Narrative writing for High School & College
Summary
TLDRThis video script offers an introduction to narrative writing, emphasizing its storytelling nature from a first-person perspective. It covers the basics, including the use of chronological order, dialogue, and descriptions to enhance the narrative. The script highlights the importance of narrative essays in college applications, focusing on a single idea or lesson. It advises using strong verbs, avoiding 'to be' verbs, and maintaining an active voice for a compelling narrative. The goal is to convey information and emotions effectively, making the narrative engaging and informative.
Takeaways
- 📝 Narrative writing is about telling a story, typically from a first-person perspective.
- 🕒 It often follows a chronological order, but can include flashbacks and flash-forwards.
- 🎯 The main goal of narrative writing is to convey information or a lesson learned.
- 🧩 Components of a narrative essay include a single point or idea, characters, and dialogue.
- 📚 Narrative essays are similar to five-paragraph essays but with a personal story and possibly dialogue.
- 🌟 Strong verbs and avoiding 'to be' verbs can enhance the narrative and make it more engaging.
- 🔍 College application essays often use narrative writing to tell personal stories effectively.
- 📈 A narrative essay should have a clear plot with exposition, conflict, climax, and resolution.
- 💡 Even mundane events can make for compelling narratives if they convey a meaningful lesson or insight.
- ✍️ Practice using strong, descriptive language and active voice to improve narrative writing skills.
Q & A
What is narrative writing?
-Narrative writing is essentially telling a story, usually from the first-person point of view, and it can be about any event. It often follows a chronological order but can also include flashbacks and flash-forwards.
Why is narrative writing important for college application essays?
-College application essays are essentially narrative essays because they allow the applicant to tell a personal story, which can effectively convey experiences and lessons learned.
What are the components of a narrative essay?
-The components of a narrative essay include a single point or idea, characters (at least one, which is often the first-person narrator), dialogue, and a plot that follows a structure similar to a five-paragraph essay with exposition, conflict, climax, and resolution.
What is the purpose of narrative writing?
-The purpose of narrative writing is to convey some type of information, such as a moral lesson, an experience, or a thought-provoking idea. It goes beyond mere entertainment to teach or inform the reader.
Can narrative essays have multiple ideas?
-While a narrative essay can have more than one idea, it is recommended to focus on one central idea to ensure clarity and coherence in the narrative.
What role does dialogue play in narrative writing?
-Dialogue in narrative writing adds depth and realism to the story. It helps to switch up the tone and pace of the reading, making the narrative more engaging and dynamic.
Why is strong word choice important in narrative essays?
-Strong word choice, especially with verbs, is important because it conveys a more vivid image and emotion. It helps to make the narrative more compelling and showcases the writer's vocabulary and writing skill.
What is the difference between active and passive voice in narrative writing?
-In narrative writing, active voice is preferred over passive voice because it makes the writing more dynamic and immediate. Active voice places the subject of the sentence as the actor performing the action, whereas passive voice often makes the subject the receiver of the action.
Why should 'to be' verbs be avoided in narrative writing?
-'To be' verbs are often weak and unnecessary in narrative writing. They can slow down the pace and make the writing less engaging. It's recommended to use more active and descriptive verbs to create a stronger narrative.
What kind of conflicts can be found in a narrative essay?
-Conflicts in a narrative essay can be grand or simple, but they should be significant to the story. They can range from overcoming a villain to learning a lesson or coping with a personal struggle.
How can everyday tasks be turned into compelling narrative essays?
-Everyday tasks can be turned into compelling narrative essays by focusing on the emotions, thoughts, and lessons associated with those tasks. The writer can provide insights and details that make the mundane experience meaningful and relatable to the reader.
Outlines
📚 Introduction to Narrative Writing
This paragraph introduces the concept of narrative writing, emphasizing that it is essentially storytelling from a first-person perspective. It explains that narratives can be about any event and are often, but not always, in chronological order. The paragraph also touches on the use of flashbacks and flash-forwards to play with the story's order. The speaker mentions that narrative writing is familiar to us when telling stories out loud and often includes dialogue and descriptions. The paragraph concludes by connecting narrative writing to college application essays, which are a type of narrative essay. The components of a narrative essay are also discussed, including having a single point or idea, conveying information, and including characters and dialogue. The paragraph stresses the importance of narrative writing having a purpose beyond entertainment, often teaching a lesson or prompting reflection.
