Narration is a technique which at its simplest means "telling back".
Though in its fullest educational
benefit there is more happening than simply comprehension.
Elements of Narration
In order for a narration to be interesting and meaningful, it must have the following
elements:
1. Emotion. Writing is really such hard work that people ought not to bother writing something with
which they are not emotionally involved. What emotions are apparent in each selection? How strongly is
the narrator involved? What indications are there in the models of strong emotional involvement?
2. Action. Something happens; that is tension increases and conflict intensifies as various events
occur. In simple stories, the action is very often physical--fights, calamities, contests--but in more subtle
stories the action may be emotional or intellectual. The action, however, whether it is exterior and visible
or interior and invisible, causes the situation to change so that conditions are different at the end of the
story from the way they were at the beginning. This movement, or development, is important.
3. Suspense. Each passage suggests that something is going to happen so that the reader eagerly
anticipates the outcome of these events. to build suspense, you plant seeds that hint at conflicts,
problems, mysteries. You promise the reader that you will show the plants in bloom and all conflicts,
problems, and mysteries solved at the end of the story. suspense is a vital factor in building and retaining
the interest of the reader.
4. Structure, or order. Events in real life happen in a definite order--the order of time. But in
discovering meaning in the events or in imposing a meaning on them, the writer may need to arrange
then differently from the order in which they originally occurred. Whether writers use straight
chronological order or determine a new order, they are going structure to their narrative in order to
heighten suspense and make incidents and events more meaningful.
5. Point or purpose. Although everyone loves a story and thousands of narratives are written and
read only for entertainment, the best stories have a purpose or meaning of some kind. Indeed, even
those written and told for their own sakes, often make some kind of statement o human beings, human
values, or some aspect of life. To get the most satisfaction from the effort that goes in to writing a
narrative, select an incident in which you can discover a meaning or an event on which you can impose
meaning. Sometimes the meaning is an overall impression or attitude. At other times it is an idea that
can be expressed in a single sentence. What are the meanings of the models?
6. Point of view. In every narrative, someone (or something) tells the story, and this person ot animal
or thing marks the story with his or her personal imprint. Imagine how much different the story of the "
Three Little Pigs" or of " Little Red Riding Hood" would be if, in each case, the wolf told the story! If you
will probably use " I" o "we", which is called first-person narrator. Occasionally, you may write a first-
person narrative when you are relating events in the life of a fictional character, rather than yourself. In
those cases, you have "assumed a persona," or taken on the role of another person, much as an actor
does. You then speak consistently from that person's point of view--seeing things as he or she sees
them, reacting as that person would, and even using the language appropriate for the character.
Sometimes, when you are reading narratives, it is difficult to separate the author from the persona he or
she is "speaking through." For example. Ernest Hemingway really did participate in the Spanish Civil War
and go on safaris in Africa. Yet sometimes when one of his characters tells about those experiences, ut
us a persona, or imagined character, rather than Hemingway who is speaking is sometimes important in
getting the meaning of a narrative. Another point of view often used in narration is third-person narrator.
When telling a story from that point of view, you relate events as though you were an onlooker, and you
use the pronouns "he," "she," "it," or "they." Of course, you already know that when you are telling a story
that making up a story, then you are presenting fiction.
&. Effective description. Concrete details create images, or pictures, in the readers' minds and make the
events in the narrative come alive. (West 271-73)
