Intro to Narrative Writing

today want to introduce you to the basics of narrative writing narrative writing is writing that tells story it can be real or imagined that is non-fiction or fiction it has beginning middle and end that is it includes the basic elements of plot exposition rising action conflict climax falling action and resolution and it's full of interesting details the author's purpose in writing narrative is to entertain the reader there are three main types of narrative writing the first is personal narrative when writer shares true story from his or her own life we could also say this type of narrative is autobiographical the second type of narrative is biographical when writer shares true story from another person's life the third type of narrative is fictional when writer tells an invented story short stories and novels are fictional narratives while we could add to this list there are five important parts of narrative that especially want you to remember as you write your own narrative these parts of narrative include setting characters plot point of view and dialogue the first part of narrative is setting where and when the narrative takes place the setting affects both the plot and characters in your narrative so it's important to spend some time brainstorming where when and in what conditions your story takes place the second part of narrative is the characters the people animals or creatures involved in story remember that your story must have protagonist the character facing the problem and an antagonist the character or force causing the problem take some time while planning your narrative to focus on your characters beyond the characters names and roles they play in the story think about whether you'd like them to be flat with very few character traits or round with many character traits also think about which characters in your story will remain static or unchanged and which characters will be dynamic undergoing an important change in your narrative the third part of narrative is plot the sequence of events in narrative take some time to think carefully through your story's plot how will it begin and how will it end what conflicts will your characters encounter what is the climax or turning point of your story how will the problems be solved creating storyboard or labeling plot diagram are both good tools for planning your story's plot the fourth part of narrative is point of view which is the perspective from which narrative is told you can choose to write your narrative in first person writing personal narrative from your own point of view or you can choose character in fictional narrative to tell your story another option is to write your narrative in third person point of view telling the story from the perspective of an unseen narrator narrator that is not character in the story finally the fifth part of narrative is dialogue the words the characters speak in your story dialect dialogue can establish the setting show characterization foreshadow events or advance the action in narrative dialogue brings your narrative to life it's important to review how to punctuate dialogue following grammatical rules for using quotation marks commas and other end marks such as periods and question marks as you begin writing your narrative i'll help you break down each step of the process but hopefully this introduction gives you basic understanding of what narrative writing is and hopefully it sparks some ideas for you to begin planning your own narrative