Date: Narrative Writing

LO: To understand the features of narrative writing.

Objectives:
To differentiate between narrative and descriptive writing.
To explain the features of the narrative writing.
to begin applying the features of a good opening.

STARTER:
If Descriptive writing is describing a scene, a moment
in detail, what do you think narrative writing is?

Extension: what would be the features of narrative

writing?
Main

What are the features

of narrative writing?
• Characters
• Setting
• Storyline
• Exposition / conflict / climax / resolution
• Voice
• Tense – PAST TENSE
• Structure (STORY PYRAMID)
• Interesting openings and endings
• Dialogue
• Descriptions
Main
A good narrative needs to have a good hook
Talk to the
reader –
It was 7 minutes after
use first midnight.
Make your person Shock
reader narrative your Once, there were four children
laugh reader whose names were Peter, Susan,
Edmund and Lucy.
Start in Good Create a
‘Yes,’ said Tom bluntly, on opening
the middle
of Beginning tense
atmospher
the front door. ‘What d’you want?’
something e
s
Create a Not for the first time, an
Use direct
speech
very clear
picture
argument had broken out over
Start with
something breakfast at number four,
odd
Privet Drive.
Pupil
Practice
Pair work
Look at the openings:
1. Which is descriptive? Which is
narrative? How do you know?
2. What do they do well in terms of
engaging the reader from the first
paragraph? Make a list.
3. Which opening is effective? Why?

Extension: What do you think the task

titles were? Why?
 Plenary

select one of the

openings and re-write
them using a different
narrative hook to make
it more effective.
 Openings and Endings
Date:

LO: To understand how to create effective openings and endings.

Objectives:
To identify good openings and endings.
To explain what makes a good opening and ending.
To begin applying the features of successful openings and endings.

STARTER
Consider the beginning and ending of a book/movie.
Make a list of what you liked about the beginning and ending.
Why do you think it was good?
 Main
Effective openings Effective endings
- Mystery
- Set the scene - imagery
- Circular structure
- In the middle of action - Shocking or unexpected twist
- Dialogue - Clear resolution
- Short sentence • Apparent resolution but with
a new problem
- Anaphora
• Emotional ending
- Rhetorical question • Surprise ending
- Slow reveal • Cliff-hanger
- Flashback • Humorous
- Mystery • Question
- Suspense/tension
Do not end with: and then she woke up and it had all been a dream…

You want your reader to feel satisfied, not disappointed.

Pupil Practice
What do these
What do these endings do well?
openings do well?

Read the examples and answer the following questions:

1. How does the writer make this a good opening/ending?
2. What techniques can you identify that makes this a good
opening/ending?
3. Which do you prefer? Why?
Plenary
Think of a book/movie that had a bad ending.

Consider how you could change it to make it better,

using one or more of the techniques from the
checklist.
Starter 1:
What is dialogue?
How do you accurately include it?
Is it necessary for narrative writing?
Starter 2:

Set out the following dialogue correctly:

I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! Accused Aliya. They had been friends since
infancy and yet Asser had chosen to hide the truth. How could you? I’m sorry
Aliya, it wasn’t my choice. His face was ashen with regret and remorse. He had
never wanted to hide anything from her: she was his best – and only - friend
after all. But some truths were just not yours to tell and some truths could
open a chasm in which your world could come crashing down in. Aliya please,
just let me explain… but she shook her head and walked away; her tears
getting lost in the rain. Aliya! He ran after her in vain Aliya, wait. Listen.
Answer:

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” Accused Aliya. They had been friends since infancy
and yet Asser had chosen to hide the truth. “How could you?”

“I’m sorry Aliya, it wasn’t my choice.” His face was ashen with regret and remorse. He had
never wanted to hide anything from her: she was his best – and only - friend after all. But
some truths were just not yours to tell and some truths could open a chasm in which your
world could come crashing down in. “Aliya please, just let me explain…”

But she shook her head and walked away; her tears getting lost in the rain.

“Aliya!” he ran after her in vain, “Aliya, wait. Listen.”

