Narrative
What is a Narrative?
Narrative
A narrative is an account of an incident or series of incidents that make a
complete and significant action.
. (Brandon & Brandon, 2011, p. 102)
Freytag Pyramid
(Source: Teaching the Narrative Essay: Embedding the Elements of Fiction, p. 30)
Writing a Paper on Time.
Character: Myself
Character’s goal: To write a good paper on time.
Conflict: Family vacation delayed my writing.
Opposing forces:
Obstacle 1: Vacation scheduled for the week before the paper is due.
Obstacle 2: Family members want me to stay on vacation longer.
Obstacle 3: I am enjoying my vacation, and I don’t want to go home.
Result: I worked on the paper in the mornings and enjoyed the
vacation in the afternoon. I completed writing the paper and
enjoyed the vacation too. --- goal is achieved
(goal may or may not be achieved)
Lesson learned: Compromise often works.
• Character – A narrative often has major and minor
characters.
• Character’s goal – A character (often major character) has a
goal to achieve in the narrative.
• Conflict – The following may prevent the character from
achieving the goal :-
It can be internal or external :
a) Character can be in conflict against someone else.
b) Character can be in conflict against self.
c) Character can be in conflict against society.
d) Character can be in conflict against nature.
• Opposing forces – These are incidents which often escalate
to prevent the character from achieving a
goal.
- Often a particular opposing force may cause
another one
(causal).
• Result – The character either achieves or does not achieve
the goal.
• Lesson – It is the message or the significance of the narrative.
Structure
Topic Sentence
Topic Sentence
• A topic sentence should have a topic and
a controlling idea (view about the
topic/subject).
• It should be interesting.
• It usually expresses the short time frame
of the narrative and a particular setting.
• It expresses an emotion which in turn
creates a similar kind of emotional
response among the readers.
• It should neither be too specific nor too
general.
Topic Sentence Questions
1. One day, I visited a voodoo shop in Brazil. A. Identify the topic.
B. Identify the controlling idea.
C. Is the topic sentence interesting?
D. Is the topic sentence neither too
specific nor too general?
E. Does it give you a hint regarding the
setting and short time frame of the
2. I felt something different when I visited a shop. narrative?
F. What hint does it give you regarding
the emotional response this narrative
may trigger?
3. My heart never raced as fast as it did when I
was cornered in a voodoo shop in Brazil.
Body of a Narrative
My heart never raced as fast as it did when I was cornered in a voodoo shop in Brazil.
Three of my school friends decided to wander around downtown Sao Paulo to kill time and
‘be cool.’ We chose to window shop on an unfamiliar side street. The third shop window we
passed startled us; it was a voodoo or macumba shop. All the foreign objects that cluttered
the dusty shelves and hung from the ceiling intrigued me. One of my friends noticed my interest
and dared me to go inside. I stood up to the challenge, but my heart pounded and my stomach
churned. A little bell rang when I opened the big wooden door and walked into the musty
smelling store. I wandered to the back of the store and looked up. Right in front of my eyes, no
more than twelve inches away, hung several shrunken heads. My head spun, my knees shook
uncontrollably, and I thought I was going to throw up right there on the dusty corner and in
front of any spirit lingering around the shop. Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me. An eerie,
chilling feeling crept up my spine and swept over me. Somehow I knew more than one person
was behind me and that they were not my friends. The two shop owners moved uncomfortably
close to me. One gently touched the top of my head and ran his hand down my long, blonde hair.
He said I was a goddess. They stepped closer and closer and finally asked what I wanted to buy
from the store. My heart pounded even faster. I almost started to cry. I attempted a phony smile.
I didn’t know what to do. One of my friends knocked on the window, and I used that as an
excuse to flee. I knew from that moment that curiosity and dares are not strong enough
reasons to wander into places where I do not belong.
(ENG 102 coursebook, p. 64)
Body of a Narrative
Unity – Every detail in the body of the
paragraph should develop the
controlling idea in the topic sentence.
(ENG 102 coursebook, p. 69-70)
Body of a Narrative
Adequate Development -
Underdeveloped paragraph often
restricts the reader from
understanding the significance of
the narrative.
Overdeveloped paragraph often
weakens the emotional response
and interest that the writer is
trying to instill in the reader.
(ENG 102 coursebook, p. 69-70)
Body of a Narrative
Coherence – Writer usually adheres to chronological sequence and
use of transitions (time)
Common Transitions in Narratives
after afterwards at last
at the same time as soon as
in the meantime finally during first
second third
(ENG 102 coursebook, p. 69-70)
Body of a Narrative
Descriptive language
Sensory details
Adjectives
Adverbs
Figurative language (simile, metaphor, personification)
(ENG 102 coursebook, p. 69-70)
Key Elements of a Narrative
• Point of View
- It can be written in first person point of view (I, we) or third
person point of view (he/she/it/we/they) or both.
• Tense
- It can be written in past tense or present tense.
- Writer must adhere to tense consistency unless context
requires one to switch from one tense to another.
(ENG 102 coursebook, p. 69-70)
Concluding Sentence
(lesson learned)
I knew from that moment that curiosity and dares are not strong enough
reasons to wander into places where I do not belong.
or
Frantic fear overtook my nerves on the day I visited the voodoo shop.
(restatement of topic sentence)
Concluding Sentence
• It echoes the topic sentence.
• It expresses the same emotion, topic
and sense of significance that is
stated in the controlling idea and
expressed through out the paragraph.
• It may express a lesson learned from
the narrative (optional).
(ENG 103 coursebook, p. 87 and ENG 102
coursebook, p. 73)