Narrative writing, part 1 – structure

What is a narrative?

A narrative is “a story that is told or written” (learnersdictionary.com). In level 3, you will write a story using pictures to guide you. This blog post is about how to improve your narrative writing.

Structure

All stories follow a similar pattern. They have a beginning, middle and end. Most stories begin by introducing the people and the context (place and time). Look at the first picture, and answer the questions:

Who is in the picture?
Where are they?
When is the story happening
What is happening?

Use your answers to these questions to write the beginning of your story. For example:

Picture 1: “Last night, John stayed awake until 1:35am watching television at home.”

Who: John
Where: At home
When: Last night (1:35am)
What: watching TV

To write the middle of your story, look at pictures 2-5 and use the questions to write a description for each picture.

You do not need to answer every question for every picture. For example, if the time does not change, you don’t need to repeat it.

Pictures 2-3: “In the morning, he woke up at 9am. He was very worried because his class started at 9:15am. He quickly got dressed, and then ran to school as fast as he could – he was late!”

Pictures 4-5: “When John arrived at school, he hurried to the classroom. Strangely, there were no other students. The classroom was empty. Then, he saw a sign on the notice board: ‘No school today. Teachers’ meeting.’ John felt relieved – there was no class today, after all!”

To write the end of your story, look at the final picture. Again, answer the questions (who/where/when/what) to finish your story. Write a concluding sentence to tell the reader how your story ends.

Picture 6: “Finally, John felt relaxed. He planned to spend the day with his friends. He called Stephen and Sophie, and they met at a café to drink coffee. They stayed all day, talking and having fun.”

Story

Last night, John stayed awake until 1:35am watching television at home. In the morning, he woke up at 9am. He was very worried because his class started at 9:15am. He quickly got dressed, and then ran to school as fast as he could – he was going to be late!

When John arrived at school, he hurried to the classroom. Strangely, there were no other students. The classroom was empty. Then, he saw a sign on the notice board: ‘No school today. Teachers’ meeting.’ John felt relieved – there was no class today, after all!

Finally, John felt relaxed. He planned to spend the day with his friends. He called Stephen and Sophie, and they met at a café to drink coffee. They stayed all day, talking and having fun.”

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16 March 2019

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Narrative writing, part 1 – structure