写作技巧

● Narration

There are four types of writing styles:

Expository, Descriptive, Persuasive and Narrative.

Often, the word narrative is synonymous with story. A narrative is the story (fiction or non-fiction) told in an order. Sometimes, there is a narrator, a character or series of characters, who tell the story. Sometimes, as with most non-fiction, the author himself/herself in the narrator.

You are narrators of your own lives all the time. Something happens in class. You go to lunch; then, you tell the details that are important. The story that you tell is a narrative, which is shaped by details. These details offer clues about the author’s purpose.

Every work of literature, and much nonfiction narrative, is based on the following conflicts. When you write a story or relate a true event, you should identify the conflicts inherent in your composition and apply them as you write.

1. Person vs. Fate / God    2. Person vs. Self

3. Person vs. Person       4. Person vs. Society

5. Person vs. Nature       6. Person vs. Supernatural

7. Person vs. Technology    (by Mark Nichol)

Three principles for narrative writing:

●To involve readers in the story. It is more interesting to recreate an incident for readers than to simply tell about it.

●Find a generalization from the story, which is the only way the writer's personal experience will take on meaning for readers. The generalization does not have to encompass humanity as a whole; it can concern the writer, men, women, or children of various ages and backgrounds.

●Although the main component of a narrative is the story, details must be carefully selected to support, explain, and enhance the story.