🏅 Enhancing Narrative Writing with Strong Verbs
In this paragraph, the focus is on improving narrative writing by using strong verbs and avoiding 'to be' verbs. The speaker provides examples of how using more descriptive verbs can enhance the writing, making it more engaging and vivid. The paragraph discusses the importance of active voice over passive voice to maintain a dynamic narrative pace. It also touches on the significance of word choice in conveying emotions effectively, which is crucial for narrative writing. The speaker advises against using 'to be' verbs like 'is', 'am', 'was', and encourages students to practice using more active and powerful verbs in their writing. The paragraph concludes with a reminder that narrative writing should follow a plot structure, including exposition, conflict, climax, and resolution, and that even simple, everyday events can make for compelling narratives if they convey a meaningful lesson or insight.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Narrative Writing
💡First-Person Point of View
💡Chronological Order
💡Dialogue
💡College Application Essays
💡Single Point or Idea
💡Exposition
💡Climax
💡Resolution
💡Strong Verbs
💡Active Voice
Highlights
Narrative writing is essentially telling a story from the first-person point of view.
Narrative writing can include flashbacks and flash-forwards, though it often follows a chronological order.
Dialogue and descriptions are key elements that make for great narrative writing.
College application essays are a form of narrative essays.
A narrative essay should focus on conveying one central idea or message.
The purpose of narrative writing is to teach or inform the reader.
Narrative essays are similar to a five-paragraph essay in structure.
Characters and dialogue are common in narrative essays, enhancing the storytelling.
Every narrative essay should follow a plot diagram with exposition, conflict, climax, and resolution.
Conflicts in narrative essays don't have to be grand; they can be simple, personal experiences.
Resolution in narrative writing doesn't mean the conflict is resolved but rather something has been learned.
Strong word choice, especially verbs, is crucial for impactful narrative writing.
Avoid using 'to be' verbs to maintain an active and engaging narrative.
Narrative writing should be active, with the subject performing the action, not receiving it.
Simple everyday tasks can make for compelling narrative essays if they carry personal significance.
The best narrative essays often describe mundane experiences that lead to profound realizations.
In narrative writing, using strong verbs like 'sprinted' instead of 'ran' can enhance the imagery.
Eliminating 'to be' verbs helps to maintain an active voice and improves the pace of the writing.
Narrative writing is about telling a story with a plot, characters, and dialogue, using strong verbs.
Transcripts
hello students today I'm gonna be
talking about narrative writing gonna go
over the basics so that you could get
started practicing and writing right now
so to start off with a narrative writing
is essentially just telling a story and
it's usually gonna be from the
first-person point of view so that's
saying things like I did this I did that
it's telling your story in your way it
can be about any event and it's often in
chronological order though it doesn't
have to be you can play with the order
you can do flashbacks and flash-forwards
you can do all that but at the heart of
it there is some type of order to
whatever story you're telling so where
the reader can figure out where you're
going right narrative writing we're
familiar with and first-person type of
events or when we're telling a story out
loud to somebody if you're saying what
you did last weekend you are telling a
narrative you're often going to include
dialogue and descriptions and all of
that stuff that will make for actually a
great narrative writing now why are we
covering this because your college
application essays are essentially
narrative essays so let's go into it a
little bit more the components of a
narrative essay include a single point
or idea you can have more than one idea
but that's often going to be the
interpretation of your reader at the
heart I would say focus on one idea that
you're trying to convey which means you
understand that the purpose of narrative
writing is to convey some type of
information yes it's about you yes it's
about whatever idea you want to show
forth but it's more than just
entertaining all good narrative essays
have something that they're trying to
teach somebody it could be a moral that
they've learned not to do something or
to do something it could be something
that they want somebody to think about
so at its heart a narrative essay and a
narrative writing piece is still trying
to give us information it's very similar
to a five paragraph essay
it really is it's similar to this
informational expository essay the only
difference is narrative essays have
characters at least one because it'll be
you or whoever the first person is and
it often has dialogue it doesn't need to
have dialogue but use
the better pieces and the better college
application essays and the better
narrative writing essays have some form
of dialogue that switches up the tone
