Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Narration - Getting from Here to There #MFRWauthor #amwriting

Narration is sort of like speed dating. Writing the details or every moment of every day of a character's life could be boring to the reader. There are times when you want to move a character from one scene to another without writing a paragraph like this.

Greg woke up. The sun was shining. He went to the bathroom to shower, brush his teeth and shave. Then he returned to put on jeans, a tee shirt, shoes and socks. He went downstairs etc. You want to take Greg from home to school. So you write a write a short narrative.

The sun woke Greg. After his morning routine, he headed for school. The reader can fill in the blanks but getting to the action is what the reader really wants.

So narration bridges a bit of time and place with a few hints as to what's happening, especially if nothing exciting or meaningful happens during that time. Narration can keep the story moving forward. Narration can also be used to characterize a character.

If you've written a scene and it sounds almost ridiculous when spelled out in detail, Narration can help the reader believe in the event. You can also take the reader into the past with a short bit of narration.

So use narration with care or readers will think you are telling the story rather than showing what's important to be blocked out in full.