Descriptive Language and Narrative Techniques Professor Danielsen

Warm Up Question On a piece of paper or in your notebook, please describe your all time favorite meal using the 5 senses. (Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, Taste.) After you are finished, please share with a partner.

Importance of Description and Narrative Techniques Makes your story: memorable vivid engaging possibly persuasive

Basic Story Structure

Word KNOWLEDGE Meaning(s) Form (Written and Spoken) To know a word you must know: Meaning(s) Definition (denotative v. connotative) Form (Written and Spoken) Grammatical Behavior how a word behaves in a sentence or with what inflections Collocations words that usually go together Register formality/informality Associations meanings associated with word Frequency how common a word is

Examples: Present Beseech Record Betrothed “Large sums of people were present.” Silverware Hot water heater cloud Big bucks access Stars are out mouse Lights are out Wear; ware homeworks weed “I spilled my intestines to my therapist.”

Writing Descriptive Details Details – be specific! Ex: dog -> golden retriever Sensory Details sounds, odors, tastes, physical sensations, and sight Objective v. Subjective: Objective: use neutral, unbiased language removing personal opinions Subjective: allow writer’s emotions to come through (possibly using loaded words, etc) Vantage Point: stationary or moving Dominant impression creating an overall feeling

Model sentence enhancing: The car pulled into the parking space. (soo boring) The shiny ebony Mercedez-Benz with glorious chrome spinning rims, black leather interior, and a Swarovski crystal-studded license plate Tokyo-drifted into the very last available parking space on the 6th floor of the East Nutwood Parking Structure at Cal State Fullerton.

Activity: Sentence Enhancing I was in the park, there were birds flying and people walking. In groups of 3-4 people, expand the sentence using one of the following Netflix genres using as much descriptive detail as possible: 1: Horror (Suspense/Slasher/Zombie/Vampire/etc) 2: Comedy(Romantic/Zany/Slapstick) 3: Drama / Film Noir (hardboiled detective etc) 4: Action/Adventure (Westerns/Espionage/Heist) 5: Sports (Martial Arts/Baseball/Basketball) 6: Animation (Disney/Tim Burton/Looney Tunes/Miyazaki/Anime) 7: Documentary

Dialogue Why add dialogue? Brings in voices other than your own Shows rather than tells about people or places How to add dialogue: Spoken dialogue: (Punctuation, Indentation, Signal phrases) I asked, “Do you think you can finish all that pizza yourself?” “Every pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard enough,” she replied. Internal monologue: (Italics, Signal phrases) Every pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard enough, I thought. Interviews: (Transcription) Interviewer: Do you think you can finish all that pizza by yourself? Woman: Every pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard enough.