Narrative Writing: Elements and Structure

• Narrative writing is a story that uses specific elements to tell a story or recount events.

Elements of Narrative Writing

• Setting/Atmosphere indicate Where and When.
• Authors should create a picture and allow the reader to visualize scenes and characters.
• This helps to set the tone.
• Characters include Who from the story.
• Characters are people, animals, or objects affected by the plot or cause certain events.
• Stories with poorly described characters are not believable.
• Plots unfold as events happen.
• "Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How" gives narrative direction and acts as the frame.

Basic Plot Structure

• Beginnings have enticing openings that capture interests.
• Settings and main characters are revealed; conflicts are presented.
• Middles contain characters to resolve conflict.
• Actions progress sequentially, step by step.
• Climaxes are turning points that reveal the process to solve conflicts.
• Ends show resolution of conflicts and the message or theme understood by the reader.
• No new characters or plot ideas are introduced at the end.

Plot Diagrams / "Freytag's Diagram"

• Freytag's diagram is a framework for analyzing narratives.
• It was created by 19th-century German novelist and playwright Gustav Freytag.
• Freytag’s diagram can be expanded into seven parts from the classic five-part structure.
• These parts give a detailed breakdown of the story’s progression
• Exposition/Background is where stories are set up.
• Characters, initial settings, and situations are given.
• Inciting incidents push the story into action by kicking off a main conflict or problem.
• Rising action is a series of events that build tension and conflict as the protagonist faces challenges.
• The climax is the peak where tension is the highest and the main character faces a critical decision or challenge.
• Falling action occurs after the climax, where events start winding down and consequences are explored.
• The resolution is where the central conflict wraps up and remaining issues start to settle.
• Denouement is the conclusion of the story, providing closure and addressing final details of characters and plot.

Narrative Writing Style

• Style includes figurative language, sensory imagery, vivid verbs, strong sentences, dialogue, and point of view.
• Everyone has their own writing style/technique that makes each author unique.
• Conflict is the problem that must be resolved so the reader won't be left hanging.
• Types of conflict include: person vs self, person vs person, person vs society, person vs machine/technology, and person vs nature.
• Themes are revealed, and may be stated directly like in fables.
• Themes can be indirect but have more than one theme.

Different Points of View

• First-person point of view uses "I" as the narrator.
• Third-person point of view (limited) uses "he," "she," "it" or "they" perspective.
• The story is observed from outside characters; readers guess feelings by actions and words.
• Third person point of view (omniscient) is when narrators write about the thoughts/feelings of characters.

Figurative Language

• Descriptive words bring the reader into a story.
• Similes compare two unlike things using "like" or "as."
• Metaphors directly compare two unlike things without using "like" or "as."
• Personification assigns human characteristics/traits to nonhuman objects.
• Hyperbole uses gross exaggeration to describe something that could never happen in real life.
• Alliteration has repetition of two or more sounds.
• Onomatopoeia has words that imitate the sounds of what they describe.
• Irony is a contrast between expectations and reality.
• Apostrophe addresses something or someone that isn’t present.

Things Remember When Writing

• Sensory Image has to do with using the 5 senses when writing.
• Writers should describe using see, hear, taste, touch, and smell.
• Types of imagery include; auditory-hearing, tactile-touching, kinesthetic-movements, thermal-temperature, erotic-sensations, gustatory-taste, visual-seeing and olfactory-smell.
• 5WH Questions provide basic information when beginning a story.
• Answering Who, Where, Why, What, When & How.
• Story beginnings should be strong and can use dialogue (conversations), vivid descriptions, interesting facts, or sound effects.
• Writing paragraphs tells the reader when switching time, places topic or speakers.
• There are standard times to make new paragraphs when; starting a new topic, skipping time/place, starting a new speaker.
• Write new paragraphs when producing a dramatic effect.

Grammatical Conventions

• Capitalization at the beginning of sentences and with proper nouns.
• Punctuation includes marks, periods and exclamation points.
• Commas join 2 sentences and conjunctions that address a person and quotations.
• Sentences are both long and short and often start differently.
• “Show, Don’t Tell” Method of writing aims to illustrate events without explicitly stating them.
• WOW Words use a high-quality vocabulary using well-chosen words
• Graphic organizers organize information/ideas making it easy to comprehend and internalize
• Types of graphic organizers are Web Maps to show relationships, Hierarchy Charts to organize information into a category, Venn Diagrams to compare/contrast and Story Sequencing to show sequence.
• Graphic organizers help understand/remember information, visualize/simplify ideas, and organize large amounts of information.