and the pace of the reading so keep that
in mind as you craft yours always
remember that since this is a story
still needs to follow that plot diagram
that you guys are familiar with it still
needs to start with some type of
exposition bringing up some type of
problem or conflict leading up to a
climax to then go downwards towards a
resolution a conflict doesn't have to be
this grand big thing because maybe your
narrative essay you didn't overcome the
Joker or some villain like that maybe it
was just you learning some type of
lesson maybe it was you didn't really
want to go outside and walk the dog and
you didn't even know why and you're just
describing how much you hate going
outside and walking the dog and then it
leads us to this resolution of you
learned something about humanity or
about yourself through that experience
so often students feel like narrative
essays need to be this grand big idea
that they've learned or this awesome
thing that they've done but quite
honestly some of the best narrative
writing essays that I've read were the
ones where student goes off on a tangent
describing how in anger he broke a
pencil or a student that really wanted a
cat and wasn't able to get one or picked
out the right cat because it swatted him
on his head so it's all these like
simple everyday seemingly mundane tasks
that meant something to that person and
they were able to write about it and
inform the reader of it in order to make
a point and the resolution don't get
caught up with that word it doesn't
actually mean that you're conflicts been
resolved it doesn't mean that the
characters conflicts have been resolved
maybe the resolution is that they're
still trying to cope with it but it
still needs to be something that was
learned along the way in addition the
best narrative writing essays use strong
word choice especially strong verbs and
this goes for any type of writing not
just narrative writing so instead of
saying a word like run or ran you can
say that the character sprinted or
darted or dashed I mean what sounds
better Michael ran across the yard or
Michael sprinted across the yard right
it's a very different
image that I'm trying to convey there
there's a huge difference in the word
run and in the word sprint right there's
also difference between jog and sprint
there's also a difference between sprint
and darted right something that's more
quicker or dashed maybe I just left real
quick absquatulate anything like that
those words are different than just your
basic run-of-the-mill
run said and even wanted take a look at
the other example so often we'll say in
dialogue mr. krauser said but said
doesn't really convey much emotion and
narrative writing is very much about the
emotions so instead of saying said you
could say mr. krauser announced mr.
Crouse are yelled mr. krauser hollered
right all of these differences and these
nuances in these words are gonna help
supercharge your writing the last
example here is instead of saying that
so-and-so wanted something like Joe
wanted an apple now Joe desired an Apple
Joe longed for an apple Joe craved an
Apple every single one of those words
packs a different punch to it and is a
much stronger verb and his showcases
your vocabulary so that's one of the
most important things that I'll be
looking for in your first narrative
essay that you're gonna write it'll be a
practice one but I want to see you
practicing using these stronger words
now keep in mind in terms of the verbs
you should never use to be verbs
I guess never is a strong strong word to
use here because sometimes it'll be
unavoidable but if you're not familiar
with what to V verbs are make sure you
look it up there's a lot of them but the
most common ones are things like is or
am or was try eliminating that from your
writing and not just from narrative
writings but everything but specifically
a narrative you don't want to say I was
stressed but not just say I'm stressed
right change it up a little bit make it
more active this is the difference
between active voice and passive voice
you don't want to say that Joe was
running across the field in that case
why not just say Joe sprinted across the
field or Joe ran across the field right
make it more active to where Joe is
doing something in the here and now and
that the subject of the sentence is
actually the actor of that sentence
it's the one doing the verb as opposed
to the one receiving the verb Joe was
running or the field was ran across by
Joe that's even a worse one right but so
often in our writing we rely on these to
be verbs which are typically weaker and
unnecessary so pay attention to this
because it's gonna change the pace and
tone of your writing so with that being
said narrative writing is simply a story
told in first-person point of view about
any type of event in some type of order
usually chronological it's going to
still contain a plot it's still going to
have characters and it's going to most
likely have dialogue and you want to use
strong verbs and eliminate to be verbs
and if you do that in your practice
assignment you're gonna be much better
off so this is just some of the basics
of narrative writing that you should
focus on right now
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