Writing a Narrative Annotated Example

Before you write a narrative, it is important to start with a plan. Below you will find an
example of one writer’s narrative plan, followed by their story.

Story idea A brother and sister are bored with staying indoors and decide to
create an adventureland in their backyard.

Characters Tom (brother) and Jamie (sister).

Setting Family home in the suburbs. 3-bedroom house. Medium-sized

backyard.

Time period School holidays.

Time frame Two hours.

Exposition The pair are using separate devices to entertain themselves while
their parents are at work. They are not interacting with each other.

Complication The internet connection drops out.

Rising Action • Frustration, boredom, fidgeting.

• The siblings ideate on how to pass the time.
• They recall the imaginary games they’d play in the backyard as
small children.
• The pair go out to the backyard and find objects they used to
play with as kids.

Climax Tom and Jamie play ‘Cowboys and Aliens’, throwing projectiles at
each other and splashing water while laughing and running around.

Falling Action Tom and Jamie smile at each other and reflect that this was a fun
way to spend a day.

Resolution They agree that they should spend more time together.

Denouement It is important to maintain relationships outside of the digital world.

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Story
‘Halcyon Holidays’

Exposition

Tom and Jamie were bored. The second week of the school holidays always felt the
longest, especially because they’d already exhausted all their pocket money in the
first week. They were lucky to have wonderful amenities such as a cinema, public
pool and games parlour in their town but the prospect of spending time with friends
outside of the dull classroom always meant the pocket money they’d saved didn’t
last very long. Now here they were, stuck at home with nothing to do but play video
games and scroll mindlessly through the short videos bombarding their social media
feed.

Or so they thought.

Despite a slew of video games stacked upon the shelves and various technologies
surrounding them in their comfortable home, the brother and sister found
themselves in an unplanned staring competition - but not with each other.

Complication

Both Tom and Jamie stared at their respective devices, frustration taking hold. On
Tom’s computer screen was the ‘spinning wheel of doom’. His game wasn’t loading.
“Why does everything need an internet connection these days?” he complained
aloud.

Jamie’s tablet was no better. Her social media pages weren’t loading and as she
ran her finger down the screen to refresh, the same content she had already seen
sarcastically flickered back at her. There would be no bite-sized videos today.

Loud sighs and hushed cursing could be heard from the pair as they each flopped
back onto the lounge, feeling totally defeated. This was the worst day ever.

Complication

Jamie mindlessly tapped on her tablet, head cocked back on the sofa and legs lazily
sprawled out across the floor. Tom groaned as he slowly began to sit up, appearing
as stiff and lifeless as the robots he was battling only moments ago.

“I can’t be dealing with this,” he said.

“Uh huh,” agreed Jamie, apathetically. She let out a sigh as she lifted her head and
looked at her brother, a smirk upon her face. “Wanna play a board game?”

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A sharp breath of air escaped Tom as he laughed at the thought. “Yeah, right! We all
know how competitive you get! Why don’t we go outside for a while. Get some fresh
air.” He’d always loved soaking up the sun but rarely did so these days.

So Tom and Jamie sauntered lethargically over to the back sliding door. The sun was
out in abundance today and the late-morning light gave the backyard a gorgeous
glow, despite the garden looking a little overgrown and neglected.

“Hey, remember when we were little and mum would dress us up in our superhero
costumes?” Jamie recalled.
“Better yet, remember this?” Tom lifted something large and dull out of the bushes
under his bedroom window. It was a brown and faded plastic baseball bat.

“Yes! ‘Cowboys and Aliens’!” Jamie exclaimed with a glint of excitement in her eye.
“I loved beating you up with that old plastic thing!” She took the faux baseball bat
from her brother and gently hit it in the palm of her hand. “It felt a lot bigger when
we were kids.”

Tom smiled as he strolled along the back fence of the yard. The plants were thriving
but it was obvious no-one really tended to them any more. As he leaned down to
pull back the overgrown succulents, his eyes lit up. “Hey Jamie! Check this out!”

Jamie walked over inquisitively and laughed out loud. “The spurs! Now this is a
throwback.” She squatted down to grab the old toy cowboy spurs which were
embedded into the garden, tugging on a piece of grass runner as she did. She
flopped back onto the grass and wriggled her foot around as she tried to clip the old
spurs onto her ankle. “Got it!” She cried with joy as she jumped up energetically and
grabbed the faded old bat that Tom had left lying on the ground by the bushes. “Put
‘em up, buster!”

Climax

Jamie ran at Tom, giggling madly as Tom dived out of the way with surprise. “You’re
insane!” Tom shouted with delight, laughing as he now lay lying on the grass, knees
bent and ready to spring into action.

“Remember how you’d be the alien and do that high-pitched scream when I
attacked? That was the funniest thing ever!” Tom knew exactly what Jamie was
hinting at and he couldn’t help but deliver. Tom slowly rose, eyes squinting, mouth
open and teeth exposed. His fingers became claws and his back arched in such a
way that it made his chin gut upwards. His curly brown hair started flopping around
as he swung his head back and forth, releasing the sound of the klaxon from his
chest.

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“EEEEEEEEEE!”

Jamie erupted into laughter and ran purposefully to the tap by the back door.
Without missing a beat, she turned the tap on full blast with her right hand and
grabbed the hose nozzle with her left. There was no time to lose. She had to blast
the alien with water before it was too late!

Seeing through squinted eyes what Jamie was about to do, Tom leapt forward to
stop Jamie from attacking him - but it was in vain. The cowboy had soaked the alien
top to toe, leaving him weak and powerless. Tom played along until he was nothing
but a soggy wet mess on the now-muddy lawn. Jamie turned off the tap and looked
down upon her brother, hands on hips and a look of achievement upon her face.

Resolution

“Definitely better than being on my phone,” she gloated, holding her hand out to
help Tom up.

Tom, dripping water from every inch of his body, ran his hand through his hair,
flicking some water on Jamie in the process. “Wouldn’t be surprised if I caught a
cold after that! But gotta say, it was pretty fun. Good game, Sis.” Before Jamie could
react, he put his wet arm around her neck and pulled her in to give her head an
affectionate noogie, just like when they were kids. “We should do this more often.”

“Let’s make a pact. We spend more time outdoors together doing stuff like this and
less time on our phones. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Denouement

From that day on, Tom and Jamie stuck to their agreement and enjoyed many
outdoor adventures together with friends and family - though not all of them
involved aliens!

- The End -

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