Narrative Writing: How to Get Full Marks
It is important that you write in the correct format and use the conventions of this form,
as to get the highest mark you will need to adapt your tone, style and register for
different forms, purposes and audiences.
This means:
• The tone (the sound of the narrator’s “voice”) is appropriate and convincing
• The register (your vocabulary and phrasing) is suitable for the purpose
• The style of the writing (the sentence structure and the overall structure of your
writing) is dynamic and engaging
When planning your response, it is a good idea to keep the tone, style and register in
mind, as well as the conventions of the form. As with any extended piece of writing,
planning is vital. You should spend 10 minutes mind-mapping your ideas before you
start writing. Here, we will consider how you can produce an effective piece of narrative
writing.
How to structure your narrative writing
Narrative story writing develops an idea to a conclusion. The way to achieve this in an
exam is by planning an ending with a resolution (you should plan whether your story will
end happily or not). In the exam, it is best not to plan a complex story which takes place
over a long period of time, employs multiple characters or that has more than one
setting or plot twist.
In order to adhere to the conventions of story writing, it is best to:
• Plan your writing in an order which takes your character (and reader) on a clear
journey:
o The best way to do this is to plan one main event
o Ensure your plot is simple enough to be coherent and cohesive
• Consider employing structural techniques, such as a flashback:
o This can give background information to the reader and provide context
o Ensure you use past-tense verbs for this
• Develop your characters:
o Consider essential narrative character archetypes, such as “villain”,
“victim”, “hero”, etc.
o Decide on how your characters fit these descriptions
• When describing people, focus on relevant details only:
o For example, black and grey or green and blue
o You could focus on their body language or movements
o If using dialogue, the verbs you use to describe how your characters
speak can reveal more about them than what they say, e.g. “shrieked”,
“mumbled”, “whispered”
Stage Description of narrative structure
Stick to one main setting and start at the location:
• Do not include a lengthy 'journey' before the main action of your story
starts
Hook your reader:
• Give them clues as to what will happen later, but do not give everything
away all at once
Step Exposition (setting the Decide which narrative perspective and tense you are going to write your story
1 scene) in:
• First person 'I' and the past tense are easier to control
• Stick to no more than two characters and introduce them
Employ the five senses to create an atmosphere:
• The scene's mood should reflect your main character's mood
This paragraph could end with an 'inciting incident', which prompts the rising
action and moves the story forward
This paragraph should build tension, drama or interest:
• It should directly lead to the turning point of the story (the 'climax')
Step
Rising action This paragraph should also develop your character(s):
2
• You could use dialogue, monologue, direct or indirect characterisation to
create well-rounded, 3D characters
This is the turning point of your story:
• It is the moment everything changes and your character(s) cannot go back
Step Your protagonist could face an external problem, or an internal choice or dilemma:
Climax
3
• Their choice is made in this paragraph
You should vary your sentence structure, length and language here for dramatic
effect
What happens in this paragraph should be as a direct result of the climax
Step paragraph:
Falling action
4
• It shows the consequences
• It should also focus on your characters' thoughts and feelings as a result of
the climax of the story
• This further develops a sense of characterisation
You can choose to resolve your story, or end on a cliff-hanger:
• However, a cliff-hanger is not a sudden ending; it is a suspenseful ending
• It is also important to avoid cliches, such as 'I woke up and it was all a
dream.'
Step Resolution or
5 denouement Your setting and atmosphere could reflect a change from the setting or atmosphere
you established in your opening paragraph:
• Or it could refer back to imagery you used in your opening paragraph to
create a cyclical structure
o It is effective to repeat ideas related to colour
o You can repeat ideas for emphasis:
Narrative writing responses should be structured into five or six paragraphs. You should
plan your response carefully as you have limited time to create a cohesive plot. Writing
a response which has not been planned is likely to have an abrupt ending, or no ending
at all, which will not get you high marks.
