Narrative for Business and Professional Use

Dr. Stephen OgdenLIBS 7001

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NARRATION• Presents a series of real or imagined events

– Events = Action : Action = drama (Gr. Dram—’to do’)– Series of actions = (lit.) PLOT.

• Narration:– tell what happened– explore motive – give insights and lessons (= ‘the moral’)– frame—highlight or diminish—events in accordance with …..

….audience and purpose.

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Narrative: Many Non-Literary Applications

• Work, School, Personal:– Reports

• lab repots• inspection reports• work trial reports• project reports• shift reports• research reports• work history problem

reports• Phone calls & social media• minutes oif meetings

• Politics: ‘narrative’ is now an essential tool– Create a partisan story

about society, selves & opponents

• Journalism:– news stories just are

narrative

• Reality TV, e.g.• Myths of the Tribe

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Elements of Narration

• Six elements together produce strong narration:1. purpose2. action3. conflict4. point of view5. key events6. dialogue

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1. Purpose

• = audience (obviously)• Stated or unstated, always shapes the writing• Examples:

– tell what happened– establish a useful fact– delve into motives– condemn or exculpate– create doubt and suspicion– offer lessons or insights– create memory (narrative is a fundamental mnemonic

technology)

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"plot is the origin and as it were the soul of tragedy

1. Purpose, con’t

MYTHOPOEIA: the creation of myth•Myths are the underlying stories that define, unite, and direct civilistations•Western Civilisation myths

1. Eden and the Fall of Man2. The Hero’s Journey: the Epic Quest

• humble origin > tasks & trials > conquest > return with boon

3. Sin -> Redemption -> Salvation • (Condemnation then Evangelisation)

•Frame narrative according to the master myths– POLITICS: environmentalism; multiculturalism; capitalism; etc.– PERSONAL-PROFESSIONAL: victim (incl, victim of circumstance); hero; ally; etc.

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2. Action• Aristotle: “plot [= sequence of action=narrative] is the origin—as it were,

the soul—of [drama].”• Sequence can be organised in a choice of ways:

– Chronological– Emotional– Nostalgical– Memorable– Moral (as they should have happened)– Planned (as they would have happened)– Lawyerly or Political (as they might have happened)– Polemical (as the reader can be convinced they happened)

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Action, cont. • Use Devices (Yorke “What Makes a Great Screenplay?”)

– Foreshadow– Create Expectation and Hope– Create suspense

• Fear + Delay

– Create Excitement• Spectacle

– Climax – Deliver Emotional Reward

• connect the reader-listener to the action (allow him to identify)

• Think visually (cinematically) when writing a narrative.• Many experiences are action: e.g. thinking, feeling, deciding, etc.

– Pekar’s A Hypothetical Quandary.

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3. Conflict• Real, imagined, anticipated conflicts shape our lives; see

Gk. agon - meaning “contest”• Some varieties of conflict:

1. between an individual and outside circumstances: 2. between group members3. between__________________________4. between__________________________5. within____________________________

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4. Point of View - types1. First person: one of the participants tells what happened.

– uses I, me, mine, we, ours– limited to what that person knows; narrator can be

unreliable because of incomplete knowledge2. Second-person: less often used

– you is used or understood– imperative & directive; or conversational

3. Third-person: distanced “narrator” recalls.– uses he, she, it, they– narrator can be omniscient, intrusive, or limited in

knowledge, deliberately misleading

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5. Key Events

• Strong narratives are built around key events bearing directly on purpose.

• Memorable: emotional, universal, spectacular• Be economical: “Less is More”• ‘Chekov’s Gun’:

– never put a loaded gun on stage in Act One that you won’t fire during the drama

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6. Dialogue• Conversation animates narrative:

– Indirect: reported - narrator strongly controls presentation and mood; reader is distanced from the scene

• “..called me up to tell me how busy she was.”– direct - generally more vivid; leaves scope for

interpretation: • narrator in strong control: “… the days when ‘Let’s have lunch’

meant something other than ‘I’ve got more important things to do than to talk to you now’…” (E,9)

• integrated into narrative: “and then she said, “It’s like…” and I said “I’m all…you know… like…”

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