Narrative Writing

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Narrative Writing
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Narrative Writing

• Aims
• To revisit the teaching sequence from reading to
  writing
• To provide ideas to cover the main aspects of
  story writing.

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Activity

• What are the key features of narrative text
  types? Fill in the sheet looking at
• Purpose
• Structure
• Language features
• Writers knowledge
• Story connectives

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The teaching sequence from reading to writing
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Basics about stories

• Structure Opening
• Build-up
• Problem
• Resolution
• Ending
• Stages of development Retelling
• Innovation
• Invention

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Capturing stories

• Story Mountain
• Story Map
• Timeline
• Post its
• Scene list
• Storyboard
• Flowchart

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Characterisation

• He came down the road.
• Simon stormed across the road without looking
  either way.

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What has the author done to build up the
character?

• Coral Ocean stood on the edge of the
  playground and waited. No one came near. All
  the other children seemed to be engrossed in
  their own games. She gazed through railings and
  pretended to notice something interesting in the
  distance. Blinking back tears, she roughly
  rubbed her eyes and hoped that no one would
  notice.
• Whats up? A tall boy had come across and
  stood bouncing a ball against the shed.
• Clear off!, snapped Coral, not yet even
  ready to try.
• Keep your hair on, muttered the boy. He
  spun round and raced back the playground bouncing
  his ball as he went. Coral could see him
  chatting to some other boys and pointing back at
  her.

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Planning your character

• Names
• Special details
• Feelings
• Type

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Characterisation techniques

• What characters say
• What characters do
• Showing rather than telling

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Characterisation through saying and doing

• Tim walked through the graveyard. He felt
  very scared.
• Tim raced through the graveyard, his heart
  thudding. He paused by a tombstone and peered
  into the darkness. He could feel his legs
  shaking. What was that dark shape ahead of him.?

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Settings

• Creating settings
• Think real
• Be precise
• Time of day
• Weather

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Liams Story Opening
Burning like he was on fire Chris ran for shade
he was dying to get out of this heat. He had a
headache so he dashed for his warm sand-filled
towel. When he woke up it felt like he was on a
completely different beach but 10 times hotter.
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Scary settings checklist

• Use short sentences to create tension and
• make the heart beat quickly
• Balance short sentences with longer ones
• containing detail
• Keep the reader wondering
• Pick out unusual details to describe the setting,
  creating atmosphere
• Mention dark, or cold
• Have the character think aloud, e.g. What was
  that?
• Describe the characters reactions to show how
  they feel, e.g. His hand gripped the banister
  till his knuckles turned white.

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Different types of setting

• Rewrite this paragraph, changing the setting
  to science fiction
• Tara walked into the next room. There was a
  long, silver table down the middle of the room.
  Pictures of elves, in green and red tunics, hung
  from the wall as well as a mirror edged with
  leaves of gold. On the floor lay a carpet woven
  with flying dragons . . .

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Openings

• time
• name
• exclamation
• question
• dialogue
• warning

• wish
• scene setter
• traditional
• the new arrival
• dramatic action
• introducing the monster

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Paragraphs
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Tips for writing endings

• Describe, or show, the characters feelings
• Reflect on events and perhaps provide a moral
• Look to the future
• Revisit where the story began
• Comment on what has happened
• Show, or comment on, how the character has
  changed

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Showing character change

• Ending
• Jos mother slid the plate in front of her.
  Jo glanced at the fried egg, sunny side up, and
  grinned at her mum.
• Im starving! she said, picking up her fork
  and tucking in. I could eat seven breakfasts!

• Beginning
• Jo gazed miserably at her breakfast. The
  fried egg seemed to be staring at her. It had a
  sneer on its sunny face. She stabbed it with her
  fork, spilling its eggy blood on to the white
  plate.

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Time to go home!