Narrative Choices
Aim:
 Know how writers can choose a particular
viewpoint and voice for effect
 Understand how to sequence text for
effect
Practice sensory description to appeal to
the audience
Task:
1.
Imagine you are taking this photograph. Where
are you? What can you see from this vantage
point?
Compose three sentences- using THIRD PERSON
2.
Imagine you are the man in the picture, about to
take a photograph. Describe what you can see
from your vantage point.
Compose three sentences- using FIRST PERSON
SensoryTask:
1.
You have been asked to recreate this picture with
description. Think of at least two other senses you
would appeal to.
2. You have just been momentarily blinded
(something to do with the hamburglar, I guess)
Describe the scene using just those two other
senses.
Compose three sentences- using FIRST PERSON
Examples:
Standing in the doorway, hands in pockets, he looked
surprisingly relaxed. The storm raged around him but he
hardly seemed to notice. A warm orange light spilled from
one of the windows.
I watched the helicopter whirl away, buffeted by the storm.
My ears rushed with the roar of water. I felt alone and afraid:
how would I survive?
What are the differences between the two
different viewpoints?
Do their ‘voices’ sound the same or different?
Which viewpoint is most effective for telling
this story?
Narrative Viewpoint and Voice
When we read, we “see” images in our mind and
“hear” a voice in our heads.
 Writers can choose whose “eyes” we see
through and whose “voice” we hear telling the
story.

So, writers can choose….
 First
person narrative or third person narrative
 Past
tense or present tense
 Writers
can tell a story In the order in which
events happen, through flashback to events that
happened earlier, from one viewpoint or more
than one

Read the extracts (Private Peaceful and The Other Side of
Truth)
Resource 1
The Other Side of
Truth
Is it written in
first or third
person? Effect?
Past or present
tense? Effect?
Whose eyes do
we ‘see’ through?
What does their
‘voice’ sound
like?
Private Peaceful
Plenary
 Re-write
a section from either extract.
Change:
 First person into third person (or vice versa)
 Write from another viewpoint – Charlie
perhaps or Mr Munnings
How has it changed the tone of the writing?
Lesson 2- Multiple Narratives
Learning Objective:
- Learn how using different narrative viewpoints
can have different effects
Starter:
What does the term DUAL NARRITIVE mean?
Discuss in pairs.
Dual narrative: More than
one person is telling the
story. The different narrators
might see the same event in
different ways
Drama
- Get into groups of three
- Each take a role
- First form a freeze frame that conveys what is
happening in the image
- Then, one at a time, come out of your freeze frame
and tell the audience your point of view
 You are the
person in the picture. Tell us the story of
how you came to be here.
 You work as an inspector for the RSPCA. Tell us what
you found when you arrived at the scene and what
you decided to do- how do you feel about the
owner?
 You are the dog. Tell us about your life with your
owner.
Sorting task:
Sort
the cut up extract into
the order you think is
correct…
Resource 2
NOW…
Read the Jaws extract:
- Was it similar or different to your version?
- Discuss in pairs HOW tension is built up
through the narrative structure (voice, dual
narrative etc)
Resource 3
Task 2:
Choose another viewpoint e.g. the boy’s mother or father
sunbathing on the beach or a Life guard witnessing the
event.
Write a short paragraph that can be fitted into the story to
include their viewpoint.
Use the third person e.g.
The boy’s mother…..she….
The lifeguard….he….
Write in the past tense e.g.
She glanced out to sea. Was that really him, so far from the
shore?
Decide where in the story your viewpoint would go? Could
you include a flashback?
Match these terms:
Narrative voice -
story told using ‘he’, ‘she’- not directly involved
First person -
moves back in time to tell about something that
happened before
Third person-
story told using “I”- directly involved
Flashbacks
‘eyes’ and ‘voice’ through which the story is told.
-
Narrative viewpoint- more than one person telling the story
Dual narrative-
how the speaker of the story sounds