A TYPE OF TEXT: A NARRATIVE
What is a narrative? • A narrative is a text that tells a fictional story or fantasy, a factual-based story, or a story combining fact and fantasy.
Purpose - It is used to amuse/entertain the readers that is to gain and hold the reader’s interest in a story. - It is used to teach and inform the writer's reflections on experience - It can be imaginary or factual (fairy tales, mysteries, fables, romances, adventure stories, mythhs and legends), or it can also be a complicated event that leads to a crises that finally find a solution
Generic structure of narrative • Orientation (a setting of characters & a plot) • Complication (problems are arising) • Resolution (solution of problems) • Coda (moral values taken from the story)
• An orientation contains who or what is in the story, when the story is taking place, and where the action is happening. • A complication contains a chain of problems or conflicts that influences what will happen in the story
• A resolution contains how the characters solve the problem arisen in the complication. It can be ended by happy or sad ending. • A coda provides a comment or moral values based on what has been learned from the story
Language features • Presented in spoken or written form. • Told/written in first or third person. • Told/written in past tense or sometimes in present tense. • Chronological (plot or content have a chronology of events that happened in a particular order). • Main participants are characters with recognisable qualities, often stereotypical and contrasting (hero/villain). • Typical characters, settings and events are used in each genre.
How to write: • Decide on your intended style and impact. • Plan before writing/telling to organise chronology and ensure main events lead towards the ending. • Visualise the setting and main characters to help you describe a few key details. • Find some different ways of telling what characters think and feel, e.g. describe what they did or said.
Narrative text types: • Biographies (depending on text structure), drama, diaries, fables, fantasies, folk tales, historical fiction, legends, mysteries, myths, novels, personal narratives, plays, poetry, mysteries, science fiction, short stories, sitcoms, tall tales, etc.