There are lots of different narrative structures or arcs that you could use to plan your
story. Bearing in mind you only have 15 minutes to plan, your story needs to be
controlled and concise. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is to consider a five-part
narrative structure, such as Freytag’s Pyramid:
Remember, each paragraph does not have to be the same length. In fact, better
answers vary the lengths of their paragraphs for effect. What is important is to develop
separate ideas or points in each paragraph, and to avoid repeating the same
descriptions throughout your response.
Narrative writing techniques
Once you have planned out the structure of your narrative, it’s a good idea to consider
how to incorporate methods and techniques into your response. Below we have
included some guides to help you when thinking about setting, characterisation and
other linguistic techniques to make your narrative as engrossing as possible.
Setting
As this task assesses the ability to communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, it
is important to consider how to use language constructively in a short story to convey an
atmosphere or mood. Building an effective setting is key as it contributes to atmosphere
and mood.
• Your setting should reflect your main character’s mood:
o You may know this as pathetic fallacy, which reflects the character’s
mood in the environment, e.g., “the lonely road”
• As your setting reflects your character’s mood, your setting may change as the
story progresses:
o Contrasting scenes is an effective way to convey ideas and to engage
your reader:
▪ For example, your story may have started on a sunny afternoon,
but may end as the sun sets or as a storm approaches
o Whatever way you decide to contrast the scenes, ensure it reflects your
character’s mood
• The best answers build a clear setting before introducing other information, such
as introducing character:
o Describing setting is best done with sensory language as we experience
places with all of our five senses
o This means you could describe the dark, light, colours, sounds, smells and
weather
o The best way to clearly create setting is to allow an entire paragraph to
describe the scene without confusing readers with other information like
who is there
o Ensure all of your descriptive language builds the same mood and avoid
mixing ideas. For example: “The graveyard was dark, cold and smelled
like fragrant flowers” is confusing for your reader
• However, do not give too much away all at once!
o Keep your reader guessing and asking questions, such as “What is going
on?”, “Why is this like this?” and “Who is this?”
o Think of establishing a setting a bit like the game “Taboo”, in which you
have to describe something without stating explicitly what it is
Characterisation
This question asks you to create a short story and therefore you will need to build some
elements of detailed characterisation. This means you need to consider what your
character(s) represent. They may represent an idea, such as hope or strength or
abandonment, or you could include a villain to represent injustice or evil. It is best to
limit yourself to two characters in the time you have.
Well-rounded characters are taken on a journey: a character should undergo some form
of development or change. The mark scheme rewards answers which clearly and
effectively convey ideas, meaning that you need to consider the most effective ways of
building a character in a short piece of writing. Ideally, you should focus more on
indirect characterisation than direct characterisation:
irect characterisation Indirect characterisation
• The writer describes the character through • The writer hints to the reader what the
narration character is like
• The writer describes the character’s physical • An impression is formed of the character
appearance, personality and the things that through their speech, thoughts and
motivate them feelings, interactions with other
• It is useful for giving broad details in a sentence characters and what other characters say
or two, but if used too much direct or think about them
characterisation will result in superficial • It is useful for developing more complex,
characters that a reader is not able to relate to or well-rounded characters that engage the
engage with reader
• This is “telling” • This is “showing”
Here, we will consider how to plan your character(s) effectively to engage your reader.
