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Posts Tagged Narrative Writing

The 7 Ds Of Narrative Writing In Primary Schools (ix) Conclusion

On December 12, 2013   /   Articles   /   Leave a comment

The English language is a living communicative tool. Story writing is an art and a craft as well. As an art, it gives immense pleasure to both the writer and the reader. As a craft, it means that one must strive to develop writing skills from one level to the next through practice, exposure to good model stories and constructive reflection.
Beginning writers should not be fazed by the number of mistakes made, how so difficult it is to generate good ideas and the limited vocabulary bank you have. Read widely and be conscious of how others put words into sentences and how sentences become great gems of ideas.

Intermediate level writers should aim to be proficient writers, sharing your writings with friends and not forgetting to hone your craft by experimenting with various writing styles and explore the wonderful ‘world of writings’ out there. Happy writing!



Further Reading:
(i)Introduction
(ii) Describe the Scene
(iii) Describing People (Characters)
(iv)Describing Action(s)
(v)Dscribing Feelings (Emotions)
(vi)Using Dialogues
(vii)Be Different (Beginning & Ending)
(viii)Detecting Errors (Nothing Is Perfect)

Mr. James Chow (Nov 2013)
English Tutor
Kent Ridge Tutors @ Jurong

For more information, please contact us via

Jurong West Branch (KRTC@JW)
Email : jurongwest@krtc.com.sg
Hotline : (+65) 6397 0444

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The 7 Ds Of Narrative Writing In Primary Schools (viii) Detecting Errors

On December 11, 2013   /   Articles   /   Leave a comment

(How to) Detect Errors (Nothing Is Perfect)?

Ideally, every piece of writing should begin with a draft. But in class and during exams without the luxury of time, only 50 minutes, one has to plan, write and adapt as the writing progresses from paragraph to paragraph seamlessly and coherently. This is where the skill and ability to read, check and change are useful and essential tools for beginning and intermediate writers. Even adult writers need to re-check their writings in their daily work as well as in everyday emails.

Some good pointers are:

check after completing one or two paragraphs instead of waiting till the last sentence as there will be too much to screen through and you will surely miss something as you read through chunks of text. By checking after every one or two paragraphs, it keeps you on track and focused.

develop an effective habit of checking spelling, punctuation and the use of pronouns as you move from sentence to sentence; with practice, it can be done quite effortlessly.

zoom into tenses, structures and syntax next. This really requires a certain level of language competency but anything less would produce a less than satisfactory piece of writing, no matter how much good ideas had gone into the whole process of developing the story.

look again at how the story develops; are the ideas logical and relevant to the plot and are there any gaps which need to be addressed. It is good to be imaginative but being incredible is an ‘overkill’.



Further Reading:
(i)Introduction
(ii) Describe the Scene
(iii) Describing People (Characters)
(iv)Describing Action(s)
(v)Dscribing Feelings (Emotions)
(vi)Using Dialogues
(vii)Be Different (Beginning & Ending)
(ix)Conclusion

Mr. James Chow (Nov 2013)
English Tutor
Kent Ridge Tutors @ Jurong

For more information, please contact us via

Jurong West Branch (KRTC@JW)
Email : jurongwest@krtc.com.sg
Hotline : (+65) 6397 0444

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The 7 Ds Of Narrative Writing In Primary Schools (vii) Be Different

On December 10, 2013   /   Articles   /   Leave a comment

(How to) Be Different (Beginning & Ending)?

Great and successful movies have something special that tells a story and filmed in a refreshing and different way, and it is this freshness in the presentation that somehow mesmerises and also surprises. All too common beginnings are like, ‘It was a dark and stormy night’, ‘One day last week’, ‘After school, my friends and I’ or ‘I woke up bright and early’.

Besides being dull, most students would also be using such simple and unimaginative phrases to start a story or a new paragraph. Better examples are :

Beginnings

The glow of the orange setting sun rested between the hills as darkness slowly and quietly descended upon our campsite while hundreds of night creatures stirred noisily from their slumber.

“Come here everyone! Look, what I’ve found and it’s heavy too!” gasped May as she slumped to the ground, breathless and her face stained with streaks of dirt and beads of perspiration.

Never again would I leave the house without my mother’s permission. I could still remember very vividly how that unforgettable day began so innocently but little did I realise that it was the calm before the perfect storm.

