
3. Study sentence lenghts in a page from a published story.
Smooth Transitions
One way an author can get the reader’s attention is by using pharases
that we call “red flags.” red flags, such as all of a sudden or the next
thing I knew, indicate a new twist in the plot. Red flags can replace
predictiable words and phrases, like next and then.
Read the sample sentences below. Create your own “Red Flag Menu” by filling
in the blanks.
Suddenly I manage to escape from the monster.
Just then I manage to escape from the monster.
I manage to escape from the monster.
I manage to escape from the monster.
I manage to escape from the monster.
I manage to escape from the monster.
I manage to escape from the monster.
I manage to escape from the monster.
Improve Your Dialogue
What is Dialogue?
It's the conversation that takes
place between characters in a
story.
You can tell more about your
characters' thoughts and feelings
if you include dialogue in your
stories.
Let's look at a story without dialogue.
Sharing a room with her sister wasn't always fun. Kristi
was tired of always cleaning up after her sister Ashley.
Just because they shared a room, that doesn't mean
they had to share the mess! Ashley was always
leaving dirty dishes on her desk, and there were
always dirty clothes under the bed. Kristi had tried to
talk to Ashley about cleaning up the mess, but
somehow talking didn't help.
We often use metaphors without realising it. For instance, when we say that
your parents 'bark a command'
command at you, you are comparing them to a dog, and
hence engaging in metaphor!
Other Metaphors
A heart of stone
He has the heart of a lion
You are the sun in my sky
You are the light in my life
She is my East and my West, my compass.
You had better pull your socks up
Love is a lemon - either bitter of sweet
Create Metaphors
LEARNING INTENTION: to understand that a metaphor is a word picture in
which the writer replaces the thing to be described with another image. It makes
a more direct and vivid comparison to a simile.
Below are some telling sentences which simply state facts. Transform them into
showing sentences:
1. It was cold on the beach.
2. Dad was angry.
3. My friend is a great rugby player.
4. The house needed repairs.
5. The car braked suddenly.
Make every word count
You can improve your writing by removing unnecessary words. It is possible to
eliminate unnecessary words but still retain the same information.
First Draft The idea was thought of by Jim at four o’clock early in
the morning. (14 words)
Revised Jim’s idea came at 4 am. (6 words)
Rewrite these sentences, eliminating all the unnecessary words to make each
sentence more precise.
Read the following sentences. What questions would you ask the writer to
ensure that all the essential information was given.
1. I don’t like school.
2. My aunt is in hospital.
3. We like going out for dinner.
Select one of these sentences. Rewrite them with sufficient information.
Replace Overworked Words
LEARNING INTENTION: To think of as many different ways as you can to
express the same idea.
Write a description of the action in each of thes pharases using strong verbs.
• a man kicking a door
• a lion stalking prey
• a rabbit digging a hole
• a getaway car speeding around a corner
• a dog chasing a cat
Using a Thesaurus
A thesaurus extend your word power.
declared
exclaimed
questioned
replied
repeated
bellowed
shouted
responded
whispered
asked