Storytelling Narration
“Stories are our primary tools of learning and teaching, the repositories of
our lore and legends. They bring order into our confusing world. Think about
how many times a day you use stories to pass along data, insights, memories
or common-sense advice.”
– Edward Miller, founder of Edward Elementary, illustrator and product
designer
SHORT STORY NARRATION
Natalie Bright
My critique group is busy crafting new short stories for Book 2 of our Route 66 Anthology series. My story is going great. It’s not all on the page yet, but it is in my head. Also, the ending came to me clear as a bell. The main character spoke the last line of the story and I wrote that scene as soon as I could. I have two main characters and I have a theme: regrets. One problem I realized after our discussion is that my story has no antagonist.
Short stories have the same components as full-length novels. Neil Gaiman talks about short stories in his MasterClass (well worth the price at masterclass.com). He learned from a mentor that “a short story is the last chapter of the novel that was never written.” How brilliant is that?
Here are your short story components:
Even short stories feature a main character (MC) that changes in some way from beginning to the end, called the character arc. What does your MC want? What are the things that prevent your MC from achieving that goal? Flat characters are boring and does not experience any growth from beginning to end.
Dig deep and make that emotional connection with your reader. Tug at their heart strings. Keep writing, and good luck with your short stories!
Active Story Narration
Natalie Bright
Defined: a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious. The art, technique, or process of narrating, or of telling a story.
Verbs can be a valuable tool in telling a story.
The right verb can evoke emotion, create strong imagery, and set the scene in the mind of your reader. Active verbs can be powerful and put your story in motion. In grade school when my sons worked on their homework using “spicey” words. I love that!
The “B” verbs have got to go: be, being, been, was, were, is. Hands up: who else is a “was” fan. I use it all the time. During my second pass of edits I find and replace as many of them as I possibly can. You probably have some common or overused verbs in your work. They only dull your sentences.
Here are a few examples:
Is fighting TO: attacked.
Was mad TO: flipped out.
Was walking TO: shuffled.
Was running TO: darted.
Don’t be afraid to let your verbs do the heavy lifting in your story narration.
COMMON THEMES FOR STORY NARRATION
Natalie Bright
My work in progress involves a narrow focus for research, but I’m finding so much great historical information I want the readers to know it all too. For my nonfiction book though, I’m forcing myself to stop chasing every topic that I might stumble across and instead, keep to the theme.
If you have trouble staying on task within your story narration like I sometimes do, you might consider writing under a common theme. Themes can be used for fiction as well. Write the theme in big letters and post it on your bulletin board so that you can be reminded. Your character’s motivation, conflicts, and the way they react to that obstacle can reflect the theme.
Some of the more common ones are listed below, and you might recognize them in your favorite books or movies.
Perseverance:
The main character never gives up no matter what obstacles are thrown in his path to achieving his goal. As the writer, you can make his life miserable, throw everything at him you can, and he will persevere.
Cooperation:
The main character is a leader who encourages others to work together, and the band of characters cooperate to solve the problem.
Courage:
The main character discovers his/her own inner strength to overcome fear and finds the courage to take the risk.
Acceptance:
The main character accepts their fate, accepts the reality of their world, or accepts others’ differences.
The Hero’s Journey: A Narrative Pattern
Natalie Bright
“There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.” WILLA CATHER
It’s impossible to cover the topic of narration during this month without touching upon THE HERO’S JOURNEY.
First identified by American scholar Joseph Campbell, it appears in storytelling across generations. Once you understand the basic narrative pattern you will recognize it immediately in myth and legends, more often in Hollywood blockbuster movies. Many filmmakers owe their success to this enduring story pattern.
The main character, the hero, accomplishes amazing feats on behalf of the rest of us. The story focuses on his journey or adventure. The hero is a universal character, crossing time and cultures.
The stages are as follows:
One of the most obvious movies that uses this pattern of narration is STAR WARS. Luke Skywalker receives the call to adventure but refuses at first. Watch this movie again and take notes as you follow the outline above. I encourage you to find out more about the Hero’s Journey and how it can help you develop your characters and the plot of your book.
