NARRATION HOW TO EFFECTIVELY WRITE A STORY

STORY STARTERS (SYNTAX) Most important part of a story is the first few sentences. The beginning of a story sets the mood and tone, grabs the reader’s interest and establishes a base for what follows. 1.Typical Beginning – Blah, Blah, Blah. 2.Action – A character is doing something 3.Dialogue – A character is speaking 4.Reaction – A character thinking or responding to something that occurred before the story begins. 5.Description – The setting or a character is described in detail

SAMPLES “I’m a sweating fat kid standing on the edge of the subway platform staring at the tracks.” – KL Going “Simon Glass was easy to hate. I never knew exactly why, there was too much to pick from. I guess, really, we each hated him for a different reason, but we didn’t realize it until the day we killed him.” – Gail Giles “A white petal ruffled in the breeze, then tore free from the wilting carnation on the student’s grave then tumbled away.” – Elaine Alphin “When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy.” – Kaye Gibbons

DESCRIPTION (DICTION) One way to keep readers involved in the story you’re writing is to choose the most precise and perfect words to create images in the readers mind. In other words, show, don’t tell. Use: Figurative Language Sensory Details (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) Metaphor/Simile Adjectives (words that describe nouns) Adverbs (words that describe verbs) Be Specific (Instead of “the tree” describe what kind of tree? what color? what shape? what size? What lives in the tree? what does it look like? what does it smell like?)

ACTION (DICTION) Another way to keep readers involved in the story you’re writing is to use an active voice rather than a passive one. In other words, make sure your verbs show action. Passive Voice He ate mashed potatoes for dinner. She was sitting on the couch. I am speeding down the freeway. Active Voice He stuffed his face with mashed potatoes. She stretched out and sunk into the couch. I stomped on the gas and flew down the road in a blur.

DIALOGUE One last way to keep readers involved in the story you’re writing is to use dialogue, Not only does is make the reading speed up but it also makes it more entertaining. So, make your characters talk. New paragraph each time someone new speaks Punctuation inside quotation marks Quotation marks around the words spoken, “do you hear, the words, that are coming out of my mouth?” Capitalize the first word in the quotation marks Commas separate the speaker’s words from the rest of the words in the sentence Said is dead, in another word instead.

SAID IS DEAD, USE US INSTEAD Don’t get stuck using the word “SAID” over and over in your story. Refer to following word list to find a word that says it better. bellowed complained denied griped hollered muttered protested reported shouted admitted argued confessed echoed grumbled howled recited requested yelled agreed asserted claimed corrected gasped insisted mumbled pleaded roared begged commented explained groaned inquired murmured proclaimed repeated screamed

WHO’S YOUR DADDY? If every sentence you write sounds the same and doesn’t reveal anything new, if you use the same tired, and boring words, readers will quickly lose interest. Instead, use… D – DESCRIPTION A – ACTION D – DIALOGUE

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS Using description, action, or dialogue rewrite the following scenes. Your scene must establish a character, setting, and problem like the original but that’s all they have to have in common.

PRACTICE #1

PRACTICE #2

PRACTICE #3