What’s the Story?

Take 10 minutes to write the story this image illustrates. The

only guideline is that “something is not what it seems to be.”

What’s the Story?Narrative Writing and the Elements of Storytelling

What is Narrative Writing?Writing that…

o Tells a story

o Expresses emotion and affects emotional responses

o Shares a lesson, or moral

o Entertains on some level.

Once Upon a Time…When setting out to write a story, the first thing you have to do is ask yourself:

o “Why am I telling this story?”—What is the goal you want to accomplish?

Once you have decided, you have to ask:

o “How am I going to accomplish this?”—What methods will you employ to affect your readers in the desired way?

You do this by employing and manipulating the…

Elements of Narrativeo Plot- What Happens

o Narration- How it Happens

o Character- Who it Happens To

o Setting- Where/When it Happens

o Conflict- Why it Happens

o Theme- The message or moral

PlotThe “Plot” is the story; it is the journey that the character take from beginning to end.

While effective Narrative writing relies on the successful use of many crucial elements, none are more important than the plot.

Without the plot nothing ever happens.

Elements of Ploto Exposition: gives the reader all the important information—

5 Ws

o Crisis: the point where the plot or action begins

o Rising Action: the events or obstacles leading/building toward the climax

o Climax: the ultimate event or the highest point of tension in a story—often when the main character has to make a decision or react to the revelation of important information

o Falling Action: what happens after the climax, the events leading toward resolution, or the characters dealing with the fallout of the climax

o Resolution: How the story eventually wraps up

Breaking it DownCinderella

Exposition: Introduction of the characters (Cindy, Steps and Dead Father), Conditions of life

Crisis: the invitation to the ball

Rising Action: the promise and tasks, the denial, the fairy godmother and ball

Climax: Midnight—losing the shoe

Falling Action: The search, trying on the slipper, the reveal

Resolution: “Happily Ever After”

NarrationNarration is how the story is told—the voice you use to express yourself to your audience

There are several different types of narrative voices authors use, each with their own identifying characteristics strengths and weakness.

First Person (limited) Second Person (limited) Third Person (limited) Third Person (omniscient)

First Person Narratives are told from the protagonist’s perspective

and use personal pronouns (I, me, my, our, etc.). Narration allows readers full access to ONE character’s

thoughts and feelings. Is “limited” in that the reader is granted to only a single

set of events and can be in only one place at a time. Can often be described as “unreliable.”

Famous 1st Person Narrators:Nick Carraway, Holden Caulfield, Katniss Everdeen, and Scout Finch

Second Person

Narratives are told from the perspective of the author speaking directly to the reader and uses second person personal pronouns (you, your, etc.)

Narration attempts to immerse the reader in the experience of the story, and guides them through the plot

Is “limited” because it can’t reveal anything substantial about other characters.

Is rarely used.

Famous Second Person Narratives: Bright Lights, Big City and Choose Your Own Adventure Stories

Third Person Narratives are told from the perspective of a

disconnected, observational presence and use third person pronouns (he, she, it, him, her, they etc.)

Narration allows readers seemingly unlimited access to all aspects of a story and can move effortlessly between many locations and events

Is considered the most reliable form of narration There are TWO Classifications of Third Person

Narratives Limited-Access only to the inner thoughts and

motivations of the protagonist Omniscient-Unlimited Access to the inner thoughts

and motivations of ALL characters.

CharactersTypes of Characters o Protagonist- The main character, the focus of the story,

often classified as “The Hero”

o Antagonist- The character working against the main character, gets priority attention, often classified as a villain—does not always have to be an actual person

o Primary- Main characters, characters that directly affect the plot and are affected by each other

o Secondary- Characters that don’t get much focus, they can affect the plot, the main characters, and can be affected but often aren’t—they are often used as plot devices

o Ancillary- Characters that exist on the outskirts of the of the story, have minimal affect, but can play important roles

Characters (cont.)There are 4 Major Character Classifications Dynamic: Characters who undergo some sort of change

throughout the story (usually protagonists and antagonists) Static: Characters who do not change throughout the story

(secondary and ancillary) Round: Characters who are well developed, have defensible

motivations and observable complex personalities. Flat: Characters who are not complexly developed and do not

demonstrate observably distinct lives or motivationsCharacters can be observed to be a combination of up to TWO Classifications.

Dynamic Characters are often Round CharactersStatic Characters are often Flat Characters

SettingSetting is the “Where” and the “When” of a story

Time: Time of day, Day, Week, Month, Season, Year etc.

Place: The physical geographic location

Atmosphere: Social environment, political environment, economic environment, etc.

Climate: Temperature, weather conditions, etc.

ConflictConflict: the primary thing that drives the characters/plot. The conflict of story is at the heart of narrative writing

Types of Conflict

o Man vs Man

o Man vs Nature

o Man vs Self

o Man vs Society

o Man vs Idea

ThemeTheme: The overall message you are trying to convey to the audience

A recurrent idea, that runs through a piece that often underscores that overall message of the piece.

It is often an image, a phrase, an object, a color.

These are things you should not only look for in the pieces that you read but these are the things you should think of BEFORE you begin writing a piece. When planning your story you need to know EVERYTHING you plan to put into it and how those elements will shape the story and how they will work together to accomplish your overall goal in telling the story.