Friday, September 10, 2010

Writing Tip - Using Narrative

When writing, narration and action are two vital ingredients. So just what is narration? Conveying in few words a period of time only suggesting what happened during that time. Rather than giving a minute by minute description of what happened during a time when little happened such as itemizing a person's day use narration as a short cut. This can keep the story moving forward. Narration can be used to characterize. If you must speak of an event that seems unbelievable using narration can help give a sense of believability. This can be useful when a character is acting differently than the way he is expected to behave. Because narration should be short this is a good thing to use when you must reach into the past. A fleeting thought can tell a lot and also remind the reader of somthing they had read before.

2 comments:

Wendy S Marcus said...

The 'experts' always say, "Show don't tell." But sometimes telling is exactly what you need to do to keep the story moving.

Janet Lane Walters said...

You're absolutely right.