NARRATIVE WRITING

THE ASSASSIN

AIMS• To find out the

structure of our narrative piece.

• To find out what happens in our narrative piece.

• To begin writing it.

After all the preparation we have done, you are now ready to begin writing your

Assassin story.• Read through your notes again,

reminding yourself of the techniques you used to make your writing interesting and powerful.

• Make a checklist of your use of these techniques by using key words i.e.

• Senses • Imagery• Show don’t tell

The PlotThis is what will happen in your story

An unnamed killer waits on a hillside above a lonely house

His victim, again anonymous, arrives and is shot.

The Assassin makes his escape

Or you could choose to write a different structure after the initial introduction

Paragraph 1This will deal with the killer’s

wait. He should be lying down

as comfortably as he can manage in

heavy rain. Every now and then, he is

alerted by a car passing down the

road. Try to suggests his cold

blooded lack of nervousness. Do not

say why he is there until the last

sentence; this builds up tension. Then

you could write something like “He

lifted the rifle to his eyes and sighted

down to the house.”

Paragraph 2

This paragraph will deal with a

description of the house and

its immediate surroundings.

Use this paragraph to make

the atmosphere more

depressing. Use descriptions

of the weather. Use the

shabbiness of the house and

its surroundings, and use

colour descriptions to help you.

Paragraph 3

Use this paragraph to describe the

arrival of the victim by car. Do not

waste time getting the car to the

house. Start the paragraph with a

sentence like “He watched as a blue

car turned off the road onto the

muddy, rutted path leading to the

house.” Keep the assassin cool and

unhurried; use the technique of

observing small, seemingly

irrelevant details such as a faulty

brake light, mud streaks on the car

etc.

Paragraph 4

In this paragraph, deal with the victim and the killing. How would the victim move from house to car? – remember, there are muddy puddles to avoid and it is raining. Delay the killing until the end of the paragraph – its harshness should be in sharp contrast to the cool calmness of the rest of the paragraph, i.e. “She paused at the door. He knew she would pause at the door. Before the echoes could catch the shattering sound, the shell had ripped the life from her in a flurry of blood and splintered bone.”

Paragraph 5

The Assassin moves away from the scene. He needs to pack away his rifle, remove evidence of his presence (cigarette ends, cartridge case), and move away towards the car. The atmosphere to aim for is calmness. He is unmoved, even casual, about the episode. He is a professional killer who remains

calm no matter what.

What’s next?Begin reviewing your story. Edit the story paragraph by paragraph. Remember – the grade you will get is for the quality of your writing, so make sure that you take your time and write exactly what you want to write, to achieve the desired effect. Go back to the work we did on figures of speech and insert a few of the similes and metaphors that you wrote. Check that there’s lots of ‘SHOW’ not ‘TELL’.

Finally, you should…

• Check that it is technically accurate: spelling, grammar, tenses, punctuation

• Make sure that you’ve included everything that needs to be included, to make it powerful and effective writing.

• Make sure your plot has logical flow.• Re-read your story to make sure that it’s

interesting and up to standard. Award yourself a grade. Then, ask someone else to read it and ask them for a grade, and why they decided on that grade. If there’s a difference in grades, try to discover why.