No matter what year your child is in at school, it is likely that they will, at some point, have to write a short narrative. If your child is sitting a Scholarship or Selective test, then narrative writing is one of the main skills that they will be tested on. There are some people who think that the ability to write a good story is something that cannot be taught. I do not agree. I believe that, while the ability to come up with interesting and exciting ideas ay come naturally to some students more than others, the ability to express those ideas effectively in a narrative form requires students to master a specific set of skills and techniques. So, if you want your child to become a master storyteller, check out these 5 tips for writing great narratives.
1. Simplify Your Narrative
One of the biggest mistakes students make when writing narratives is being over ambitious. If you have an hour, or even half an hour to write a story, it is impossible to produce an epic novel. When students try to fit in too many characters, settings, plot twists and backstories, their narratives tend to come across as rushed, confusing or incomplete. As a rule, a short narrative should be limited to:
-2 to 4 main characters
-1 to 2 main scenes
-1 main ploblem that the characters need to overcome
-1 main climax, in which the main problem reaches a resolution
By simplifying their narratives, students can dedicate their time to producing one of two well-written scene, an exciting climax and some fully fleshed out characters, instead of rushing to catch up with all the loose ends in their overloaded plot.
2. Use Contrast
When writing, students should always ask themselves “what is the difference between these two characters?” When it comes down to it, if you are going to have two characters in a narrative that are exactly the same, what’s the point? Interesting stories use contrast to highlight what is different and unique about the characters. For example, look at the following list of contrasting character traits:
Shy Outgoing
Trustworthy Gossipy
Dramatic Casual
Easily-Angered Passive
Generous Greedy
Lazy Active
If you put characters with opposite personalities together in a scene, it is going to be much more interesting than if you put two characters who are exactly the same. Readers should be able to tell the difference between your characters based solely on how they act and what they say.
3. Use Dialogue
Most students know how to use dialogue, but a lot of students don’t understand how powerful it can be. Dialogue is more than just conversations; there are several things you can do with dialogue. You can let the reader know what has just happened, you can build suspense and you can show people’s relationships. Most importantly, dialogues can be used to show character.
Think about the following questions: “can I have a cup of coffee?” How would a nervous person ask this questions? How would a rude person ask this question? How would a greedy person ask this question? How would a calm person ask this question? Think about how your character is feeling, and what kind of person they are, and try to show this through their speech.
“Give me a cup of coffee!”
“Can – um – can I have a glass, I mean, a cup of coffee? Please?”
“Cup of coffee please. Two sugars.”
“I’ll have a small coffee please. Is sugar free? Good; give me five packets of sugar.”
4. Use Your Senses
When we enter an unfamiliar place, we don’t just experience it with our eyes: we smell it, we hear it, we feel it and we sometimes even taste it. When we’re reading stories, the more of our senses are activated, the stronger the impression we get. Think about these two paragraphs:
Jim walked into the carnival. There was a popcorn cart to his left. The Ferris wheel loomed over him.
Jim walked into the carnival and his ears were met with a wall of music and laughter. The air was cool. Jim smelled the aroma of melted butter and salt wafting from the popcorn cart to his left. He could taste the saltiness in the air. He heard screams above him and looked up to see the twinkling lights of a Ferris wheel.
And remember, the sensory imagery used should reflect the mood of the scene. A happy scene will have pleasant smells, tastes, textures, sights and sounds. A scary scene might have eerie sounds, disgusting smells, sour tastes, rough textures and terrifying sights!
5. Show, Don’t Tell
This is one of the most common pieces of advice given to narrative writers. Basically, it means that a good story teller doesn’t tell their readers what to think or feel; a good story teller makes their readers feel a certain way. For example, let’s say we wanted to write a story about a character who is mean…
Tell: Old Mr. Johnson was a mean man. He was unkind to his neighbours.
Show: Old Mr. Johnson glared unhappily at the neighbourhood children playing next door. When the children waved to him, he shook his cane and yelled “get out of my sight you rotten kids!”
Which description do you think is more effective? In the second one, you didn’t have to be told that Old Mr. Johnson was a mean man. The author showed you he was mean by the way he acted and the things that he said.
Being a good writer is not a skill that your child can develop overnight; it takes lots of practice. The good news is, students are often full of fantastic and interesting ideas. If they keep these 5 tips in mind, it is far more likely that they will be able to clearly and effectively express all the exciting ideas that they have in their heads.
