Overview

A piece of writing that relates a sequence of events is called a narrative. A narrative may be factual or fictional. All narratives include characters, setting, plot, and point of view. In addition, a narrative contains story elements such as the problem, or complication, and the solution, or resolution, of the problem.

During the prewriting phase, consider real-life experiences as possible topics for your narrative. To generate good ideas for a topic, think about complications such as external problems, internal conflicts, actions, and motivations, and about resolutions such as achievements and positive life changes.

Once you have a story idea, create an outline. Introduce the characters, present the conflict, develop the plot, and provide a climax and then a resolution to the conflict.

You can use dialogue—a series of direct quotations—in your narrative to create a sense of time and place, tell about characters, foreshadow, or move the plot along. In addition, you can use anecdotes, which are short narratives within longer stories, to make specific points in your longer narrative. You can also use anecdotes to support the theme, or underlying message, of your narrative.