Telling stories

Email : HSCsupport@gmail.com Please allow for a 24 hour turnaround.

Check our blog: http://eruditehsc.wordpress.com/ Subscribe in a reader

Experience through language

Module A: Experience through language

Elective: Telling stories

Students examine narrative and its use in different

They also study

the conventions of narrative
elements of narratives and responses to those elements
the ability of narrative to shape the responder's perception of others and the world.

At a basic level:

story is defined in Collins Australian Pocket Dictionary as the description of a sequence of events - real or imaginary - told or written in prose or verse.
some synonyms include:

account	anecdote	chronicle	fable
legend	myth	narrative	novel
parable	record	report	rumour
statement	tale	version	yarn

Some examples are

account: witness statement	anecdote: interior monologue; dramatic monologue;	chronicle: travel books; autobiography; biography; memoir	fable: Aesop
legend: urban legends; King Arthur and the sword in the stone; the legend of Sleepy Hollow (US)	myth: stories of the dreamtime; stories of the Ancient Greeks and Romans	narrative: letter; diary entry; short story; poem	novel
parable: the Prodigal Son; Asanga (Buddhist)	record: registry of births, marriages and deaths; school records of attendance	report: newspaper report; company annual report	rumour
statement	tale: fairy tales; Canterbury Tales; old wives' tales	version: the King James Bible and the Common Sense Bible	yarn: 'shaggy dog' joke

The conventions of the narrative

What distinguishes a story from the body of natural experience with its ups and downs is the composer's ability to select certain events from this body of experience and shape them to suggest continuity and connections between them.

To over simplify matters, the basics could be seen as:

the plot or sequence of events that make up the action of the narrative.
the characters, and
the setting.

In addition, the nature and role of the narrator must also be considered. Point of view or perspective is therefore a consideration.

Did the composer choose:

first person narrative, or
third person narrative.
Is the narrator and active participant in the action?
Or is the narrator unobtrusive and impersonal?
May be the narrator is god like or omniscient, knowing more than any individual character could know?
Or the narrator can be created to be unreliable or even naive?

Another feature to think about is tension (or conflict and tension).

This is the essence of a narrative. It moves the action along by involving the characters who must respond to sequence of events they become involved in and interact with other characters.

The narrative will also reach a climax from which there will be a resolution of the events of the narrative.

The way in which the composer constructs the narrative is part of the craft of making meaning. You will need to determine the composer's purpose in telling this story as they have done.

If you are focusing on the short story form, you may find the principles of Edgar Allan Poe, a classic American short story writer from the nineteenth century useful as a starting point for discussion:

the short story should create a single impression;
it should be capable of being read in a single sitting;
every word should contribute to the total effect;
the effect should be evident in the opening sentence and developed throughout the story;
the story should end with the climax, and
only essential characters should be included.