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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…
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.
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?
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?
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?"
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.
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.