Greek Mythology

• The Olympians were made up of 12 gods who ruled after overthrowing the Titans.
• Olympian Gods are Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Hera, Ares, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hermes, Artemis, and Demeter.
• The top 12 are considered Olympians except for Hades who dwelled in the underworld.
• The 6 Olympians were children of Cronus and Rhea: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus.
• Zeus (Jupiter) was the supreme ruler of the Gods and the god of the sky and thunder.
• Zeus’ weapon was the thunderbolt.
• Poseidon (Neptune) was the god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses.
• Trident was Poseidon’s weapon, and his wife was Amphitrite.
• Hades (Pluto) was the god of the underworld and wealth.
• Zeus’ brother, Hades, was king of the dead.
• Phoebus Apollo (Apollo) was "brilliant" or "shining" and was the god of medicine, healing, truth and light, music and poetry.
• Ares (Mars) was the God of War.
• The Romans glorified him, but the Greeks considered him a coward.
• Hephaestus (Vulcan) was the god of fire and the forge and the son of Zeus and Hera.
• Hermes (Mercury) was the messenger of the god and the theif.
• Hera (Juno) was the Queen of the Gods, the Zeus' wife and sister and protector of marriage.
• Artemis (Diana) was Apollo’s twin sister and the goddess of the moon, the hunt, and chastity.
• Aphrodite (Venus) was the goddess of love, lust, and beauty.
• Athena (Minerva) was the goddess of wisdom and sprung of Zeus.

Places in Greek Mythology

• Mt. Olympus where the gods lived.
• Earth is where humans, heroes and demigods lived.
• The Ocean was ruled by Poseidon.
• The River Styx was the route to get to the underworld.
• The Underworld was a place of three regions: Tartarus, The Asphodel Meadows, and The Elysian Fields.
• Hades ruled the underworld.
• Tartarus was where Zeus cast the Titans.
• The Asphodel meadows was a place souls went to after jugement.
• The Elysian Fields was where heroic and noble people lived.

Greek-Related Creatures

• Minotaur was a humanoid mythical creature with the head of a bull on a man's body.
• Pegasus was a winged divine stallion.
• Centaurs were creatures with a human torso/head/arms on a horse body.
• Medusa was a Gorgon and turned into an ugly creature by Athena.
• Hydra was a massive, poisonous serpent with nine heads.
• Cyclopes were giants with a single eye in the middle of their forehead.
• Cerberus was a three-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld.
• Satyrs are half-man and half-goat.
• Sirens were beautiful but dangerous creatures that lured sailors with their enchanting voices.
• Greece is a small country in Europe near the Mediterranean Sea and the main part of Greece is on a peninsula.
• Because Greece is made of islands and tall mountains, Greeks built city-states instead of one country.
• City-states were cities that acted like countries with their own laws, rulers, and money.
• Sparta and Athens were Greek city-states.
• There were three classes of people in Sparta; citizens, non-citizens, and slaves.
• Only men born in Sparta were citizens.
• Athens became the world's first democracy in 508 B.C.
• Democracy is a government in which all citizens can vote and have equal say in what happens.
• All citizens could vote, but only half of the people in Athens were citizens.

Philosophers of Ancient Greece

• Philosophers were those who tried to explain the nature of life.
• Socrates taught by asking questions using the "Socratic Method."
• Plato was a student of Socrates who started The Academy.
• Aristotle was student of Plato who wrote about science, art, law, poetry, and government.
• Greatest Greek storyteller was Homer.
• Epics are narrative poems that tell of heroic deeds.
• There Iliad and the Odyssey are two epic poems by Homer about the Trojan War.
• Alexander the Great was the son of King Phillip II of Macedonia.
• Mythology is a collection of myths, or anonymous, traditional stories that explain beliefs/customs.

