Writing the narrative

The narrative is the voice through which you tell your story. Narrative is what leads the reader smoothly through the story with all its ups and downs, high and low spots, emotions and drama. The narrative is what tells the reader what is going on. For example, it lets the reader know that a Highland warrior is marching down the valley, kilt swinging, his beret tilted to one side. The narrative is what tells the reader that thunderous black clouds are rolling in over the rooftops and that the wind is whipping the leaves into a frenzy.

Your story is a balance of narrative and dialogue. However, there is no set formula to see if you are getting the balance right, this all comes down to your ability to write a story – and that comes with practice.

You might start with narrative, setting the scene and drawing the reader into this new world. Or you might start with dialogue and then narrate the next few paragraphs to define who and where your characters are and what is going on. Narrative, like dialogue, advances your story. Narration works hand in hand with viewpoint, so that the writer can merge a descriptive passage smoothly into the key character’s thoughts and actions.

The setting for your story is obviously very important. And the settings will change from scene to scene. The narrative voice will portray these settings, letting the reader in on this world, which so far is a product of your imagination. Your narration as you tell the story must engage and interest the reader. It must describe scenes and characters and stir the emotions of the reader.

Through narrative you set the scene, you describe what is going on, and you move the story forward. You show the reader what you can see in your mind. You have to paint the picture and open up this imaginary world where these imaginary people are battling with the many obstacles littering their path. But be careful not to sit back in your typist’s chair as you, the author, describe this imaginary scene through your eyes. Stick closely to your viewpoint character and let the narrative go hand in hand with their emotions.

Your own style of writing narrative will reveal itself the more you write. It is down to you to polish that style until you create scenes which are vivid, yet not too flowery. Too much and you will be writing ‘purple passages’ which are gushing with sentiment. Too little and your story could be dull.

There is a very fine line however in the narration of the story and the author talking – giving the reader that extra bit of information that suddenly jars them from the world of make believe and allows them to hear the author’s voice. You as author, should stay well hidden – have faith and trust in your characters. If the author goes beyond the narration and pops in their own thoughts, opinions, or additional information, it instantly jolts the reader from this fictional world and reminds them that the author is still there, pulling the strings. The reader does not want that. This story is between them and the characters, the author must remain out of sight.

Find your narrative voice and let that voice speak throughout the story, linking the passages of dialogue, keeping the whole thing flowing smoothly. If you are tempted to add in some piece of random information for good measure, or to start preaching or stating an opinion, then hit the delete key and find some natural way for your characters to pass this information on, either through their actions, their thoughts or through their dialogue.

When writing description avoid writing the obvious. Pick on the most poignant aspect of a person, place or thing. Tell the reader something they didn’t know. Find your own unique ways of showing and describing. Don’t let descriptions slow the story down.

You might want to get across what your hero or heroine looks like. You may have spent hours researching the outfits they are wearing. But to write paragraphs of description can have the reader impatient to know what these two characters are actually going to say to one another. So, blend your descriptions with movement of the characters so the story is continually moving forward, and at the same time supplying the reader with all the necessary imagery in their mind’s eye.

Location

Be imaginative when setting the scene. Avoid the obvious or find something different or unusual about a normal setting. There’s no point in wasting words to describe something everyone knows about. Pick out an element that makes it different and describe that instead.

 Look for contrasts to the ‘norm’ for the locations in your stories. For example, the setting for a ghost story might well be in a ramshackle old house in the middle of nowhere, but it could be equally as atmospheric if the ghost haunts somewhere as ordinary as an office, a library, a hospital ward, a school sports hall.

Why not make your location in acute contrast to the emotional theme, for example love blossoming amidst the hostilities of a war or a riot; or murder at a joyful family celebration.

As you narrate and describe a place, remember it’s not just what can be seen, but the sounds and smells of that place too. Keep your viewpoint character close as you describe a setting. Wherever possible, let it be how the character perceives it – and that will be governed by their mood at that moment.

Today’s Exercise:

Using just narrative write a paragraph or two of a particular setting when the weather is good and your protagonist is happy.

Then write the same setting when the weather is far from good and your protagonist is struggling to cope with the situation and their mood is far from good. Try and portray how their mood can affect the outlook on the same setting.  

Tomorrow: Looking at atmosphere and mood.

Thank you Rob Tysall, Tysall's Photography for the image, taken originally from our trip to Switzerland to write about Search and Rescue.