Happy Writing!
Let’s Talk about Endings.
Natalie Bright
Do you have an idea the ending before you start writing?
Are you a total pantser, allowing the characters to take you on their journey and realize the ending when you get there?
My brain does not work in pantser mode, I’ve discovered, after a workshop with Kathleen Baldwin, who explained the difference. I work with numbers and deadlines at the day job, and for the time I have at the keyboard writing, I like structure. My characters are well defined and I have a general idea of the ending; then I can begin writing.
The final scene is the big yellow ribbon on your plot. It ties up the story in a satisfactory way for your readers and answers all of their questions. Make it big, make it bold, play that last climactic scene for all its worth. This is your ultimate test, proof that the main character is worth their time and worth saving.
In bad fiction the ending may seem forced. The plot and characters have been manipulated. As a reader it is unsatisfying, maybe a bit annoying. In good fiction, plot and characters meld together and the climactic ending seem inevitable.
Happy writing!
SCENE AND SEQUEL
Nattalie Bright
At a writer’s conference held on the campus of WTA&M University in Canyon, Texas, award-winning author Dusty Richards talked to us about scene and sequel when plotting. This is the method that he used to write his popular Byrnes Family Ranch series.
Scene structure = goal, conflict, disaster
Every scene starts with:
The story goal in the scene can be stated through dialogue beforehand, internal dialogue through character thought, or stated in the opening line of the scene.
What happens next is the sequel. The pattern of sequel is:
More on scene and sequel next week.
Follow us all month long as we blog about Story Plot. Happy writing!
The Perfect Story
Natalie Bright
Generations of parents passed down bits of wisdom to their offspring in the form of stories before he could write those stories down. “Tell Me a Story” gave way to “Read Me A Story”; a long-held family tradition.
The story holds our attention because of conflict. At the core of every story are three basic plots for conflict.
Man against Man
Man against Nature
Man against Himself
The story that holds our attention whether it’s a blockbuster movie or bestselling book, contains a form of all three.
Punctuation and Dialogue
Natalie Bright
Short pause: Commas.
Medium pause: parentheses, semicolon, em dash.
Long pause: period, question mark, exclamation mark, colon.
For your writing reference library, add THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE.
DIALOGUE FOR KID LIT
Natalie Bright
When the critique group works on my kid lit stories, I remember how annoying it sounds when I read the work out loud with every bit of dialogue having a “said” after or before. That is normal for most books targeted to beginning readers. Every spoken line needs clarification and an origin as to who said what. The same rules apply for kid lit as it does for adult, as in ‘said’ is an invisible word.
Most children’s stories are heavy with dialogue. Kids do not like a lot of narrative. Fill the pages with white space. Short sentences, short paragraphs and pithy bits of talking. Chapter books are very important to beginning readers, but remember chapters are short as well.
Don’t use your word count for empty words that do not move the plot along. For example, the phone rings:
“Hello,” Jenn said.
“Hello, Jenn?” Todd asked.
She answered, “Yes, this is Jenn. Is that you, Todd?”
People do not talk in long sentences, especially here in Texas. Make your dialogue ring true for the era and for the setting of your book.
Read your dialogue out loud. Is it believable for that age of character? On occasion my critique partners will point out that my twelve-year-old character would never say that word, for example, and they are always right. Stay true to the age of your characters.
Since I write historical westerns, I have to be careful about modern day lingo that can sneak into my writing. I have caught myself using “give me call when you get there.” (Ugh.)
Still having trouble? Go to a local gaming center or sports facility and listen to kids talk. My office is right next to the high school, and my son and his friends sometimes stop by to hang out and grab a Dr. Pepper from the fridge I keep stocked. Honestly, I have no idea what they’re talking about most of time. It’s amazing how fast they can move from one topic to the next and everyone seems to keep up with the conversation, except me. Their use of slang terms are more than interesting, and highly educational, to say the least.
Happy writing, and thanks for following WordsmithSix!
Natalie
Wordsmith Six 