Narration Notes

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Narration Notes

• Dayus
• CHS
• AP English Lang

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• Narrate to tell a story, to relate a sequence of
  events that are linked in time.
• A narrative may be short or long, factual or
  imagined, as artless as a tale told in a locker
  room or as artful as a novel by Henry James. A
  narrative may instruct and inform, or simply
  divert or regale. It may set forth some point or
  message, or it may be no more significant than a
  horror tale that aims to curdle your blood.
• A novel is a narrative, but it doesnt have to be
  long.

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• An effective story holds the attention of readers
  and listeners and to do so, the storyteller
  shapes that story to appeal to its audience.
• The point of the narrativethe idea the reader is
  to take awaythen determines the selection of
  events, the amount of detail devoted to them, and
  their arrangement.
• Though narration arranges events in time,
  narrative time is not real time.

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• The point of a narrative influences not only
  which events are covered and how fully but also
  how the events are arranged. There are several
  possibilities
• 1. A straight chronological sequence is
  usually the easiest to manage because it
  relates events in the order of their actual
  occurrence.
• 2. The final event, such as a
  self- revelation, may come first, followed by
  an explanation of the events leading up
  to it.
• 3. The entire story may be summarized first
  then examined in detail.
• 4. Flashbacks-shifts backward rather than
  forward in timemay recall events whose
  significance would not have been apparent
  earlier. Flashbacks are common in movies and
  fiction a character in the midst of one
  scene mentally replays another.

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• When you narrate you tell of a funny experience,
  report a baseball game, or trace a historical
  event.
• By arranging events in an orderly progression, we
  illuminate the stages leading to a result.

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• The Thesis
• In most kinds of narration, whether fiction or
  nonfiction, whether to entertain or make an idea
  clear, the storyteller refrains from revealing
  the gist of the story, its point, right at the
  beginning.
• Many narratives do not contain a THESIS
  STATEMENT, an assertion of the idea behind the
  story, because such a statement can rob the
  reader of the very pleasure of narration, the
  excitement of seeing a story build.
• The writer has every obligation to construct the
  narrative as if a thesis statement showed the way
  at the start, even when it didnt.
• By the end of the story, that thesis should
  become obvious, as the writer builds towards a
  memorable CONCLUSION.
• You achieve a lot just by leading to your point,
  stating your thesis at the very end.
• You can sometimes make your point just by saving
  the best incidentthe most dramatic or the
  funniestfor last.

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• The Narrator
• - Narratives report personal experience, whether
  in reality or fiction.
• - The narrator (or teller) of such a personal
  experience is the speaker, the one who was
  there.
• - The telling is usually SUBJECTIVE, with
  details and language chosen to express the
  writers feelings.
• - When a story isnt your own experience but a
  recital of someone elses, or of events that are
  public knowledge, then you proceed differently as
  a narrator.
• - Without expressing opinions, you step back and
  report content to stay invisible.
• - Instead of saying, I did this I did that,
• you use third person, he, she, it, or they
• The runner did this she did that.
• - Generally, a non-participant is OBJECTIVE in
  setting forth events unbiased, as accurate and
  dispassionate as possible.
• - When you narrate a story in the third person,
  you arent a character central in the eyes of
  your audience.

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• Unlike the first person writer of a personal
  experience, you arent the main actor you are
  the camera operator, whose job is to focus on
  what transpires.
• In telling of actual events, writers stick to the
  facts and do not invent the thoughts of the
  participants.
• Even writers of fiction and anecdote imagine the
  thoughts of their characters only if they want to
  explore psychology.
• A final element of the narrators place in the
  story is verb tense, whether present (I stare, he
  stares) or past (I stared, he stared).
• The present tense gives a sense of immediacy. The
  past is more removed but it is still powerful.

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• What to emphasize
• - Whether you tell of your own experience or of
  someone elses, even if it is brief, you need a
  whole story to tell.
• - If the story is complex, do some searching and
  discovering in writing. Test your memory and make
  sure you have all the necessary elements of a
  story. Ask yourself
• 1. What happened?
• 2. Who took part?
• 3. When?
• 4. Where?
• 5. Why did this event (or these events) take
  place?
• 6. How did it (or they) happen?
• - The writing of a good story calls for careful
  choice. In choosing, remember your purpose and
  your audience.

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• Scene versus Summary
• Your purpose and our audience clearly determine
  which of the two main strategies of narration
  youre going to choose to tell a story by SCENE
  or to tell it by SUMMARY.
• When you tell a story in a scene, or in scenes,
  you visualize each event as vividly and precisely
  as if you were thereas though it were a scene in
  a film, and your reader sat before the screen.
• Instead of just mentioning people, you portray
  them. You recall dialog as best you can, or you
  invent some that could have been spoken.
• In contrast, you tell a story by the method of
  summary, you relate events concisely.
• Instead of just depicting people and their
  surroundings in great detail, you set down the
  essentials of what happened.
• A summary is to a scene as a simple stick figure
  is to a portrait in oils.
• Your choice of method depends on your answer to
  the questions you ask yourself What is my
  purpose? Who is my audience? (Ex Read the life
  of some famous person in an encyclopedia, and you
  will find the article telling its story in
  summary form. Its writers purpose is to recount
  the main events of a whole life in a short piece.
• Good storytellers know what to emphasize. They do
  not fall into a boring drone
• Example And then I went down to the club and
  I had a few beers and I noticed this sign, Go 3
  Minutes with the Masked Samurai and Win 500, so
  I went and got knocked out and then I had pizza
  and went home.
• In this lazily strung-out summary, the narrator
  reduces all events to equal unimportance. A more
  adept storyteller might leave out the pizza and
  dwell in detail on the big fight.

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• Organization
• In any kind of narration, the simplest approach
  is to set down events in CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER,
  they way they happened.
• A chronological order is therefore an excellent
  sequence to follow unless you can see some
  special advantage in violating it.
• Ask What am I trying to do? If you are trying to
  capture your readers attention right away, you
  might begin in medias res (Latin, in the middle
  of things) and open with a colorful, dramatic
  event, even though it took place late in the
  chronology.
• Let your purpose be your guide!
• No matter what order you choose, either following
  chronology or departing from it, make sure your
  audience can follow it.
• The sequence of events has to be clear.
• This calls for TRANSITIONS of time, whether they
  are brief phrases that point out exactly when
  each event happened, or whole sentences that
  announce an event and clearly locate it in time.

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• Elements of a Narrative
• 1. Character Development
• 2. Manipulation of Language
• 3. Pacing
• 4. Sequencing of Events
• 5. Structure of a Narrative
• 6. Tone
• 7. Voice