A narrative is a story. A narrative can be fiction or nonfiction. It must have a plot. A plot is a situation in which a character is faced with a problem and must take action.
The narrative that you are about to write will use dialogue to help tell the story. Dialogue is a conversation between characters. It is also a way of telling a story. For example, the dialogue below shows how Peter got detention. Mr. Jones, the science teacher, motioned to Pete to come toward him.
"Peter, I'm concerned about your science test."
"I tried my best," Peter muttered.
"I doubt that very much, Peter. I'm giving you-"
"Don't say it, Mr. Jones!"
"Detention. It's for your own good, Peter. You need to take your studies more seriously."
This dialogue tells us that Peter did badly on his test, that he hates detention, and that Mr. Jones just put him in detention. If the writer had used narration, instead of dialogue, it might have sounded like this:
After class, Mr. Jones motioned to Peter to come to him. He told Peter that he had done very poorly on the test. Peter said that he had tried his best, but it was no use. Mr. Jones put Peter in detention, saying it was for Peter's own good.
There is never a right or wrong way to tell a story, but most readers like to read good dialogue. It is a lively way to tell a story and lets you hear the characters speak for themselves. Now it's your turn to write a narrative with dialogue!
When you write your narrative, use dialogue to tell parts of your story. Your narrative should be about four pages long.
Before you write a narrative,
Think about what will be the best way to tell your story.
Use a Story Map, like the one below, to plan your story. Be sure to include the: Title, Setting, Characters, Problem, Action and Ending. Create extra circles if you need to.
Now that you've come up with a plan for your story, it's time to write a first draft! Use your story map to help you remember all the details you want to include. If you can, try to write the whole story all at once. Don't worry about any spelling or grammar mistakes. Since this is a first draft, you don't even need to make sure that your handwriting is neat!
You might have to write several drafts before you are happy with your story. Be patient. Professional writers write their stories over and over again before they are happy with their plot, setting, characters and conflict. The more you write and rewrite, the better your story will be.
Writing dialogue can be tricky. Try to make your characters sound like real people. You might want to re-read parts of your favorite books to learn tricks from other writers. Reading a dialogue between characters should be easy and fast for the reader. So pay special attention to how you show who is saying what. You don't want your reader to get confused about who is speaking. Try saying the dialogue out loud to yourself to see if it sounds right.
Also pay attention to how to punctuate dialogue. Your teacher will explain how he or she wants you to do this. Look back the example of dialogue above. All dialogue should be in quotation marks. You should always place a comma before or after the dialogue, depending on whether it starts or ends the sentence. Refer to the following two examples:
"I tried my best," Peter muttered.
The teacher replied, "Your best is just not good enough."
Read your narrative over. You might even read it aloud to a friend or teacher. You and your friend or teacher should decide:
Rewrite your narrative so that it fully answers these questions.
You should also edit your work by checking your spelling and punctuation. Look up any words that you are unsure of in the dictionary
Now copy out the final version of your narrative in your best handwriting or print it out on a computer. Read through your final draft twice. The first time, check that the story is exactly the way you want it. (If it isn't, go back and make more changes.) If you like your final draft, check that there are no spelling or punctuation errors. Be sure to put your name, the date and title on the first page. Now, you can share your story with your friends!