Objective:
To understand how to use dialogue
effectively in our narratives.

Outcomes:
To understand when to use dialogue.
To be able to set dialogue out correctly.
To use dialogue effectively.
Main The purpose of dialogue is to:
1. Reveal characters’ relationships to one
another.
2. Reveal emotions.
3. Move the story forward.
4. Increase the tension.

Don’t put it in unless it is doing one of these

things.
Top tips:
 Don’t use unnecessary words - avoid boring small talk
and irrelevant conversations
 Add mystery through dialogue – don’t make it simple.
 Interruptions to make it dramatic
 Keep it short
 How to set out dialogue
Golden Rules of Dialogue
1) All dialogue must be contained within quotation marks.
2) Before the end of the quotation marks, you must punctuate ( , ! ? . )
3) New speaker, new line
4) Identify who is talking
5) Use commas to divide speech and speech marks:
“Come here,” John said.
John said, “Come here.”
Try and be expressive when including
dialogue – how is something said?
• “I’d love to come,” said the young
woman.
• “I’d love to come,” muttered the young
woman as she lowered her eyes.
Pupil Practice

A few of them swooped so slow I could feel their harsh feathers scratch my skin. “That’s definitely going to leave a
mark.” I muttered, rubbing my pink skin.

Task – make this descriptive example into a narrative by including dialogue

 Plenary Top tips:
 Don’t use unnecessary words - avoid boring small talk and
irrelevant conversations
 Add mystery through dialogue – don’t make it simple.
Look at the following examples and consider which of the top tips  Interruptions to make it dramatic
it is following:  Keep it short

1. “Who can –” the teacher began when she was rudely interrupted by a round-faced boy at the back of the
classroom.
“Miss can I go to the toilet?” he asked unabashedly.
This being the third interruption of the lesson, had the new teacher quietly perturbed.

2. “Did you never hear about the stories of Aubery Hall?” Anne asked, Phillip in a hushed voice.
“No. Why? What’s there to know?” he asked, puzzled by the fear that was etched into her face.
She shook her head vehemently, “No. No. I’m sorry. I can’t. Sorry.” she almost whisper-shouted as she fled
back down the street they had come from away from the corner that rounded to Aubrey Hall.

3. The morning went by unremarkably, very much in the way all her mornings went: yoga, coffee, newspaper,
before she logged into her work email and set to work. It wasn’t until the phone rang at 1:30 pm that her day
took an unexpected turn. She assumed it was one of her vendors getting back to her about the arrangements
she had requested for the event, but when she heard her mother’s voice on the other end, her blood ran cold.
She exchanged the necessary politeness with her, but all the while her mind was churning: her mother hadn’t’
called her in over a year, what could she want? Not being able to take the irrelevant nothings they were
talking about anymore, she blurted out: “Is there something you needed mother?”
Planning a Story
L.O. to learn how to create a quick and effective plan for your story.

Outcomes:
To understand the importance of planning.
To create an effective plan.

Starter:

Consider:
Why is it important to plan?
What should go into a plan?
How can you make your plan effective?
Main
Main
Steps

