Narratives

Components and narrative tenses

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 What is a narrative?

Narrative is a literary technique that describes a story or event in

sequential order, with the intention of creating a coherent story. The
events of narrative are presented as if they are a story being told by an
observer or participant.
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 The plot is thought of as the sequence
of events in your narrative.
The plot includes background

PLOT information, conflict, the climax of the

story, and lastly, the conclusion.
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 ● Exposition: The exposition introduces what the story is about, including the
characters and setting.
● Rising action: The rising action includes events that build up to the climax,
which is the turning point of the story.
● Climax: Climax can include some dramatic action, such as when the hero
and the villain finally face off, or it can be an epiphany.
● Falling action: Falling action is what happens as a result of the climax,
leading to the resolution.

Writers can also experiment with structure, using flashbacks and flash forwards
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to change the order of the plot.

 This element of the narrative is
incredibly important.

SETTING Setting establishes the time, place, and

environment in which the main
characters or narrator operates.
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 Who are your characters? How do they behave

and interact with the narrative as a whole? How

are the protagonists and antagonists the same?

How are they different?

Characters Characters create your story. Think of the

character's identities, behaviors, circumstances,

and motivations.
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 Who is telling your story and why?

Establishing a point of view in your story or poem

is essential. This allows readers to understand

Point of the motivations behind why the story is being told.

view
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 ● First person: One of the characters in the story serves as its narrator, using the pronouns
"I," "my" and "me." Often used in personal essays, first person lets authors relate significant
experiences in their lives, such as childhood memories or the loss of a loved one. In fiction,
first person gives readers access to only one character's side of the story. The narrator may
be the story's protagonist or a secondary character telling someone else’s story.

● Second person: The second person point of view, using the pronoun "you," is rarely used in
fiction, it can have the unique effect of casting the reader as the main character in the story,
letting him experience its events.
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 ● Third person Omniscient: The third person point of view, which uses the pronouns
"he," "she" and "they," creates greater distance between the reader and narrator, but allows you
to explore more characters' experiences. The third person omniscient narrator has access to
all characters' thoughts, including the ability to reveal key details about them that a
first-person narrator wouldn't have access to.

● Third person limited: The third person limited point of view focuses on only one
character -- usually the protagonist -- throughout the course of the story, revealing to the
reader only what that character sees. The narrator has access to the character's present
thoughts, emotions and behavior, but lacks the all-knowing quality of the omniscient voice.
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 What lessons are your characters going to

learn? At the end of the story or poem, what

is the main takeaway?

Theme
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 It is a universal statement, moral lesson, message or idea that
addresses the experience of being human. Themes are developed
throughout a text and are expressed through different perspectives. A
literary theme involves humans in relationship to society, nature and
themselves as individuals. A piece of literature, no matter how short,
often contains more than one theme.

For example: friendship, good vs evil, loneliness, struggle and

accomplishment, entering adulthood, war, redemption and free will.
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 Narrative techniques are the methods and

devices writers use to tell stories, whether in

Literary works of literature, film, theater or even oral

techniques stories.
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 ● Similes and Metaphors: They allow writers to describe the essence of a character or
action both economically and profoundly. Similes and metaphors, however, have a more
subtle impact than simply enhancing the description in a piece of writing. They also reveal
aspects of the character who makes the comparison.

● Images: Images are powerful tools for accomplishing this task, and so imagery is a

fundamental tool that writers use. Vividly describing how characters and places look helps
the reader to visualize your story, and have an experience that is more immersed in the
scenes and world of the narrative.

● Dialogues: While dialogue isn't necessary in a story, it rounds out the basic narrative
techniques that all writers use, and is the only one that allows the reader to experience
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multiple characters' words without the filter of the narrator.

 ● Short sentences: To describe characters thoughts and feelings.

● Direct questions: Questions can be included in dialogues to show what the character is

thinking.

● Verbs + ing: Phrases with verb+ing can be used to describe actions and events. For

example: I put my hands on my knees, breathing slowly to calm down.

● Tone:Tone is an author's attitude towards his subject and audience. The types of tone in a
narrative essay are divided by emotional intensity: some types are negatively passionate,
some are positively emotionally charged and some are detached.
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 Narrative Tenses

We use narrative tenses to tell stories about what happened in the past. The most
important ones are: past simple, past continuous, past perfect, past perfect
continuous.

Past simple: We use it for completed past actions or states which happened at a
specific time in the past.

We spotted them on the mountain, so we rescued them and took them to the hospital.
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 Narrative Tenses

Past continuous: We use it for activities (not states) in progress at the time of
the main events in the story. They often describe background information.

When we spotted them, they were standing next to the stones. They were
waving their arms.
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 Narrative Tenses

Past perfect/Past perfect continuous: we use them for events and activities
that happened before the main event in the story. Also to give reasons or
explanations. It often occurs before “because”.

- We spotted them because they had built the word “HELP” out of stones.
- We finally spotted them after they had been searching for over a week.
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 Past perfect or Past perfect continuous?

Past Perfect:

● To focus on the results of an earlier completed action.

We spotted them (result) because they had built a big sign (earlier action).

● To talk about “time up to then” with a state verb (know, have, be)

When we found them, they had been on the mountain for a week.
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 Past perfect or Past perfect continuous?

Past Perfect Continuous:

● Before a result in the past to show the effect of an earlier activity.

They were tired (result) because they had been building a big sign (earlier
action).

● To emphasise the duration of time with an action verb (eg, search,wait, drive)

We found them after we had been searching for a week.

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 Narrative Tenses
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 Let’s practise!

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