Narration

1
Narration

• EH 1301
• Fall 2005

2
Narration

• Telling a story
• Fact
• Fiction
• Telling the story of our own experiences
• Things we do
• Things that happen to us
• Things that happen to people we know

3
Narration

• Keep the events/situation moving.
• Dont bog down with too much detail.
• Dont get off track
• Stick to one event
• Use transitional words, phrases, sentences to
  keep the story going.

4
Narration

• Make an appropriately detailed presentation.
• Give enough detail to know
• what is happening
• To whom it is happening
• Why it is happening
• Details must be adequate enough to clarify events
  and properly sequenced so that nothing is out of
  order.

5
Narration

• Narratives are arranged like a road map.
• Take readers from POINT A to POINT B to POINT C.
• Things arent always so straightforward in life.
• Characters, facts, places, conversations arent
  always so neatly pulled together.

6
Narration

• Keep the sequence of the narrative clear.
• Telling the story
• Chronological order
• Flashback/flashforward
• Description
• Spatial order

7
Narration

• Make an appropriately detailed presentation.
• Use specific, rather than general language.
• The flowers were lovely.
• The lilies in the vase by the window filled the
  room with a sense of the outdoors.
• The dog came with us.
• Steves chocolate lab, Gus, hopped into the cab
  of the pickup, ready to ride shotgun.

8
Narration

• Make an appropriately detailed presentation.
• Use concrete, rather than abstract language.
• It was cold outside.
• It was 15 degrees at noon.
• She was excited when she heard the news.
• She felt as if she had just won a million
  dollars.

9
Narration

• Give a clear indication of the events
  significance.
• Need to ensure that your readers know WHY youre
  telling them what youre telling them.
• Your job as writer is to pull together all of the
  elements so they bring the reader to the
  universal truth, the lesson learned or insight
  gained by your experience.