Narrative Writing

StandardsCCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3a Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3b Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3c Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3d Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3e Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative.

Elements Necessary in a Short Story

• Setting

• Character

• Plot

• Conflict

• Theme

Setting

• Where does the story take place?• When does the story take place?• How does the setting interact with characters? Or

contribute to mood? Or contribute to plot? Or contribute to theme?

Devices to use:• Strong imagery• Similes/metaphors/hyperbole• Foreshadowing• personification

Character

• Point of view- What point of view is the story told from? Why? How does that point of view influence the story? (The tone

• and feel of the story, and even its meaning, can change radically depending on who is telling the story.)

• Character traits-Characters are round or flat and static or dynamic.

Character continued

• The best way for the audience to learn about a character is through indirect characterization.

SaysThinksEffect on othersActionsLooks

Think about:DialogueOpinions

Physical traits and clothing

Things to know about your characters

•Name•Age•Job•Ethnicity•Appearance•Residence•Favorite color•Friends•Favorite foods•Phobias•Faults

•Pets•Religion•Hobbies•Single or married?•Children?•Temperament•Something hated?•Secrets?•Strong memories?•Any illnesses?•Nervous gestures?•Sleep patterns

Character motivation

• What does your protagonist want?

• Remember that their motivations often are what drive their actions and the plot of the story.

Devices to use:• Hyperbole/similes/metaphors• Imagery• Indirect/direct characterization

PLOT

• Exposition-background information needed to understand the story (also gets readers invested in the protagonist)

• Rising action-introduces the conflict and starts to escalate towards a climax

• Climax-turning point in the story• Falling action-leads towards a conclusion• Conclusion-wraps up and resolves all parts

of the conflict

Plot devices to use

• Flash forward

• Flash back

• Foreshadowing

• In media res

Sequencing• Think about how you want to sequence your

story. • Chronological order-Chronological order is very simple and

straight-forward.  The audience gets the facts in their original order, so the audience can see how one thing leads to another.

• Flashbacks-Another option for the sequence of the story is to tell it out of order.  For instance, short stories are often told out of chronological order, starting with an event that happened, chronologically, in the middle of the action, then flashing back to explain how the character ended up in that

situation.

CONFLICT•  produces tension that makes the story begin.

Tension is created by opposition between the character or characters and internal or external forces or conditions.

• Possible Conflicts Include:• The protagonist against another individual• The protagonist against nature (or technology)• The protagonist against society• The protagonist against God• The protagonist against himself or herself.

CONFLICT continued• Devices to use

• Character motivation• Setting• Imagery• dialogue

Conflict continued• Yourke’s Conflict Checklist• Mystery. Explain just enough to tease readers. Never give everything away.• Empowerment. Give both sides options.• Progression. Keep intensifying the number and type of obstacles the protagonist

faces.• Causality. Hold fictional characters more accountable than real people. Characters

who make mistakes frequently pay, and, at least in fiction, commendable folks often reap rewards.

• Surprise. Provide sufficient complexity to prevent readers predicting events too far in advance.

• Empathy. Encourage reader identification with characters and scenarios that pleasantly or (unpleasantly) resonate with their own sweet dreams (or night sweats).

• Insight. Reveal something about human nature.• Universality. Present a struggle that most readers find meaningful, even if the details

of that struggle reflect a unique place and time.• High Stakes. Convince readers that the outcome matters because someone they

care about could lose something precious.

Theme

• The underlying message of the story that makes your story universal to readers.

• Theme should appear throughout work with several examples.

Devices to use:

• Imagery

• symbolism

Fulfill your promises

• The beginning of your story can’t start with pirates and ninjas fighting, and then by the time you get to the end, the conclusion of the story ends with romance.

• The expectations you set in the beginning of your story must be fulfilled at the end in order for your reader to feel satisfied.