The Art of Narrative Writing
Narrative is a piece of writing that tells you a story and it is one of the classical ways in which writers use to present information. The art of storytelling existed way before writing was invented and it is a part of life where people are involved in conversations, gossip and reminisce of the past. Most forms of writing including essays, tales, stories, novels, plays, etc. involves narrative. It can be a sequence of events in chronological order or even with multiple timelines. For a writer to be expressive and be engaging in their content has to be interesting and have to deliver an entertaining experience. Stories are all around us and we all are storytellers, the objective behind narrative writing is to create a stronger connection between the listener and the teller by implementing ideas, creativity and point of view to make it sound more relatable, compelling and fascinating.
Narrative has five important elements to it which defines the shape of the whole narrative i.e., plot, setting, character, conflict and theme. In order to put a story together involves revealing these elements to the readers and listener in subtle or not-so-subtle ways. The plot is the actual story around which the story revolves. It should compile very clearly from beginning, through middle and to the end in order to make sense with necessary descriptions which follows along from start to end. Setting is the location of all the events. Environment or surrounding having been described in such detail can make the reader visualize the story and feel connected to the plot. Characters are the individuals that the story is all about. Every character has its own uniqueness and originality which should be described with physical attributes to personality traits, having the reader and listener visualize them. Every story has its main characters leading the way in the plot and sub characters supporting them, and having all the details, explanations and action about them throughout the whole story should be able to make you believe that things are happening and even in fact predicting the next situations. Stories always have their own conflicts and the plot is centered on this conflict and the attempts that characters make about it. This makes the story exciting and has to be taken to the right height before having it solved, more commonly called climax. Theme is the most important but the least explicit. This part is where the writer can express what he is trying to intend the reader or listener to understand. It becomes important to provide a theme explicitly because it can set up the most effect of the story.
Narration is a required element of all the written stories with the function of conveying the story entirely while delivering every asset of the story. Although narration can be optional, it is an important way to connect a written content to the listener with the original emotions and the particularities of the story. A story is always on its own but a writer makes it relatable with a perspective and point-of-view and narration is the best way to reflect that. Although narration is a vast topic to indulge and understand, narrative writing is a perfect way to express a writer’s out of the mind creativity.
Written by: Maharshi Vidhyarthi (Instagram: @mahi_103)
Vociferous Writers (Instagram: @vociferouswriters)
