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When you call a piece of writing a narrative, you’re really talking about any writing that is done in the narrative mode. The narrative mode is writing that is driven by a story. Thus, narrative writing is storytelling.
There are so many kinds of narrative writing that you may have seen or even written yourself; fictional narrative, of course, but then there’s also personal narrative, where authors write about themselves.
Some kinds of personal narrative include:
There are many reasons why authors may choose to write in the narrative mode. These narratives may be designed to entertain or to educate, to reflect on an experience, or to record that experience for posterity.
No matter what, a personal narrative will share the author’s sense of meaning or particular insight into a situation. This is powerful writing.
As you know, narratives can be stories that are either fictional or nonfictional. If a story is fictional, it will likely follow a structure that is prescribed by the kind of story it is, such as a fairy tale that begins with the line “once upon a time” and ends with “happily ever after.”
In contrast, a personal narrative may have a looser structure. Regardless, both kinds of narratives need to contain a logical internal structure, meaning a logical sequence of events depicted to tell a story that makes sense.
In a fictional narrative, you start by setting the stage. You introduce your readers to the characters, where the story is taking place, what the plot might be, what time period you’re in, and any other piece of context or important background that the readers will need to follow the story.
Then the story will move towards the rising action when events begin to unfold. There will be the climax where everything comes together and the action reaches a breaking point. This will be followed by the falling action when the story moves towards resolution.
Everything will end with a conclusion, where all the threads of the plot are untangled, and all the questions your readers might have had about the plot are resolved.
EXAMPLE
Think of the story of the three bears. You begin by learning where they live. Then you see conflict arise when Goldilocks arrives and eats their porridge. Then there is the climax when the bears return home to find Goldilocks sleeping in the baby bear's bed. Finally, there is resolution, as Goldilocks runs away from the house and escapes becoming a bowl of porridge herself.In nonfiction, similar structures are often deployed. You might see a story begin with a problem that the author describes having to solve, followed by an explanation of why this is significant.
Then there might be a movement towards solving this problem and finally a conclusion that resolves the issue and discusses the overall significance.
EXAMPLE
Think about the purportedly true story of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree. The story has a beginning when young George chops down his family’s cherry tree to prove how good he is with an ax. Then there is the conflict when his parents confront him about the tree. Finally, you see the conclusion and moral of the story, which tells you why this is significant. George admits the truth and accepts punishment because he refuses to tell a lie. This is meant to demonstrate the trustworthiness of America’s first president.Although fiction and nonfiction have their differences, there are some good rules to follow for writing both kinds of narrative:
The dialogue “I'm hungry, where’s my food” moves the plot forward but also adds in a more vivid description of the events. That dialogue helps explain why Goldilocks wakes up startled.
Here’s a nonfictional example.
The details at the beginning set the stage for something momentous to happen to this author, in addition to showing the speed with which this event moved.
Note as well that the dialogue here not only explains more of the plot, but also indicates the emotional significance of the story for these two characters. You might even assume that the purpose of this story is to explain that transformative moments can be bittersweet.
Finally, note that you probably want to read more to see what happens next between the speaker and the mother, which means that this is a good narrative.
In addition to thinking about narrative mode writing, you also want to think about the descriptive mode. Descriptive mode paragraphs provide details about specific persons, places, and things. This mode can be used in any type of writing.
EXAMPLE
You could use the descriptive mode to tell about a vacation you had. You could also use this mode in a piece of professional writing when describing the way a product works and who it might be marketed towards.Like the narrative mode, the descriptive mode has some rules that you should follow to ensure it is successful:
Here’s an example of a descriptive paragraph that isn’t really working yet.
That’s pretty dull and lifeless as it stands, but consider the revision below. This version is much more interesting, as there are many descriptive words and sensory details used. There is even dialogue. All of that makes this a much more enjoyable story in the descriptive mode.
Source: This work is adapted from Sophia author Martina Shabram.