Narration

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Narration
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What is it?

• Narration is telling a fiction or non-fiction
  story
• Narratives are written
• To entertain
• To inform
• To persuade

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How do I write a narrative?

• Compose your topic sentence
• Use enough details (this is where Description
  comes in)
• Connect the details

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The Topic Sentence/Thesis Statement

• The point of the narrative
• A single sentence
• Makes an interesting point on which the story is
  built.

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Examples

• Dull Once I almost got lost at sea.
• Interesting The most frightening day of my life
  was when I blew out to sea in a small rowboat.

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Use enough detail

• WHO is this happening to?
• WHAT is happening?
• WHEN is this happening?
• WHERE did this happen?
• WHY did this happen?
• Give the reader a sense of being there.
• Adds believability and realism

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Connect the Details

• There needs to be order to the way the story is
  told. Be sure it is clear
• Chronologically.
• By time.
• By order.

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Use Transitions

• Transitions signal a change.
• Common transitions
• When
• So
• The next day
• Later

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Make Sure to

• Pace the story.
• Stay in character (are you writing about yourself
  in 3rd person? If so, use your name and
  pronouns.dont switch back to first person and
  use I. Choose one and stick with it. (more
  later)

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Pacing

• Skip boring details.
• Description is a great technique, but dont get
  used to saying things like we briskly stepped
  off of the Otis Model 1324 A Elevator, which
  featured an emergency phone, a magnificently
  appointed interior, and buttons, most of which
  indicating a floor number.
• AHHHHH.Boring!
• Focus on the point

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Stay in Character

• Find a Voice (point of View)
• First person. (I we)
• Third person, limited. (narrator has limited
  knowledge of the characters
• Third person, omniscient. (narrator knows
  everything)
• Stick with that voice throughout

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Stick to One Time Frame

• Recalling in the past uses past tense.
• Writing in the present uses present tense
• Example
• I had always encountered difficulties driving in
  the snow, so I decide to slow down and approach
  the upcoming, snow-covered turn with caution.
• -here, the speaker is currently driving along a
  highway during inclement weather. She bases her
  decision to drive with caution on past events
  that she remembers. She recalls (in the past
  tense) that shed always had difficulty driving
  in bad weather, which then influences her current
  decision and subsequent action of slowing down
  (present tense).

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In-Class Assignment

• Write a 2-3 paragraph essay describing the last
  time you quarreled with someone important to you.
  Arrange the main episodes in the most effective
  order and use transitions. Practice the other
  tips listed in this presentation.