Narrative Arc
What is the initial stage of the narrative arc called and what is it for?
Orientation
To introduce characters and setting while also engaging the reader.
How many physical senses might an author write about when creating characterisation?
6:
Sight, sound, touch, smell, taste, personal feeling - within the body.
What is the purpose of a semi-colon?
The semi-colon is used to create a slightly stronger connection between independent clauses than a full stop would allow.
It also works to list phrases that use commas.
What tense has the following sentence been written in?
As she smiled to herself mischievously, Harriet couldn't help imagining the cry of pain and fear that would escape Dan's mouth if he sat on the pin.
This sentence is in present tense.
The main verb is 'couldn't help'.
Smiled is a participle, drawing tense from the main verb.
Sat is a participle, drawing tense from the main verb.
All in!
Finish this sentence with the funniest ending:
Strolling into the room with a smug grin, ___
Highest laugh wins.
To build tension and create an engaging story that your audience wants to read.
If a character in a story notices that someone is being beaten on the side of the road, but does nothing to help, how have they been characterised? Why?
This person has been characterised as selfish, weak, and maybe cruel.
In our society, we value equity and peace for all, and so scorn those who don't help others in desperate need.
Punctuate this sentence from Anh Do's The Happiest Refugee:
why on earth would they want you
"Why on Earth would they want you?"
Move the dependent clause in the following sentence to a new place:
While jogging to the store, Connie's mother desperately dodged the oncoming vehicle.
Connie's mother, while jogging to the store, desperately dodged the oncoming vehicle.
Connie's mother desperately dodged the oncoming vehicle while jogging to the story.
All in!
Write an em-dash sentence.
e.g.
The boy just couldn't -- not in a million years -- talk to that girl he's been making eyes at all term.
What is the narrative arc for The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?
Orientation: Air raids on London.
Complication: The Pevensie children travel to the country to live with the professor. There, they discover a magical wardrobe that transports them to another land.
Rising Tension: The family discover that they are a part of the prophecy and work with the rebels of Narnia to overcome the tyrannical reign of Jadis, the White Witch.
Climax: The children engage in a final battle with Jadis and, with the help of Aslan, overcome her forces and take on the rule of Narnia.
Resolution: The children grow old in Narnia. Eventually, they stumble back upon the wardrobe portal, head through, and become children once more.
What is the best way of creating characterisation?
What three punctuation points are interchangable for creating interrupting clauses (they just add different levels of nuance).
The comma ,
The em-dash --
The parentheses ()
How is a sentence named when there is a dependent clause or adverb at the start of the sentence?
Grammatically marked.
All in!
Pick a character from a text of your choice and write a short statement that justifies why they are the best character.
Most persuasive answer wins.
Mr Watts and Miss Walker to decide.
Is the narrative arc the only structure humans use to tell stories? Why/Why not?
No.
A lot of societies who believe in reincarnation and the cyclical nature of time use a narrative structure that looks like a cirle (a bit like the hero's journey).
The narrative arc of today looks quite a lot different to the narrative arc of the past, too, as our society becomes more impatient, and less interested in superfluous information.
How has Anh Do characterised his father through the following passage in The Happiest Refugee:
One day, my dad was driving around and saw some feed for sale by the side of the road. It wasn't just a bargain, it was the bargain of the year. "So cheap, have to buy it."Do's father is characterised as a bargain hunter. As well as this, there is a subtle hint of mockery in Do's tone, indicating that his father might be a little but stupid when it comes to bargain hunting.
What does the following punctuation mark represent in narrative texts:
***
100 bonus points: What is it called?
This mark represents a break in the flow of time of the narrative.
This is called a 'dinkus'.
Identify the largest noun group in the following sentence:
The absolute fury experienced by Mr Fortune at being cut off by another driver on his way to the shops was extinguished immediately upon his sight of the most outrageously beautiful, perfectly coifed and dyed, exquisitely styled poodle to ever stroll from the small dog grooming business across the street.
The absolute fury experienced by Mr Fortune at being cut off by another driver on his way to the shops (20) was extinguished immediately upon his sight of the most outrageously beautiful, perfectly coifed and dyed, exquisitely styled poodle to ever stroll from the small dog grooming business across the street (26).
All in!
Write a complex sentence with two dependent clauses.
E.g.
Jordan, the boy who sits across from me on the bus, is always listening to his music on headphones frayed from use, bobbing his head in time to the tinny tones.
All in!
Continue the narrative arc:
Glistening in the gloomy lamplight, the walls of the cave sweated rivulets of silver along the length of the tunnel. With each step, the edge of the golden glow of the lamp seemed to trip over yet another vein of the metal as it oozed viscously from cracks in flaking walls of rock.
Gren’s eye’s bulged at the wealth within reach. There was enough silver here to buy a kingdom, they thought. Two kingdoms! And it was as though the dirt and rock wanted it to be discovered.
At the drip and hiss of molten silver hitting the floor, Gren lurched forwards, his goal set. At the rate the silver was pouring in, he could drown here. At least, if he lived through the burning agony of being buried in hot, molten silver long enough to asphyxiate.
He had to leave. Now.
Gren ran.
Mr Watts and Miss Walker will decide.
All in!
Write a brief piece that characterises Mr Watts.
Mr Watts will award points accordingly.
Mr Watts will award points accordingly.
All in!
Punctuate the following sentence from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets:
mrs weasley let go of harry who hesitated for a moment then walked over to the desk and laid upon it the sorting hat the ruby encrusted sword and what remained of riddles diary
Mrs. Weasley let go of Harry, who hesitated for a moment, then walked over to the desk and laid upon it the Sorting Hat, the ruby encrusted sword, and what remained of Riddle’s diary.
All in!
Create a series of ever decreasing sentence complexity to develop tension.
Mr Watts and Miss Walker will decide the best responses.
All in!
Punctuate the following sentence from Amor Towles A Gentleman in Moscow:
if in part the count had been trying to express to vasily how in our golden years a passage of time can be so fleet and leave so little impression upon our memory that it is almost as if it never occurred well then here was a perfect example
If in part, the Count had been trying to express to Vasily how, in our golden years, a passage of time can be so fleet and leave so little impression upon our memorty, that it is almost as if it never occurred -- well then, here was a perfect example.