NARRATION-

RELATING
EVENTS
CHAPTER # 8
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESSFUL WRITING

PROF: REVAZ TABATADZE PH.D. (C)

 Narration
Narration is one of the writing strategies.
Narration means the art of storytelling, and the purpose of narrative
writing is to tell stories. Any time you tell a story to a friend or family
member about an event or incident in your day, you engage in a form of
narration.

In addition, a narrative can be factual or fictional. A factual story is one that

is based on, and tries to be faithful to, actual events as they unfolded in real
life. A fictional story is a made-up, or imagined, story; the writer of a
fictional story can create characters and events as he or she sees fit.
The big distinction between factual and fictional narratives is based on a
writer’s purpose. The writers of factual stories try to recount events as
they actually happened, but writers of fictional stories can depart from
real people and events because the writers’ intents are not to retell a real-
life event. Biographies and memoirs are examples of factual stories,
whereas novels and short stories are examples of fictional stories.
The Structure of a Narrative
Essay
Major narrative events are most often conveyed
in chronological order, the order in which events
unfold from first to last.
 Certain transitional words and phrases aid in keeping the reader oriented in the
sequencing of a story.

after/afterward as soon as at last before

currently during eventually meanwhile
next now since soon
finally later still then
until when/whenever while first, second, third
Three key elements of any narrative are
action, conflict, and point of view.
Action
Action is the mode [that] fiction writers use to show what is happening
at any given moment in the story," states Evan Marshall.
John Le Carre is the master of action writing. Let's see
how Le Carre handles the final action scene in "The Spy
Who Came in From the Cold":

Leamus was blinded, he turned his head away, wrenching wildly at

Liz's arm. Now she was swinging free; he thought she had slipped and
he called frantically, still drawing her upwards. He could see nothing --
only a mad confusion of color dancing in his eyes. Then came the
hysterical wail of sirens, orders frantically shouted. Half kneeling
astride the wall he grasped both her arms in his, and began dragging
her to him inch by inch, himself on the verge of falling.
Jack London, The Sea Wolf (p. 79)
Three yards away from Johnson he was, and sitting down. Nine feet!
And yet he left the chair in full leap, without first gaining a standing
position. He left the chair, just as he sat in it, squarely, springing from
the sitting position like a wild animal, a tiger, and like a tiger covered
the intervening space. It was an avalanche of fury that Johnson strove
vainly to fend off.
Conflict
Quite simply, conflict keeps your story interesting. Conflict is
opposition – either internal or external (more on that below). Conflict is
what comes from the challenges your protagonist must solve or resolve
on the way to achieving his/her/their goal.

It offers a teasing carrot of uncertainty about whether your protagonist

will achieve that goal, keeping your readers engaged and turning pages
to discover whether (or not) the conflict is resolved.
The types of conflict
1. Person vs. Fate/God
2. Person vs. Self
3. Person vs. Person
4. Person vs. Society/Institution
5. Person vs. Nature
6. Person vs. Technology
7. Person vs. Science
8. Man vs. Woman/Woman vs. Man
Point of View
Point of view refers to who is telling or narrating a story. A story
can be told from the first person, second person or third
person point of view (POV). Writers use POV to express the
personal emotions of either themselves or their characters.
1. First Person - In this point of view, a character (typically
the protagonist, but not always) is telling the story. You'll notice a
lot of "I" and "me" or "we" in first person narrations.
2. Second Person - In this point of view, the author uses a narrator to
speak to the reader. You'll notice a lot of "you," "your," and "yours"
in second person narration.
3. Third Person - In this point of view, an external narrator is telling the
story. You'll notice a lot of "he," "she," "it," or "they" in this form of
narration.
First Person
“Where I want to start telling is the day I left Pencey
Prep. Pencey Prep is this school that's in Agerstown,
Pennsylvania. You probably heard of it. You've
probably seen the ads, anyway. They advertise in
about a thousand magazines, always showing some
hotshot guy on a horse jumping over a fence.”
Second Person
“You have friends who actually care about you and speak the
language of the inner self. You have avoided them of late.
Your soul is as disheveled as your apartment, and until you
can clean it up a little you don't want to invite anyone inside.”
Third Person
“He shoved at his hair, wished he could delude himself so he
could just go back to sleep, but he knew if he closed his eyes
again, he'd be right back in the little library, right back beside
the body of his murdered wife. And yet he couldn't think of a
single good reason to get out of bed.”
The following are the other basic components
of a narrative:
• Plot. The events as they unfold in sequence.
• Characters. The people who inhabit the story and move it forward.
Typically, there are minor characters and main characters. The minor
characters generally play supporting roles to the main character, or
the protagonist.
• Theme. The ultimate message the narrative is trying to express; it can
be either explicit or implicit.
Prewriting the Narrative – Finding your topic
• What experience in my life or that of someone I know interests me?
• Is there an event in my community or history that I would like to
relate?
• Who was involved and what parts did they play?
• What main point would you want to make about this event in one or
two sentences?
When you have pinpointed a topic, use further brainstorming
to generate supporting material. Here are some suggestions:
Planning and Drafting the
Narrative
Following are
suggestions
for organizing
your
narrative: