Professor: Luciana Jazmín Aga

Course: Lengua Inglesa III

NARRATIVE WRITING
class notes
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Introduction: Why Writing?

Let’s start this class by asking a very simple (simple?) question: Why do we write?
There are many theories around this. In case nobody has told you this before, we will start
this course by stating that writing is a human invention. Unlike language, which is an
inborn human ability (according to Generativism), writing is a human-made system, the
visual representation of a language. It is mind-blowing to think that people like us,
thousands of years ago, came up with such a revolutionary tool. Because writing, such as
language if you follow a Functional approach, is a tool, like many and any others.

If we trace back the invention of writing to the Ancient Egyptians (there are many
birthplaces for different writing systems, though), there was controversy among the
different gods (let’s believe they actually existed and had this argument) because they
believed writing implied laziness. People would not be doing so much effort to remember
or incorporate ideas if writing existed. Thus, writing implies the decay of brain and
memory use. It was not a tool but a weapon, some sort of ticking bomb.

Like it or not, writing proliferated and enabled human evolution. Humankind 1,

Egyptian gods 0. So, going back to the opening question: Why do we write? Let’s see if you
come up with an answer after this class.

Discourse genres

Genre Written by Joseph M. Moxley

Genres reflect shared textual expectations and values (e.g., respect for intellectual property) between
readers and writers. Genres reflect the histories, activities, and values of discourse communities
(aka communities of practitioners). Use genre knowledge to communicate clearly and persuasively.
Retrieved from https://writingcommons.org/section/genre/
 In other words, genre is the classification one text (or piece of discourse) will fall
into depending on the characteristics it has. Or is it the other way round? We may state
that because a text belongs to X genre, it follows certain conventions inherent to that
genre. Nevertheless, we know that genres and conventions go hand by hand. For instance,
we expect that a theater play has acts and dialogues, a research paper has an abstract, and
that a recipe is divided into steps.

There are different written discourses: explanatory or academic, descriptive,

opinion, and narrative. In this course we will focus on the last one.

If we take into account the notion of genre we may agree on some premises when it
comes to narrative writing:

● You are telling a story. In other words, a sequence of events that have chronological
order and logic.

● Stories have a conflict and a resolution and this needs to be clearly stated.

● Stories are worth telling: You are not going to tell an irrelevant story. There is a
purpose for telling it: to make people laugh, cry, or learn a lesson.

● Stories are meant to be told and enjoyed by an audience. Never forget that (in
narrative writing) you are writing for someone to read your production.

● Narratives are sequenced following two principles: time and logic. We must respect
both of them.

Language and grammar

In English, you may write a story using the present or the past tenses. Tense shift
(the chaotic use of tenses) is a very common mistake in L2 writers. Luckily, this is easy to
solve through practice. One good strategy is to highlight all the main verbs in your writing
and check whether they are conjugated in the present and or the past and why.

Usually, L2 writers of English are told to write in the past tense. The reason for this
is, in my opinion, that there are fewer tenses to worry about once you set your story in the
past tense. However, it is not wrong nor impossible to tell a story in the present tense.

Here’s a grammar box that will be helpful to structure and organize your writing
process:
 ● Use the past simple to tell the main events.
● Structure the events in chronological order. Give
yourself time and practice before playing with
If your timelines.
● Resort to the past perfect to tell whatever
story is happened before the main events. (Do not overuse
this structure. Most of the time, you can rearrange
written in sentences and imply the order of events without
using the perfective aspect.)
the past ● Use the past continuous to signal processes, long
periods of time, or interrupted actions.
● Bear in mind the tense shifts needed in reported
speech.
● Do not use the present tense (simple, continuous,
perfect, or perfect continuous.)

● Write the main events in the present simple.

If your ● If you need to refer to past events, use the past
simple (for finished and time-specific events) or
story is the present perfect (for unfinished, unspecified,
recent events, or those with visible consequences
written in in the present) if necessary.
● Use the present continuous to signal processes,
the present long periods of time, or interrupted actions.
● Bear in mind the tense shifts needed in reported
speech.
● There is no need to use past perfect if you are
writing in the present tense.

Playing with time

One of the many amazing aspects of narrative writing is that we can play with time
as we please and as we need. We can (and should) stretch and constrain time so that our
story is long enough to be told and understood. Playing with time is not easy and this skill
should be trained so don’t get frustrated if you feel lost at first. To practice how to properly
play with time I suggest that you take a simple story and explain it in just a few SIMPLE
(one conjugated verb) sentences (10, for instance).

After writing your version of the story, think:

● Which events did you leave aside?

● Up to which point could you reduce the story without changing the plot?
● What events were worth keeping and which ones worth deleting?
● Which descriptions and details did you keep? Why?
● Did you delete any character? Who? Why?
 Playing with time also implies understanding the order of priority of information.
This is key to making your story as clear and straightforward as possible. Spanish speakers
usually need to learn how to be more clear and simple, not the other way around. This has
to do with the nature of our mother tongue vs the English language. We tend to ramble
and beat around the bush and English does not allow that.

