© Boardworks Ltd 2003 1 of 20 Writing Successful Narratives This icon indicates that detailed teacher’s notes are available in the Notes Page. For more

© Boardworks Ltd 20031 of 20

Writing Successful Narratives

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For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation.

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Writing successful narratives

The narrative is the way in which a story is told. There are 3 key things to bear in mind when structuring your story:

the opening the narrative perspective

the ending

They all lived happily ever after.

Once upon a time …


Narrative openings

The ways in which writers open stories is important as it determines whether or not we read on.

Brainstorm some of the tactics used by writers at the beginning of a narrative. Clue: some of these tactics may be the same as those used by film and television directors…


Narrative openings

Narrative Openings try to do one or more of the following:

engage the reader by making the narrative exciting and original

introduce the main characters who should be in some way intriguing

set the scene in a place which is well described and interesting

raise questions which the reader wants answers to.


List the techniques Almond uses here to open his story.

Kit’s Wilderness by David Almond opens with the lines:

Narrative openings

They thought we had disappeared and they were wrong. They thought we were dead, and they were wrong. We stumbled together out of the ancient darkness into the shining valley.

© David Almond, 1999


Write an engaging opening of no more than 5 lines, for a short story. It can be funny, strange or puzzling. Above all it must engage the reader.

Activity

Fear Mountain

Witches at Midnight

New York Tales of Madness

Pond of Dreams.

If you get stuck, use some of the titles below to prompt your imagination:


Narrative endings

Narrative endings are strange. They must show us that the story has finished while also encouraging us to want more!

What types of endings in novels do you most enjoy? Why?

Have you ever finished a book and wished that it hadn’t ended? How about a film? How do you think the writer or director goes about making you feel like this?


Narrative endings try to do one or more of the following:

Narrative endings

conclude the plot

leave the reader with some questions answered

leave the reader with some questions still remaining

propose the idea that the characters and the story live on after the given narrative – a text beyond the text.


Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah is the true story of an unwanted child considered by her family to be bad luck. The novel closes with the words:

As long as he let me go to university in England, I would study anything he wished...

‘Father, I shall go to medical school in England and become a doctor. Thank you very, very much.’ © Adeline Yen Mah, 1999

List the ways in which Yen Mah tries to conclude her story in a satisfying yet thought provoking way which suggests a ‘text beyond the text’.

Narrative endings


Imagine you have just written your own autobiography.

Experiment with different endings. Your endings should conclude your story without suggesting that your life is now over!

MY LIFE….

Narrative endings


Narrative perspective

When writing a story you need to first decide upon which narrative perspective is most appropriate. For your autobiography excerpt you will have write in the first person. If you were to write a friend’s biography you would use the third person.

What is the difference between first, second and third person narrative perspectives?




First person talking about yourself

I love cola!

Second person talking to another person

you love sweets!

Third person talking about someone else

he loves cakes!

she loves fish and chips!



Drag and drop


If asked to write a short story, your narrative perspective could be in either first or third person.

Brainstorm the benefits of writing in first person:

Brainstorm the benefits of writing in third person:



First person

Did you think of any others?

Advantages

The reader often feels closer to the writer.The writing can be less formal.

Disadvantages

The reader must rely on the narrator to tell the truth.The narrator can only tell the story from his/her perspective. The views of other characters are therefore unknown.


In Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Jane narrates her story in the first person. She is in love with Mr Rochester but he seems to be unaffected by her. It is only in the novel’s closing stages that we find out Mr Rochester has similar feelings for Jane because he tells her so through dialogue.

Why do you think Charlotte Brontë chose to use the first person for her novel?

First person

I caressed, in order to soothe him. I knew of what he was thinking, and wanted to speak for him, but dared not. As he turned aside his face a

minute, I saw a tear slide from under the sealed eyelid, and trickle down the manly cheek. My heart swelled.

"I am no better than the old lightning-struck chestnut-tree in Thornfield orchard," he remarked ere long. "And what right would that ruin have to

bid a budding woodbine cover its decay with freshness?"


Third person

Did you think of any others?

Advantages

The narrator is often omniscient (all knowing) and the reader can therefore know all events and even other characters’ feelings.

Disadvantages

The narrator is often more distant from the reader.The writing tends to be more formal.


Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock is told in the third person. The main character Pinkie, marries Rose in order to avoid being convicted of murder. He hates this girl but she loves him, desperately, even to the extent that she will commit suicide for him.

Why do you think Graham Greene chose to write his novel in the third person?

Third person

She thought: I needn’t say anything yet. I can take the gun and then – throw it out of the car, run away, do something to stop everything. But all the time she felt the steady pressure of his will. His mind was made up. She took the gun; it was like a treachery. What will he do, she thought, if I don’t … shoot.

© Graham Greene, 1938


Using the pictures on this page to prompt your imagination, write a short story on any topic. Think carefully about how you open and end it, and which narrative perspective to use.

Activity

Documents

© Boardworks Ltd 2003 1 of 20 Writing Successful Narratives This icon indicates that detailed teacher’s notes are available in the Notes Page. For more