Narrative What is it?

Learning objective LO – identify narrative techniques.

Narrative techniques The phrase ‘narrative techniques’ refers to the way in which a story is written. Important narrative techniques include: Narrative structure: the way the events of the story are organised Characterisation: how the characters are described or presented to us Narrative point of view: the perspective/s from which the story is told; that is, whose eyes and minds we experience the story through. Why do we examine these aspects? To discover how the story works to influence- or position – you to respond to charters, events and ideas. This helps you to become a critically aware reader. To understand how the audience is influenced to have feelings of pity or sorrow for someone else's misfortune.

Narrative structure Refers to how the events of the story are organised. Three important aspects of narrative structure are: The order in which events are presented The time gaps between events The amount of story space devoted to particular events. For example, an author might cover two months in two sentences but cover a week in several paragraphs. This would tell us as the reader that this event is important.

Activity 1 Started year seven Won the basketball tournament after training in year seven and eight Went to the school ball in Year 11 Five minute activity: Create a timeline chart of your plot line of your school life from year seven to eleven. Add at least five events Here is an example: Why are some of these events shorter and longer? Are some events more important than others?

Characterisation Characterisation includes: What we are told about a character The words used to tell us these things It is important to remember that in a fictional story, both what we are told and the words used to tell us this are the result of particular choices made by the author.

Activity 2 Five minute activity: Describe a famous character using only words. What are some key parts of this character? Are their parts you admitted? If so why?

Narrative point of view Narrative point of view refers to the nature of the narrator, or storyteller, used in a story. Narrators can be of two kinds: Internal: this is when the story is told by a character in the story, and is often referred to as ‘first person point of view’ External: this is when the story is not told by a character in the story, and is often referred to as ‘third person point of view’. This form of narrative can be further divided into two kinds: Detached narration: where characters and events are simply described Subjective narration: where the thoughts and feelings of one or more characters are revealed to us.

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