Term 1 Week 4b : Narrative Writing Part 2

Down with Part 2 of week 4: Narrative writing. Mr Lundberg continued teaching us several techniques on how to make our story enriching and interesting. After finishing it up, he went on to short story elements. It mainly consists of setting, plot, conflict, character, point of view (p.o.v) and theme.

1. Setting is basically the starting location, scene and time that the event first happened. This could be used to express the writer's feeling and then later the setting could change, showing a change in mood.
2. Plot is how the writer arranges events to develop his basic idea; it is just the sequence of events in the story. For a short story to be good the writer has to have a good plot. If example if I say "The ball flew right into the window. Tom swings the bat and hits the ball. Mr Angry slaps Tom in the face. Tom is scolded by his parents." Does it make sense? NO! Therefore to write a good narrative the writer must have a good plot.
3. Conflict is any form of opposition the main character faces. Like for example, he/she could be facing a pro in a competition, likely stopping him/her from winning the competition, or it could just be anything that gets in the main character's way. The character would be the "protagonist" while the conflict (if it is a person) would be the "antagonist". Actually even the "protagonist" could be struggling with himself, just like he/she is struggling with the "antagonist". In that case the main character has become the "protagonist" and "antagonist" at the same time. Without conflict there is no plot. Well, almost every-time. There are 4 conflicts : Man vs Man, Man vs Circumstances, Man vs Society & Man vs oneself.
4. Characters are people in a work of fiction. In short stories the character could be anyone, from fairies, punks, to even you. Just make sure you know how to write from that certain character's point of view.
   
5. Point of view is defined as the angle from which the story is told. Remember that the point of view has to be correct, or the story's content would be irrelevant. It would be wierd for a policeman to think from the view of a child.
6. Theme is the story's central insight. It is like teaching you a lesson from the story. Like "believe in yourself" and "love is blind".

To be continued with YET another blog post.