Step 1: brainstorm ideas

Step 2: Select one idea and organise
ideas into clear plan. Think about the
chronology.
Step 3: write up your answer, stop
and check after each paragraph.
Step 4: Proof read and Edit. Check
you are meeting the success criteria.
Main
Things to consider:
• Organisation & structure
• Appropriate timeline
• Using paragraphs to move the narrative forward
• Vocabulary
• Engaging opening
• Show don’t tell –
• Movement towards a planned ending imagery/senses
• Strong and effective ending • Variety of sentence
• Tense types: vary the length
• Mood/tone and the way they begin
• Perspective
• Setting
Main
This will help to keep you focused and
give your writing a clear direction. Step 1:
Brainstorming
• What is your main idea? What is the ending?
• Try and think of your last line first.
• What is your genre? What are the features of
that genre?
• How will you get to the ending?
• How will you make your opening engaging?
• Beginning/middle/end
• Who is involved? Don’t include too many
characters.
• Do you have a narrator? How will you make this
interesting? Narrator as an inanimate object?
• What is the main event? Where will this occur?
• Decide what will go in each paragraph. You
should aim for 2 sides of A4.
Main
Step 2 -
Chronology:
• Beginning
• Exposition – set the scene and introduce the
main characters and ideas. How will you
make this interesting and engaging,
• Middle
• Conflict – what is the main conflict? How Thinking questions:
will you move towards this?
• Climax - what is your climax? How will you
 How is the beginning linked to the
get there? What happens? How will you
ensure it is obvious that this is the main ending?
event?  How will you use the different
features?
• End
 How will you make it interesting?
• Resolution – how do you want to end your
narrative? How will you draw the narrative  How does the narrative progress?
to a conclusion?  How is it going to end?
What is the conflict/climax? How will
you get there quickly?
 Choose a planning style that suits you. Where the tension or action reaches its highest
part. The story begins to fall from here.

Use the story triangle, a table or notes. CLIMAX

BEGINNING MIDDLE END

A series of events that build towards A series of events that come after the
the climax climax. It leads to the resolution.

RISING ACTION FALLING ACTION

EXPOSITION RESOLUTION
This gives background information on the characters and the setting.
This is the end of the story where you learn
It sometimes has information on events that have happened before
what happens to the characters.
the start of the story.

Main
Main
Success criteria for narrative writing
• Past tense • Use a range of different sentence
types and sentence openings
• 3rd / 1st person narration. • Sophisticated vocabulary
• Connectives and linking phrases
• Decide on your ending before you begin – what are you • Correct punctuation used for
working towards? effect
• Spelling
• Include description and the senses. • Different paragraph lengths for
effect
• Don’t over-use dialogue/Write dialogue out correctly
• Vocabulary - Don’t overuse ‘he said/she said’ or ‘then’
• Link ideas – connectives and discourse marker
• Interesting detail
• Engaging structure – avoid long and boring sections/ Pace
• Correct punctuation used for effect
• Do not make the narrative too complex – rule of 1
Pupil
Example Question
Practice

Write a story that includes the line ‘I had never

felt so confused’.

This is quite an open task – you could

write about anything!
Brain storm some ideas and then select 1
to begin planning.
Step 1: brainstorm ideas
Step 2: Select one idea and organise
ideas into clear plan. Think about the
chronology.
Step 3: write up your answer, stop
and check after each paragraph.
Step 4: Proof read and Edit. Check
you are meeting the success criteria.
Plenary Now you have a clear
plan, tell a friend! Give
each other some advice.

• What is your main idea?

• How will it end?
Make any changes • What is the tone? Genre?
based on the • Characters?
feedback you • What are the events? Not too many
received. and not too complicated.
• What is the conflict?
• What is the climax?
• What is the resolution?
• Is the opening engaging?
• Is the ending engaging?
Starter Quiz:

What is the difference between descriptive and

narrative?
What tense should we write a descriptive/narrative in?
What is the rule of 1?

Writing our Narrative

L.O. to employ the features of narrative in our writing.

Outcomes
To successfully plan our work.
To apply the features of narrative writing.
To proof read and edit our work.
Main

Quick grammar refresh

Commas, Colons, Semi-colons and Ellipsis

Commas
Commas are used to separate items in a list; they should be used between each item except for the last and second last.
Annie needs: chilies, tomatoes and lemon.

Commas are also used to separate the main clause from the subordinate clause in a complex sentence.
If the subordinate clause is at the start of a sentence or in the middle of it then you need commas, if it is at the end then
your DO NOT need commas.
Start of the sentence: While eating his lunch, he saw the teacher fall.
Middle of the sentence: He, during lunch, saw the teacher fall.
End of sentence: He saw the teacher fall while eating his lunch.

