Narration Hannah Pezzi Nicole Tierney Kelsey King Eilisha Manandhar Definition • Purpose: To tell a story often using a sequence of events in chronological order to do so – Author tries to establish a particular mood or impression Characteristics: Of essay • Sequence of events • Tells a story • Recount events or create mood/impression • Provide structure for an entire essay • Structure based on sequence of events or steps in an specific, logical order Narrative Essay: Story Form • Plot Structure: – – – – introduction (base) rising action (staggered) climax (top of the mountain) falling action (down the other side) – resolution (base) – Often contain an underlining theme or moral to what is being told Narrative Essay: Story Form • Also should contain along with the plot progression – Setting – Theme or lesson to the story – Characters Tips • Use detail! This helps create picture. • Use exact time, date, geographic location if possible • Eliminate repetitive sentences by using different sentence structures or consolidating those ideas in fewer sentences • Typically written in 1st or third person – 1st I – 3rdHe, she, it Tips Continued (POV)… • Choose a Point of View (POV) – Methods used to convey the plot (view of the narrator) • First Person: see the story from the character’s view including their unspoken thoughts protagonist • Second Person: refers to the main character as “you” – Reader is involved • Third Person: Narrator is directly uninvolved – “silent observer” • Multiple Person – Jumps between characters involved Tips Continued… • Show DON’T tell – Use detail to create what is occurring rather than just stating it • Pick a tone: how you want the piece to feel and the emotion it implies – Sets up a feeling – Consider the message you want to get across Tips on Characters and Setting • Quotes: how a character talks can imply a lot about them – Where they are from – Give the readers insight into their thoughts • Use details to clarify the people and places in the story – Relatable and interesting for the reader – Make the characters seem real with your details • The detail and character descriptions, in most cases, should not be all positive or all negative realistic Grammatical Tips: verbs and transitions Use correct verb tenses and clear transitions – Verb tense: tenses indicate temporal (time) relationship – Keep consistent • Transitions: connect words that help link ideas – Without: narrative lack coherence – Indicate order of events and signal shifts in time Ideas for Gaining Interest • Narrative Story – Start with a flashback or flash forward – Surprising event • Process Essay – Give background information on the topic – How it started, Why its important, Who the process at hand might influence especially if the topic is directed at a certain audience – Short anecdote Examples • • • • • • Biographies Histories Personal letters Diaries Conversation Process Essay: Progression of events • Cause and effect • Also in: poetry (ballads), fairy tales, folk lore Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police • Summary • AP Eng-Narritive Summary.doc Analysis • Purpose: This teaches a lesson of doing the right thing and acting instantly to one’s surroundings or else the consequences are fatal. • Example of process essay: – Outlines the murder in a series of steps – “She turned off the lights, locked the door, started to walk 100 feet…” • Plenty of detail – Uses exact time: “3:20 a.m.” – “…parked her red Fiat in a lot adjacent to Kew Gardens Long Island…” (121) – “At night…neighborhood shrouded in the slumbering darkness…” (121) • Uses flashback strategy, starts off with the event in past tense and explains the murder in chronological order – Grabs attention Sample Essay Topics 1. Describe a life experience that has shaped you into a person you are today. 2. Describe how Perry’s childhood influenced his decision surrounding the Clutters, in In Cold Blood. Sample Essay Topics 3. Write a story in third person point of view about a historical event following the format of a narrative essay. 4. Analyze how multiple perspectives in a narrative piece may influence the scope the reader receives on what is occurring as well as how the event is perceived. Citations • Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Patterns for College Writing. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007. Print. • Narrative Essay. Easy Info. Web. 29 Oct. 2009. <http://essayinfo.com/essays/narrative_essay.php>. • Narrative Essay. Write Express. Web. 29 Oct. 2009. <http://www.writeexpress.com/narrative-essay.html>. • Narrative Writing. The Writing Site. Web. 29 Oct. 2009. <http://www.thewritingsite.org/resources/genre/n arrative.asp>.