Narrative writing: Structure

I’m not a fan of structures but I know that the best way to start writing is through
them. Narrative essays follow a very simple and fixed pattern: introduction, body
paragraphs, and a conclusion. Analyze the following diagram to see how narrative essays
are written:

● Setting (time and place)

INTRODUCTION ● Characters (Those who are
necessary)
● Hint to the conflict. (Don’t spoil)

● Sequence of events
BODY PARAGRAPH 1 ● CONFLICT (Usually in BP2)
● Climax (Moment of maximum
BODY PARAGRAPH 2 tension)

● Resolution
CONCLUSION ● Moral, teaching, lesson, warning,
thought

The Writing Process: Steps

BRAINSTORMING

Many times, we experience a writer’s block not because we are bad at writing but
because we do not find an anecdote worth telling. Brainstorming is the pre-writing stage
where we decide what to write about. Having decided the anecdote (in the case of narrative
writing) that we want to share, we will get ready to write. Nope, do not start writing the
introduction. Contrary to what you may think, that comes later. Start by 1. jotting down
the main events in your anecdote and 2. googling specific vocabulary that you will need
to describe the setting and set the mood. Remember that the mood is the tone your
anecdote will have (sad, lively, scary, dark, mysterious, etc.)
 If you are in between anecdotes, bear in mind that if your anecdote has many events
(the sentences you jot down in 1.), there is less room for descriptions. And, obviously, if your
anecdote consists of just a short sequence of events, you will have to fill in the missing
space with descriptions on the setting, the characters, how you felt, etc. Neither option is
good or bad. If you feel more comfortable describing and using vocabulary, the second
option will not be trouble for you. On the contrary, if you struggle with vocabulary use and
descriptions, the first option may be a bit of a nightmare. An important aspect of writing is
to get to know yourselves as writers and what you feel comfortable with.

1. JOTTING DOWN IDEAS

When you are given a writing prompt, it is important to jot down everything that
comes to your mind. Even if you feel it is useless. You need to pour all the information out
of your mind to make room to organize your ideas. Think about your brain as a Lego case.
When you want to play with your Legos, you take all of them out of the box and spread
them on the floor to see what you have at hand and how to put it together. That’s how
brainstorming works. When you have chosen a situation to describe, proceed to fragment
it by making a simple list of the events the anecdote consists of. This would be like
choosing the Legos you are going to use to build a castle.

Note: There is nothing wrong with exaggerating or making up anecdotes. If you are telling a fake
story; however, make sure it does not sound far-fetched.

2. VOCABULARY SELECTION

Let's continue with the Lego analogy. Once you know that you want to build a castle
and you have chosen the Legos you need for this enterprise, you will decide on some details
about its design. For instance, what color the walls, doors, and windows will be. The choice
of color is the vocabulary selection. In the case of narrative writing, there are many ways to
access vocabulary. A long term strategy is to consume material in English (books, movies,
podcasts, etc) and pick up vocabulary from these different sources. A short term strategy is
to google vocabulary lists according to the category you need (for example: mystery). Both
strategies are useful and necessary. However, vocabulary learning is a long term process so
inserting new, fancy, pompous words in your essay at the last minute will probably hinder
your production rather than improving it.

Tips to widen your vocabulary:

 ● Be active consumers of language. Take a notebook or your phones when reading a
book or watching documentaries and pause whatever you are doing to write down
useful words. You will remember these words better.
● If you are making vocabulary lists, sort them using different categories. For
example: positive and negative.
● Word associations are also important. Words are better remembered when we
make explicit associations with important aspects of our lives. Nonsensical
associations are also useful. Our brain makes the most delirious connections
sometimes.
● Insert this language in your life. It is quite risky to use a word for the first time in an
exam. Insert new words in your life so when the time to use them comes you will
feel comfortable. You can practice when sending messages, texting friends, or
uploading content on social networks.

EDITING

Once you have your draft, it is time to edit. "To edit" means, according to The Oxford
Dictionary, "to prepare (written material) for publication by correcting, condensing, or
otherwise modifying it." So, when you edit, you will look for details to improve your
writing. This goes from sentence organization to grammar mistakes. In fact, editing of one
aspect may lead to changes in others. Think about tenses: If you alter the order of
sentences that state events you may need to resort to the perfective aspect.

Editing is an essential part of writing because it is what rounds up your productions.

Imagine making a cake but not baking it. Writing without editing works the same way.
Who would prefer an uncooked dough over a warm cake?

The more you write, the more you will get to know yourself as a writer. Thus, you will
recognize patterns in your writing, in the mistakes you make, and in the details you need
to work on. Use this to your benefit. If you know that, for instance, you tend to use tenses
chaotically, pay extra attention to the verbs in the editing process.

FEEDBACK

Anyone can give you feedback and peer correction is very useful. Of course, if you are in a
course where there is one teacher grading your productions, it is necessary to know what
that person expects from your writings. However, there are many aspects of academic
writing that are pretty basic and general. Most of the time, common sense and general
knowledge are our best allies to analyze writing.