NARRATIVE WRITING TECHNIQUESNARRATIVE WRITING TECHNIQUESHow To Strengthen Personal Narratives

Learning Goal:Learning Goal:Common Core StandardCommon Core Standard

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences

Narrative WritingNarrative Writing Think of an interesting story from life Make a timeline of events Organize the events into beginning, middle, and ending Decide on an effective point of view (1st or 3rd) Add transition words to move the narrative through time Add figurative language

Similes and metaphors Onomatopoeia Foreshadowing Alliteration Hyperbole Dialect or common expression

Add dialogue at well chosen moments Moral or a point to the story as thesis

Narrative Essay StructureNarrative Essay Structure Introduction

Start with a statement, dialogue, or interesting description to HOOK the reader State what the essay will be about in the last sentence

as a thesis Body

Follow all elements of the plot triangle Use vivid description to develop characters and setting Tell your story using transitions and varied sentences Use dialogue Figurative language Flashback paragraph

Conclusion Restate your thesis Provide a meaningful lesson or moral of the story

Ten Master Writing TipsTen Master Writing Tips

1. Read more often because it improves writing2. Find an author you admire and imitate his or her plots and characters in

new situations. 3. Record favorite quotes and passages in a writer’s notebook4. Introduce main characters, settings, and themes in the beginning or

exposition5. Resolve themes in the resolution6. Have protagonists pursued (by an obsession or a villain) and pursuing

(ideas, objects, mystery)7. Be vivid and strong with language choices8. Be your own editor/critic: Sympathetic but merciless!9. Work on a computer that is disconnected from the Internet10. Whenever possible, leave a decent space of time between writing

something and editing it.

Poe: Five Essentials for the Betterment of Short Stories

• Employ an unreliable narrator, preferably one who doesn’t know he is insane and has no recollection of such events as digging into a grave to rip out the teeth of his recently departed lover.

• Include a beautiful woman with raven locks and porcelain skin, preferably quite young, and let her die tragically of some unknown ailment.

• Use grandiloquent words, such as heretofore, forthwith, and nevermore. A little Latin will also enhance the text.

• Do not shy away from such grotesqueries as inebriation, imprisonment, insanity, and men costumed as orangutans being burned to death.

• When in doubt, bury someone alive.

Edit your Essay Edit your Essay with the Top 5!with the Top 5!

Introductory phrase comma As the party began,

Compound sentence comma The bagel shop owner was once his friend, but now he can never speak to him

again. Interrupter comma

Lisa finally had success with her dog, Brutus, after eight weeks of training classes.

Sentencing No fragments or run-ons. Think: Complete thought! Vary lengths and openers.

Verb tense Verbs must agree with subjects Remain consistent with tense in your essay!

Three Ways to Punch Up the Three Ways to Punch Up the Details and Add Layers!Details and Add Layers!

Appositive phrase Mr. Jones, her track coach of eight grueling years, spoke

through tears and sobs at the funeral.

Direct references (use descriptive nouns to vary how you refer to the same people) …to Private Gordon. The young cadet knew well what basic

training would be like.

Flashback Insert a brief paragraph of an event that happened long

before the story…let the flashback serve to provide character motivation or background information.

Sample Narrative: Sample Narrative: “The Virgin Mary Falls from Grace”“The Virgin Mary Falls from Grace”

“Silent night, holy night, all is calm all is bright.” Just about every person in the world knows this popular Christmas tune. Upon hearing it, one has the vision of a humble nativity scene where Mary and Joseph kneel before the new born baby Jesus. However, hearing this song conjures up a much different memory, one filled with pain and embarrassment. For Terry Brooks, a teenage girl from a small rural town in Pennsylvania, her characteristic willpower pulled her out of the mud.

Author’s note: Hook and introduction. Thesis.

Beginning: ExpositionBeginning: Exposition

When Terry was in the ninth grade at Blarney High School, she was involved in her community’s youth recreation program, a vital group committed to offering entertaining programs for children, especially during long breaks from school. One year, the director had this idea to produce a filmed version of “The Christmas Story” and show it to the community during winter break of 1999. So, one cold, rainy day in November, they all met to work on the project.

Author’s note: Protagonist and setting established. Premise of the story provided without giving away the story.

Middle of the Story: Middle of the Story: Rising ActionRising Action

Getting up in the morning was painful enough, but little did she know what occurred later that day. The weather was cold and the skies were dark and grey. However, she did her best to grin and bear it just like the rest of her friends. Like clowns piling into the clown car at the circus, they all loaded into the car to travel to the makeshift film site. It was at an old 1800s farm about 20 miles north of the recreation center. After driving for what seemed like hours over hills and dales, the car finally lurched to a stop. As Terry looked around, she said to herself, “This place looks like a real fixer upper.” There was mud everywhere. The barn and other buildings were literally falling down and an old rickety fence that scaled the side of the barn looked like it could hardly hold in the animals. Yet, Terry was psyched about portraying the leading role of Mary in the Christmas play. Author Notes: Foreshadowing, hyperbole, common expressions, similes, imagery, dialogue, transitions, and setting details to direct and engage the reader as well as to paint pictures.

Despite the dilapidated condition of the farm, they all got ready to roll tape. Dressed up as Mary, Terry wore a long blue sheet and a pretty white scarf for a veil, which proved uncomfortable and cumbersome. She constantly stumbled over the sheet just trying to walk. Her character role for the movie was to ride the donkey to the pretend manger, get off the donkey, and then kneel by the crib beside the fake baby Jesus. She knew all of this before, but once she saw the donkey she was to ride, she began to have some serious misgivings about her task. It was a huge, imposing animal that looked like it had better things to do than be led around by a bunch of citified yokels trying to do a Christmas play. Author Notes: Transitions, hyperbole, common expression, and simile to engage the reader.

