W3
NARRATIVE
Personal and story writing
NARRATIVE WRITING
A narrative is a STORY.
Narrative ~ A fictional
story you can make up all
of the events.
Personal Narrative~ A
TRUE story about an
event that happened in
your life.
ELAGSE7W3: WRITE NARRATIVES TO DEVELOP REAL OR
IMAGINED EXPERIENCES OR EVENTS USING EFFECTIVE
TECHNIQUE, RELEVANT DESCRIPTIVE DETAILS, AND WELL-
STRUCTURED EVENT SEQUENCES.
a. Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view
and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence
that unfolds naturally and logically.
b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to
develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
c. Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence
and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another.
d. Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory
language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.
e. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated
experiences or events.
HOW DO I USE NARRATIVE
TECHNIQUES, DESCRIPTIVE DETAILS,
AND WELL-STRUCTURED EVENT
SEQUENCES TO WRITE NARRATIVES?
A. ENGAGE AND ORIENT THE
READER BY ESTABLISHING A
CONTEXT AND POINT OF VIEW AND
INTRODUCING A NARRATOR AND/OR
CHARACTERS; ORGANIZE AN EVENT
SEQUENCE THAT UNFOLDS
NATURALLY AND LOGICALLY.
ORDER
Beginning:
Introduce characters and setting
(time and place)
Middle:
Events happen/conflicts (Rising
Action)
Use descriptive details
Keep the events progressing forward
End:
Result (Falling Action)
POINTS TO CONSIDER:
Will you use chronological order?
Will you use cause and effect?
POINT OF VIEW
First Person: Character is the narrator. Use “I”
and “we”
Second Person: When the narrator puts the
reader in place of the main character. Uses “you”
Third Person Limited: Only see the perspective
of one character.
Third Person Omniscient: The narrator knows
the thoughts of all characters. You see the story
from many perspectives.
B. USE NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES,
SUCH AS DIALOGUE, PACING, AND
DESCRIPTION, TO DEVELOP
EXPERIENCES, EVENTS, AND/OR
CHARACTERS.
DIALOGUE
Indent for each new speaker.
Use quotation marks.
Use commas inside the quotation
marks, then who said the words.
“Wow,” Jim said as he walked
down the eerie hallway to his
destination. “I can’t believe it!”
“Hey, wait up!” Joe yelled, as he
saw his friends shadow disappear
around the corner. Blah, blah, blah,
blah Blah, blah Blah, blah Blah,
Blah,blah Blah, blah Blah, blah Blah,
blah Blah, blah Blah.
“Relax bro,” Jim retorted.
BACK AND FORTH
CONVERSATION
“Look at that,” Jim said.
“I know,” whispered Joe.
“How do you know?”
“I just do.”
“Yeah, right.”
(You can stop using their names
each time when they talk back
and forth right away).
CONTINUED TALKING
No capital letter if you continue
after you write: I said or Joe
said
“Sir,” I said to the officer, “the
kid just broke his arm.”
NARRATIVE VOCABULARY
When you are telling your story,
you may want to use techniques
such as:
• Flashback: Go back in time to
explain an event or feeling
• Foreshadowing: Hints to
future events
C. USE A VARIETY OF TRANSITION
WORDS, PHRASES, AND CLAUSES TO
CONVEY SEQUENCE AND SIGNAL
SHIFTS FROM ONE TIME FRAME OR
SETTING TO ANOTHER.
USE TRANSITIONS:
Transitions:
show how ideas, sentences, and
paragraphs are connected.
communicate the organization of
your writing
are stepping stones that help the
reader get from one idea to the
next.
COMMON TRANSITIONS
Transitions run the to more complex
gamut from the most signals that ideas are
simple — the little somehow connected —
conjunctions: the conjunctive
o and, adverbs and
o but, transitional
expressions such as
o nor,
o however,
o yet,
o moreover,
o or,
o nevertheless,
o (and sometimes) so —
o on the other hand .
D. USE PRECISE WORDS AND
PHRASES, RELEVANT DESCRIPTIVE
DETAILS, AND SENSORY LANGUAGE
TO CAPTURE THE ACTION AND
CONVEY EXPERIENCES AND
EVENTS.
DESCRIPTIVE DETAILS
INCLUDE:
• Adjectives: Describe nouns
• Adverbs: Tell when, where, or
how something is done or to what
degree
• Sensory language: Appeals to
the senses: What do you see,
hear, feel, taste, smell?
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
• Idiom: Piece of cake
• Personification: The wind was
screaming…
• Simile: She was like a tiger on the
court.
• Metaphor: She was a tiger…
• Hyperbole: I am so hungry I could
eat a horse.
• Alliteration: Billy Bob bought a
bright blue BMW.
FIND EXAMPLES OF
DESCRIPTIVE DETAILS AND
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE IN
THE STORY “THREE
SKELETON KEY.”
Discuss what these details add to the
story.
LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING FROM A
SURVIVAL STORY:
Which example is more appealing?
Rescuers say the group survived even though it
was cold outside.
Rescuers say that a series of good choices enabled
the group to survive without frostbite or injuries,
despite temperatures which dropped to 21
degrees below zero.
What descriptive details do you
notice? What do the descriptive
details add?
E. PROVIDE A CONCLUSION
THAT FOLLOWS FROM AND
REFLECTS ON THE NARRATED
EXPERIENCES OR EVENTS.
NARRATIVE WRITING
Tella fictional story.
Write the events in order.
Remember your plot diagrams.
You can do flashbacks.
Paragraphs can be any size.
INDENT!
Use proper grammar, spelling and
capitalization.
SURVIVAL NARRATIVE DICE STORY/IDEAS
LOST CHARACTER YOU HAVE NO____
In a forest Doctor Water
At sea Kid Food
In a mall Police Officer Boat
In a desert Teacher Way to make a fire
In Alaska U.S. Marine Flares
FREE CHOICE FREE CHOICE FREE CHOICE
SURVIVAL IN THE WILDERNESS NARRATIVE
RUBRIC
RUBRIC
Use all three sentence structures: Bold an example of
each.
Simple
Compound
Complex
Adjectives Underline all the adjectives.
Sensory Language – Touch, hear, see, taste, smell.
Cause & Effect event
Figurative Language: Highlight two on your final copy.
Fill in pre-write story MAP
Conversations