Comma splicing is when two sentences are joined together using a comma instead of a
conjunction or full stop.
Main

Colons:
Are generally used to introduce a list or an explanation of some sort.
They should come after an independent clause, which is followed by a word, list or explanation of the
independent clause.
Adam loves sports: running, jumping, flying, you name it.

Tip: it is often used to replace the conjunction ‘because’

I am sweating: it is 48 degrees in the shade.

Semi colons:
Generally used in replacement of a connective and join 2 complete clauses – in essence the semi-colon
can be replaced with a full stop to make 2 sentences or a connective to make a compound sentence.
The lane was empty; it was almost too quiet.
It can also be used to separate detailed items in a list:
Annie needed: 3 green chilies; 1 red chili; 5 ripe tomatoes; and a bag of lemon.
Main

Ellipsis
The ‘dot dot dot’ are used either to:
• Show that words have been removed in a quote:
“A white light shone….void.”
• To create a pause for dramatic effect:
There was something there…small and trembling.
• To leave something unsaid because the reader will know it already or because
the person has trailed off:
“Tea or…”
Pupil
Correct the following with to right use of Commas, Colons, Semi-Colons and
Practice
Ellipsis:

1. I had no idea how to proceed, I was the new kid on the block.

2. You will need these items a pen pencil notepad, and screwdrivers.

3. The poem touches upon our common experience… ‘Life and love are hard, take
care the way you play each card.’

4. When the police searched the body they found an amazing selection of
curiosities two lizards, a red jelly, a jar of marmite and some chewing gum.

5. With sweaty palms: I reached out for the knob and threw the door open to
reveal a lost puppy.
Pupil
Correct the following with to right use of Commas, Colons, Semi-Colons and
Practice
Ellipsis:

1. I had no idea how to proceed; I was the new kid on the block.
: , ,
2. You will need these items a pen pencil notepad and screwdrivers.
:
3. The poem touches upon our common experience ‘Life and love are hard, take
care the way you play each card.’

,
4. When the police searched the body they found an amazing selection of

: ;
curiosities two lizards; a red jelly; a jar of marmite and some chewing gum.

,
5. With sweaty palms I reached out for the knob and threw the door open to

reveal …a lost puppy.

Pupil Practice

Why hadn’t listened the teacher? They were only three tables
away. Tell Melanie Hoste off for doing the questions from the Write a story that includes the line ‘I had never
wrong chapter. But which chapter were we supposed to be felt so confused’.
on? I looked around the class, everyone was furiously
scribbling away. If only one of them looked up, I could ask
them which page we were supposed to be on….. This is quite an open task – you could
Success criteria:
write about anything!
• Past tense Brain storm some ideas and then select 1
• 3rd / 1st person narration.
• Decide on your ending before you begin – what are you
to begin planning.
working towards? Step 1: brainstorm ideas
• Include description and the senses.
• Don’t over-use dialogue/Write dialogue out correctly Step 2: Select one idea and organise
• Vocabulary - Don’t overuse ‘he said/she said’ or ‘then’ ideas into clear plan. Think about the
• Link ideas – connectives and discourse marker chronology.
• Interesting detail Step 3: write up your answer, stop
• Engaging structure – avoid long and boring sections/ Pace
• Correct punctuation used for effect and check after each paragraph.
• Do not make the narrative too complex – rule of 1 Step 4: Proof read and Edit. Check
you are meeting the success criteria.
Plenary

Success criteria:
Self-Assess • Past tense
• 3rd / 1st person narration.
• Decide on your ending before you
• Map out the different sections of the story begin – what are you working
pyramid. towards?
• Include description and the senses.
• Label the paragraphs according to TiPD • Don’t over-use dialogue/Write
ToPS dialogue out correctly
• Vocabulary - Don’t overuse ‘he
• Underline good vocabulary words said/she said’ or ‘then’
• Highlight figurative language • Link ideas – connectives and discourse
marker
• Interesting detail
• Engaging structure – avoid long and
boring sections/ Pace
Give yourself and WWW and EBI using the • Correct punctuation used for effect
success criteria. • Do not make the narrative too
complex – rule of 1