- Flashback Paragraph -- Flashback Paragraph -

Terry wasn’t always this energetic and positive. Frankly, growing up as an only child in a rural country town seventy miles outside of the city left her pining for things to do. After her father died when she was just eight years old, her mother was all she had. Low on funds, the mother and daughter made do with what they had around the quaint, country house and took advantage of free community programs to improve life.

Author’s note: The flashback paragraph reveals motivation, evokes sympathy, and adds relevant background knowledge about the protagonist.

Rising Action and ClimaxRising Action and Climax

Regardless of Terry’s concern and hesitation, the director told her to go ahead and get up on that donkey. She got up on the donkey astride, just like riding a horse. “No, no, no, no, no! That just won’t do!” The director said in her snobby, nasal twang. “You should ride side saddle. That is the way the real Mary would have done it.” So, Terry slid off and, with some help, got back on the donkey side-saddle. This was a difficult task for her to do with the sheet dragging on the ground and the veil pulling off her head. She felt she was being twisted in seventeen different directions. Immediately, the donkey, whose name she later found out was Grace, became agitated. It began to toss its head up and down and stomp its large, heavy feet on the ground. Since there was no rope for her, she could hardly even hold the donkey, which was now heehawing and bucking—rather ungracefully--like a bronco. Without a rope, she could barely hold on let alone ride the donkey to the crib! Author’s Notes: Dialogue, transition, hyperbole, imagery

All of a sudden the donkey became as mad as a hornet and took off at break-neck speed. Before she knew was happening, she was ejected from the donkey at what felt like 99 mph. Terry flew through the air with her arms splayed out wide, the sheet and veil blowing in the wind. She must have looked like a crazed Christmas angel trying to find Santa’s sleigh. Then, she heard, Bam! Thud! Squish! For a few minutes she was temporarily knocked out, and she even thought she saw stars. Out of her squinting eyes, Terry could see her friends and the director were standing over her, saying some words that she never expected she would ever hear her friends to say. It was like a dream. Figurative language gives pictures of what the event looked like if you were there.

Falling action and resolutionFalling action and resolution

After she woke up deep in the sticky, odorous mud, she was helped up to stand on her wobbly feet. She had two black eyes forming and a large goose egg on her forehead from where she had hit the fence. But despite her injuries, the director turned to her and asked the most ridiculous question. “Do you think you can still finish the play?” she said in her most persuasive tone. “Yes, I think I can.” And she did. She was indeed a real trouper. After it was all over, the director of the recreation center felt it necessary to take her home. As Terry’s mom opened the door, she too said some words that the young girl had never expected. When she saw her daughter, her mouth literally fell wide open. She could not believe what had happened. Terry assured her sobbing, fretful mother that she was okay, even though her mother kept checking Terry’s head for brain damage.

Figurative language, dialogue, imagery

When she went back to school that next Monday, she had to endure quite a few jokes. But other than having to convince everyone that she had not been in a bar fight, she began to heal pretty easily. Even though everyone from her friends to the recreation center director warned her about donkeys, Terry enrolled in horseback riding lessons to learn how to properly ride and control a horse. Terry shows that nothing can keep a good woman down, even if she literally gets knocked down. Just like she continued to film the movie that cold November day, she went on to be an English rider in the 4-H Club. END.

Artful and Correct Artful and Correct Use of DialogueUse of Dialogue

Short stories require setting, action, and dialogue to hook the reader.

Punctuate and format properly: New paragraph for each new speaker Periods and commas go inside the quotation marks.

“Quotation,” said Speaker. “Quotation,” said Speaker, “and more quotation.” Speaker description. “Quotation.” “Quotation?” he asked her.

Vary the location and verbs in speaker tags. “I’m not interested,” Sarah smugly retorted. Bill looked up shyly and squeaked, “I’m sorry for ruining your skirt.”

He really felt awful. “No,” I lied. “I had no idea that she had to be home by 11pm tonight!”

Sample Narrative: Sample Narrative: “Parasailing on St. John”“Parasailing on St. John”

Introduction:St. John is a breathtaking, tropical Caribbean island located in the US Virgin Islands. Once a secluded fishing village, the island includes major resorts for travelers in search of fun in the sun as well as adventurous recreation. On my honeymoon in 1989, my wife and I tied the knot and set sail to soak up the island life during a two-week honeymoon on St. John. We knew that if we got started on the right foot, we would definitely sail off into the sunset with one another regardless of any rocky conditions.

Body Paragraph One: ExpositionOn the first Monday of our honeymoon, we boarded the small ship at 8am, anticipating the parasailing adventure with much excitement. The guides gave us instructions on how they would hook us up in the equipment, and because the machine was automated, there were some very precise instructions. I just hoped I could remember everything I was supposed to do so that I did not get injured like the guide mentioned. We were the second couple to ride tandem, and so we eagerly watched every move that the other couple made. Finally, it was our turn to fly.

Inciting incidentInciting incident

Body Paragraph Two: Rising ActionFollowing the instructions, we helped each other get hooked in the harness, sat down on the back of the boat and gave each other a huge, juicy kiss. Suddenly, I felt a jolt and we were lifting into the air. Being in the air and soaring through the sky was incredibly fun. As I looked down, I saw giant sea turtles swimming through the crisp, bright blue water with a pod of dolphins playing nearby. It was almost soundless except the fluttering noise of the wind blowing past my ears and the parachute above. I wondered, Is this how birds feel as they fly through the air? Flying like a bird, feeling more than human, was a truly scintillating moment.