Tell Me a Story Narrative Writing How To Write Personal Narratives

man, love going to the movies. Sitting here in the dark, you just feel like you're in the story, you know? get so wrapped up in the characters, the drama, the highs and lows. want to know what's going to happen, just as much as never want the story to end. And honestly, feel the same way about good book or even about newspaper article that has me wrapped up in the issues of today and the way those issues are affecting real people. guess you could say just love good story. But how do writers put stories together? How do they make decisions about their work so that I'm just so invested in it? And how can do the same? Who we're about to find out. It's time to learn about narrative writing. Today we will discuss what narrative writing is and different places narrative writing might show up. Then, we'll discuss different types of conflict that are at the center of any narrative piece. Finally, we'll talk about how plot is structured to introduce, explode, and resolve the conflict throughout narrative. Let's get into it. Narrative writing is any kind of writing that tells story. This could take the shape of work of fiction, like novel, short story, or screenplay, but narrative writing isn't only fiction. Narrative writing can also be used in legal writing, like an attorney's opening statements, where they tell story about what happened in particular case in way they hope is compelling to jury. Narrative writing can be used in newspaper reporting or research writing to illustrate, through storytelling, how issues are impacting the lives of real people. Or, you might come across personal narrative or write one of your own (hint, hint) that tells story about time in your own life. All of these are examples of how narrative is used in writing. You may be able to think of even more, but what makes narrative? How can you tell when writer is using narrative outside of piece of fiction? Narratives will revolve around one or more conflicts. You probably already know thing or two about conflicts, arguing with your siblings, debating yourself internally about the best choice to make in tricky situation, trying to walk to the mailbox in snowstorm. These are all types of conflict you may experience in your life. They are also the types of conflict that can generate stories that capture our minds and hearts. In simple terms, conflict is the problem character faces and the obstacles that get in the way of solving them. In life and in narratives, we can categorize conflicts into one or more of the following categories. As we go through what each type of conflict is about, jot down notes in your PDF. Feel free to pause the video if you need to. Person versus person describes conflict that is between two people, usually the protagonist or main character and one or more people. An argument, misunderstanding, miscommunication, fight, difference of opinions. These can all be person versus person conflicts. Person versus self conflict refers to conflict the protagonist has with themselves. Maybe they are trying to make tough decision or wrestle with an aspect of their identity or figure out how they really feel about something. Person versus society conflicts pit one person against what society believes, expects, or demands of them. Like maybe character's country is going to war for cause that character doesn't agree with and soon they'll be drafted to fight for cause they oppose. Or maybe the society believes that people should pattern their lives after the lives of their parents, but one character has different dreams for themselves. Person versus nature conflicts, as you might imagine, pit person versus, well, nature. Forest fire, avalanche, rogue shark, and shallow waters. These are all person versus nature conflicts. Finally, person versus technology conflicts are about issues between someone and some kind of technology. Maybe it's computer that's been programmed to help astronauts on their mission that turns on its human companions mid-flight. Maybe it's robotic dog that's been designed by the government to keep tabs on its citizens. Take moment and pause this video. See how many examples of each type of conflict you can list in your own life or in stories, books, movies, video games, or other narratives you know. Were there some types of conflict you felt more familiar with than others? Types of conflicts you find more interesting than others? Keep those in mind. It might come in handy as you prepare to write your own narratives in the next few lessons. So, we know that narratives revolve around at least one type of conflict, but what does this look like? How do writers build whole books or movies or personal essays around conflicts? You might have heard of what we call plot mountain. Plot mountain is magical peak that writers summit every year in search of the writing oracle, who will give them good ideas for novels and tell them whether their drafts are good or trash. Kidding! Plot mountain is visual way for us to understand how narrative is organized and how conflict becomes story. First, the exposition introduces the setting and characters of the story. This is also when conflict is introduced. Keep in mind that most narratives will have more than one kind of conflict. Even if there is only one or two conflicts that are central to the story, if you've taken English too, you may have learned about the start of story's conflict as the inciting event. Next, the rising action is how the conflict or conflicts intensify, probably getting more complicated and creating increasingly bigger problems for the protagonist. These conflicts all reach their highest intensities and then explode during what we call the climax. To give you just few examples of what this might look like, the climax of person versus person conflict might look like fistfight or dramatic door-slamming argument between two characters whose tension has been building since the beginning of the story. The climax of person versus nature conflict might look like the earthquake everyone had been planning for finally happening or the dinosaurs that one scientist had warned everyone about starting to attack their visitors to their dinosaur habitat. You get the idea. The climax of narrative acts as turning point in the story, altering the life of your characters with the outcome of the conflict. After the climax is when the action in the story starts to slow down. We call this the falling action. Finally, the story ends with some kind of resolution to the conflict. We call this, you guessed it, the resolution. Once this video is over, you'll have the chance to apply what you just learned about to reading of short story. think you'll like it! After you read, you'll fill in graphic organizer with the different plot elements: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution, and answer questions about the setting and characters. On day two of this lesson, you'll take closer look at personal narrative writing and learn why personal narrative is valuable genre to master. On day three, you'll brainstorm and outline your own personal narrative, and on days four and five, you'll write, edit, and revise it. We'll also provide some ways to share your work. The most exciting part? We can't wait to hear your stories. Write on!