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Narrative WritingMini-Writing Unit

+1st Lesson: The Power of I

New or beginning writers are often tempted to hide, keeping themselves and their own voice outside of the writing.

However, you are the only one who can share your feelings, observations, ideas, and stories. Embrace them.

+1st Lesson: The Power of I

First person experiences need a first person. Make sure your I is present and is thinking, feeling, seeing, acting. Give your readers someone to be with. Find your voice as a writer. Wave your I flag in your writing.

+1st Lesson: The Power of I

A word about point of view.  In literature, point of view is the vantage point from which a story is told. 

In the first-person point of view, the person telling the story is also a character in the story.

I, me, and my is used to tell what the person observes and experiences.

+2nd Lesson: So What?

Ask yourselves the following questions. Why are you writing about this? What’s the point?

+2nd Lesson: So What?Rule of the “So What?”

Good writing in every genre answers the question SO WHAT? Good writing has a purpose, a point, a reason it was written.

Sometimes the SO WHAT? is subtle and implicit. Sometimes it's explicitly stated. The SO What makes the reader think.

+2nd Lesson: So What?

Rule of “So What?”

A good writer often discovers the SO WHAT? through the thinking of the writing process.

But even with hard thinking, some topics may not have a SO WHAT? These pieces can be abandoned or put on hold.

+A Bad Narrative

I remember that when I was in fifth grade I got really sick. My throat was raw, and all my joints ached. The family doctor said I had rheumatic fever.

I had to stay in bed for six months. I couldn't walk up and down stairs or even go the bathroom by myself.

When my dad came home from work at night, he'd carry be downstairs so I could watch television and be with the rest of the family, then carry me back upstairs at bedtime. Otherwise it was a lonely, boring time. All I could do was read. During the six months I had rheumatic fever I practically ate books. I made my poor mother go to the library almost every day for new ones.

Finally the doctor said I could go back to school. It was of the happiest days of my life, even though I couldn't run or play sports for a long time.

Why did the author write this story?

What’s the point?

+3rd Lesson: Thoughts and Feelings

If you don't include your thoughts and feelings in a narrative, it is just a string of events.

The reader doesn't care about your writing because you don't seem to care.

The reader must be able to go inside the writer's head.

When you get your rough draft back, you will see ‘TF’ marks in your narrative where you can develop your thoughts and feelings.

+Some ways to include thoughts and feelings

+4th Lesson: Narrative Leads

Most good narratives start with three types of leads: 1. Action - A main

character doing something

2. Dialogue - A character or characters speaking

3. Reaction - A character thinking

+A typical lead

It was a day at the end of June. My mom, dad, brother, and I were at our camp on Rangely Lake. We arrived the night before at 10:00PM, so it was dark when we got there and unpacked. We went straight to bed. The next morning, I was eating breakfast, my dad started yelling for me from down at the dock at the top of his lungs. He said there was a car in the lake.

+What type of lead is being used

here?

"Scot! Get down here on the double!" Dad bellowed. His voice sounded far away.

"Dad?" I hollered. Where are you?" I squinted through the screen door but couldn't see him.

"I'm down on the dock. Move it! You're not going to believe this," he replied.

Action? Dialogue? Reaction?

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From Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl

"There was a boy in her room.Cath looked at the number painted on the door, then down at the room assignment in her hand.Pound Hall, 913.This was definitely room 913, but maybe it wasn't Pound Hall—all these dorimitories looked alike, like public housing towers for the elderly."

What type of lead is being used here?

Action? Dialogue? Reaction?

+What type of lead is being used

here?

From Lucy Christopher’s Stolen

“You saw me before I saw you. In the airport, that day in August, you had that look in your eyes, as though you wanted something from me, as though you’d wanted it for a long time. No one had ever looked at me like that before, with that kind of intensity. It unsettled me, surprised me, I guess. Those blue, blue eyes, icy blue, looking back at me as if I could warm them up. They’re pretty powerful, you know, those eyes, pretty beautiful, too.”

Action? Dialogue? Reaction?

+Imagery and Sensory Details

Slow down as you write…try to remember your experience as if you are actually seeing it, hearing it, feeling it, smelling it, and tasting it again.

+How do I do this?

By using sensory details…Imagery: language that activates or appeals

to the five senses

+What am I describing?

Sight: Fluffy white morsels Touch: Crisp to the touch and oily with a rub Taste: Rich melted butter and a little bit of

salt Sound: Crunch! Chomp! And

mmm...mmm...yum! Smell: A hint of burned bits among the

buttery goodness

+Where am I?

Sight: Bright, sunny day with no clouds in the blue, blue sky

Taste: Sweet, sugary lemonade Smell: Sweat and melting sunscreen lotion Touch: Grainy and rouch with pieces of

broken shell...OUCH! Sound: Crashing waves and shrill shrieks

from children at play

+Conflict/Resolution

Conflict: the problem in the story

Internal conflict: a problem that takes place in a character's mind. ex.) Depression, being heartbroken,

stress

External conflict: a problem that takes place outside, between a character and another person, a place, a thing, or situation. ex.) Bullying, peer pressure, fighting

with siblings

Resolution: how the conflict was solved

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+Word Choice

Show Me. Don't Tell Me. Word choice: use of rich, colorful, precise language

that communicates ideas, not just in a functional way, but in a way that MOVES and ENLIGHTENS the readers.

Strong word choice = imagery and sensory details. NOT about including big words that you do not

understand. It is about manipulating the language you have already

to create vivid images and powerful ideas in your writing.

+Good Titles

The title is the smallest piece of writing, yet it is memorable and cues the reader. It entices the appetite of the reader.

Often a title is simply a label. For example:When I Tried Out for the School PlayFall LeavesThe Winning GoalThe Best Christmas EverThe Bike AccidentGoing BowlingMy Dog

+Good Titles

Fit the whole piece of writing Not a label or description Creates a bit of mystery Memorable. Gives a hint or taste of the topic or theme to

come. Strong or beautiful combination of words. A result of brainstorming

DON’T GIVE AWAY THE ENDING IN THE TITLE!!!