Describing the Greeks

• Anthropomorphism: gives human form or qualities to beings or things that are not human.
• Polytheism: the belief in many gods.
• Oral Tradition: to pass down from generation to generation by word of mouth.
• Utilitarian: designed primarily for practical use rather than beauty
• Greek Cardinal Values consisted of prudence, justice, temperance and courage/fortitude.
• Qualities of Greek Literature included permanence and universality.
• Intellectual Quality is the Greek mind challenges one to think for some purpose to bring about some inner transformation.
• The Greeks were distinctly different from all previous civilizations because they were the first to create gods in their own image

Essay Writing

• Essays are literary compositions devoted to presenting writer's ideas on a topic.
• Formal Essay is a reflection of life in a serious tone with formal language and subject matter.
• The purpose is to explain, persuade, and instruct.
• Informal Essays do not dwell on serious or scholarly ideas.
• Subjects are interesting and unique and may be conversational.
• Types of essays are narrative, descriptive, illustration, process analysis, definition, and persuasive essays.
• Narrative essays tell a story (fiction or non-fiction) and must make a point.
• Descriptive essays paint pictures with words and appeal to the senses and emotions.
• Illustrative essays provide topic examples and clarify concepts.
• Process Analysis essays explains steps to complete a process.
• Definition Essays define a word/term/concept with both denotation and connotation.
• Persuasive Essays aim to get the audience to accept your point of view.
• The parts of an essay include introduction, body, conclusion and thesis statement.
• Introductions capture readers' attention and include the attention getter, statement of the problem, bridge/transition sentences, and a thesis statement (at the end).
• Essay introductions start with interesting backgrounds, thought-provoking quotations, questions, surprising facts, puzzling statements, or short stories.
• The body of the essay develops a thesis statement, organizes main ideas logically, and uses signal/transition words to connect ideas.
• Conclusions leave an impression and restate thesis statements differently.
• Summarize the argument, explain its significance, and may include a call to action.

The Iliad of Homer

• Key Sections of Iliad are The Judgement of Paris, The Trojan War & The Fall of Troy.
• Eris, Goddess of Discord, began the Judgement of Paris after not being invited to a wedding.
• Paris Chose Aphrodite and kidnapped Helen, starting the Trojan War.
• Trojans war consisted of Trojan heroes and Greek heroes.
• Trojan includes Hector and Paris.
• Greek included Achilles and Odysseus.
• Odysseus' Trojan Horse Strategy led to the downfall of Troy
• Paris killed Achilles with an arrow; The Greeks burned Troy
• Aeneas escaped and later founded Rome.

Understanding Proper English

• Parallelism connects parts by using the same form for equal ideas.
• Dangling modifiers occur when a modifier doesn't clearly refer to any word in a sentence.
• Redundancy uses unnecessary words that convey the same meaning.
• A phrase is a group of words without a subject or verb.
• A fragment is a group of words missing a subject, verb, or complete thought.
• Appositive, noun, verb, prepositional, and verbal phrases.
• Appositive phrases rename/identify a noun.
• Noun phrases include noun with modifiers.
• Verb phrases consist of a main and helping verb.
• Prepositional phrases include a preposition and an object.
• Verbal Phrases can be participial, gerund, or infinitive.

Letters and Writing

• Business and Friendly Letters
• Essence of letter writing is personal as it communicates emotions and feelings on paper.
• With full block formats, all elements are aligned to the left margins with double line spaces for paragraphs.
• Modified Block Formats differ with dates, sign-offs, and signatures starting at center of page with the beginning of each paragraph.
• The business letter has essential elements, including; heading, inside addres, salutation, body, closing, and signature.
• Friendly letters parts are the heading, greeting/salutation, body, closing, and signature.

Steps for Interviewing

• Interviews capture participants' experiences and can be follow ups to questionnaires for deeper insights.
• The steps for conducting interviews are preparation, conducting the interview, and post-interview.
• Preparation beforehand defines objectives.
• Interview types include background/demographics, knowledge, sensory questions, behaviors, feelings, and opinions.
• Conducting the actual interview includes choosing a suitable environment with minimal noise and distractions.
• Confidentiality and format of the interviews need to be addressed.
• Some sequence of interviews include getting respondents as soon as possible.
• The interview presents fact-based questions, while verifying tapes are properly working.
• The actual interviewing consists of the interviewer attempting to remain neutral, encourage responses, and take notes.
• Post-interview steps involve recording initial impressions, transcribing, analyzing data, presenting findings concisely, and considering improvements.