This is what the examiner is looking for in your answer:
Characterisation
Your character’s appearance may not always be relevant:
• It is worth considering if it is necessary to describe the colour
of your characters’ hair, for example
• Usually appearance is important if your character represents
something, for example, a king, a soldier or someone in trouble
Appearance (direct • Facial expressions or descriptions can convey character
characterisation) effectively. For example, “her tear-stained face” or “he
frowned”
• If you choose to write in first-person, remember that it is rare
that we describe our own appearance
• Third-person perspective can describe appearance more
effectively
One of the most effective ways to describe a character is through their
movements:
• This is the way we judge people most accurately
• Consider how you can describe your characters’ emotions or
Movements and body language
circumstances using movements, e.g., “His head dropped”
(indirect characterisation)
• Verbs and adverbs can be used to effectively
build characterisation
• If you are including dialogue, think about alternative verbs to
“said”, such as “whispered” or “bellowed”
If you use the first-person perspective, a monologue helps readers
engage with the character:
• This creates a personal tone and engagement with the character
• You can create a character’s “voice” using punctuation, such as
Monologue (indirect
short sentences or questions:
characterisation)
o A short sentence indicates your character may be
nervous, for example
• Using emotive language will help your reader understand your
character better
Dialogue can convey the relationships between your characters and
provide insights into what other characters think about each other:
• It is best to limit dialogue in your story, especially if you are
Dialogue (direct and indirect not absolutely certain how to punctuate it correctly
characterisation) • Use speech marks and punctuation accurately
• Carefully consider how the dialogue conveys an idea:
o Do not include dialogue which does not progress the
characterisation or plot
Linguistic devices
When considering your choice of language and the techniques you wish to employ, you
must always remember that you are making deliberate choices for effect. It is important
to consider the connotations of words and phrases, and how these may add depth to
your writing. For example, do your word choices evoke certain emotions or feelings in
the reader, or do they reveal aspects of a character’s personality, background or
emotions? You should employ the principle of “show, not tell” in order to bring your
writing to life in the reader’s mind.
Below you will find a brief explanation of some of the key techniques you could employ
in your narrative (or descriptive) writing:
Device or
Explanation Example
technique
Throughout life, I have learnt
Repeating a word, phrase, image or idea. This is much
never to give up: never give up on
Repetition more effective if you think of repetition as a motif that
my dreams; never give up on my
you use throughout your piece of writing
hopes and never give up on myself.
Remember, the words starting with the same consonant
The swirling mist silently settled
Alliteration sound do not have to be consecutive. Consider the effect
on the sleeping town.
you are trying to achieve through the use of alliteration
She was the chief lioness among
Metaphors can be as simple as figures of speech, but are
us, fierce, determined and strong.
Metaphor especially effective where they are extended and
It was she who brought us all
developed
together.
The weary old tree, its gnarled
A great way to create atmosphere at the start of your
branches outstretched like
Personification writing is by personifying the setting to your story or
weathered arms, whispered
description
ancient wisdom to the breeze.
The representation of sound on paper should be more
The crackling fire whispered its
sophisticated than comic-book terms such as “boom”. It
secrets along with the gentle pop
Onomatopoeia is also not helpful to put onomatopoeic words all in
and sizzle of the logs as they
capital letters. Consider sound as a way of evoking the
surrendered to the flames.
senses in order to create atmosphere
Her smile was as radiant as the
A simple comparison using “like” or “as” should be used
Simile early morning sun on a summer’s
sparingly, as this creates more impact
day.
The sun-kissed waves crashed
Engages the reader’s senses by using vivid and detailed against the golden shore, their
Imagery
language to create an image in the reader’s mind frothy white caps glistening in the
morning light.
Thе еlеgant ballroom was adornеd
Places two contrasting ideas, images or concepts side by with еxquisitе chandеliеrs and finе
Juxtaposition side to highlight their differences or to create a striking artwork, whilе thе servants'
effect quartеrs bеlow hеld nothing but
barе walls.
The devastating aftermath left a
Emotive Words or phrases that are intentionally used to evoke a
trail of destruction, sorrow and
language strong emotional response in the reader
misery.
Verbs are doing, action or being words. Power verbs are
the deliberate, interesting choice of verb to help the The man stooped, bumbling slowly
Power verbs
reader picture what you are writing. They can be towards the entrance.
especially useful for characterisation
The ability to evoke a specific mood or feeling that The lonely road beckoned him
Pathetic fallacy
reflects a character’s internal or emotional state onwards with no end in sight.