narrative technique "toolbox"
Some techniques, or strategies, that you can use in your narrative to make your memory come alive is by using:
Similes
Similes use the words "like" or "as" in order to compare two things. For example:
Interior monologue
Interior monologue means a character's inner thoughts. For example:
Repetition
The repetition of words, phrase, or sentences. For example:
Strong, specific words
Authors are very purposeful when they choose words. They try to use words that give readers a stronger and more specific idea of what happened, along with convey a particular tone and mood. For example:
In this passage, instead of just saying "In blind fear, I let the stick fly, feeling it HIT against a boy's skull," Richard Wright choose to say "FEELING IT CRACK against a boy's skull." This implies more of a violence than the word "hit" would. Also, instead of saying, "I swung again, HITTING another skull, Wright says, "LAMMING another skull," which means hitting something really hard. If Wright had just used the word "hit," readers would have had a much weaker image of the moment and the mood.
Read the document below for more tips on using strong and specific words in your narrative:
Similes
Similes use the words "like" or "as" in order to compare two things. For example:
- "Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one."
- "sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope."
- "...the red sweater's still sitting there like a big red mountain."
Interior monologue
Interior monologue means a character's inner thoughts. For example:
- "In my head I'm thinking how long till lunchtime, how long till I can take the red sweater and throw it over the school yard fence, or even leave it hanging on a parking meter, or bunch it up into a little ball and toss it in the alley."
- "If I were beaten at home, there was absolutely nothing that I could do about it; but if I were beaten in these streets, I had a chance to fight and defend myself."
Repetition
The repetition of words, phrase, or sentences. For example:
- "Not mine, not mine, not mine."
- “They’ll beat me; they’ll beat me,” I said.
Strong, specific words
Authors are very purposeful when they choose words. They try to use words that give readers a stronger and more specific idea of what happened, along with convey a particular tone and mood. For example:
- "In blind fear, I let the stick fly, feeling it crack against a boy’s skull. I swung again, lamming another skull, then another."
In this passage, instead of just saying "In blind fear, I let the stick fly, feeling it HIT against a boy's skull," Richard Wright choose to say "FEELING IT CRACK against a boy's skull." This implies more of a violence than the word "hit" would. Also, instead of saying, "I swung again, HITTING another skull, Wright says, "LAMMING another skull," which means hitting something really hard. If Wright had just used the word "hit," readers would have had a much weaker image of the moment and the mood.
Read the document below for more tips on using strong and specific words in your narrative:
Dialogue
Dialogue is conversation between two or more people. For example:
“It’s those same boys,” I said. “They’ll beat me.”
“You’ve got to get over that,” she said. “Now, go on.”
“I’m scared,” I said.
“Go on and don’t pay any attention to them,” she said.
Read the document below for more tips on incorporating dialogue into your personal narrative:
Dialogue is conversation between two or more people. For example:
“It’s those same boys,” I said. “They’ll beat me.”
“You’ve got to get over that,” she said. “Now, go on.”
“I’m scared,” I said.
“Go on and don’t pay any attention to them,” she said.
Read the document below for more tips on incorporating dialogue into your personal narrative:
Descriptive sensory language
You can describe something in detail by showing us what you saw, smelled, taste, felt, and heard. For example:
Please use the documents below to help you include sensory language into your narrative:
You can describe something in detail by showing us what you saw, smelled, taste, felt, and heard. For example:
- "I put one arm through one sleeve of the sweater that smells like cottage cheese [smell], and then the other arm through the other and stand there with my arms apart like if the sweater hurts me and it does, all itchy [touch] and full of germs that aren't even mine." (Note: This line also contains similes!)
Please use the documents below to help you include sensory language into your narrative:
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Click on the link below to download a paper version of some common narrative techniques, their definitions, and examples.
| Narrative Technique Reference Sheet |