Avoid ending your writing like what you would do in class writing. Common endings are : ‘I was given a reward for ….’, ‘The Principal praised me during assembly for. . .’ or ‘I went home and told my parents about the good deed . . .’. Be more creative!

Endings

We ran without once looking back at the eerie building, well aware that there was someone or something behind the window curtains watching us leave. Needless to say, we never went back ever again.

The red-faced boys sank to the ground and bowed their heads, too ashamed to face their less than happy parents. With a wise look and in her usual motherly voice, the Principal smiled and said, “The more you have, the more you want.”

As I looked at the letter of appreciation, I was glad that all my effort has paid off. Even though I did not win but by putting up a good fight till the very end, I have proved that I am capable of hard work and once again proved that ‘Honesty is the best policy’.



Further Reading:
(i)Introduction
(ii) Describe the Scene
(iii) Describing People (Characters)
(iv)Describing Action(s)
(v)Dscribing Feelings (Emotions)
(vi)Using Dialogues
(viii)Detecting Errors (Nothing Is Perfect)
(ix)Conclusion

Mr. James Chow (Nov 2013)
English Tutor
Kent Ridge Tutors @ Jurong

For more information, please contact us via

Jurong West Branch (KRTC@JW)
Email : jurongwest@krtc.com.sg
Hotline : (+65) 6397 0444

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The 7 Ds Of Narrative Writing In Primary Schools (vi) Using Dialogues

On December 8, 2013   /   Articles   /   2 Comments

(How to) Use Dialogues?

Dialogue, also known as direct speech is a powerful tool in writing as it enhances the flavour, adds personality, encourages thinking, creates suspense and can turn a dull piece of work into a great reading piece. It can also give details to the characters’ personalities and emotions. Beginners would need to learn the skills of punctuation and grammatical conventions before using direct speeches in writing. However overusing dialogues can overload the reader and distract how thethe story should develop as unnecessary information only adds to the word count.

Besides using ‘said’, ‘asked’ or ‘answered’ in forming direct speeches, you can build up a bank of ‘said’ words for use in your writing. These are :

argued yelled commented requested demanded
muttered shouted protested exclaimed squealed
mumbled whispered replied stammered

To write effectively using direct speech, one needs to imagine the way in which the characters would talk. Some expressions would be short and ‘loud’ like “Oh No!” or “What is going on?”. Other forms of direct speech may hint at revealing how the story would develop in the next paragraph; “If you do that, you are putting everyone in mortal danger!” or “What are we going to tell mother when she comes home?”

But remember to put in the correct punctuation marks like commas, exclamation and question marks, full-stops, opening and closing speech marks at the right places.



Further Reading:
(i)Introduction
(ii) Describe the Scene
(iii) Describing People (Characters)
(iv)Describing Action(s)
(v)Dscribing Feelings (Emotions)
(vii)Be Different (Beginning & Ending)
(viii)Detecting Errors (Nothing Is Perfect)
(ix)Conclusion

Mr. James Chow (Nov 2013)
English Tutor
Kent Ridge Tutors @ Jurong

For more information, please contact us via

Jurong West Branch (KRTC@JW)
Email : jurongwest@krtc.com.sg
Hotline : (+65) 6397 0444

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The 7 Ds Of Narrative Writing In Primary Schools (v) Describing Feelings

On December 7, 2013   /   Articles   /   3 Comments

(How to) Describe Feelings (Emotions)?

What makes a piece of writing great would be how actions and the characters inter-play in a story. More than that, it is important to make the characters come alive, putting some ‘real’ feelings into humans as the story unfolds. The common feelings and emotions would include happiness, anger, sadness, fear and excitement.

Here are some examples :

– squealed in delight and jumped around ecstatically like children in a candy store
– his face broke into a toothy grin and his eyes were filled with tears of joy
– putting her tiny arms around her relieved mother, she looked miserable but safe
– in between soft pitiful sobs, pearls of tears flowed down her red and tender cheeks
– bowed his head in shame, staring at an invincible object on the floor in uneasy silence
– his body shook with uncontrollable rage as he clenched his fists tightly to control his anger yet his nostrils was flaring and eyes bulging, about to explode at any moment



Further Reading:
(i)Introduction
(ii) Describe the Scene
(iii) Describing People (Characters)
(iv)Describing Action(s)
(vi)Using Dialogues
(vii)Be Different (Beginning & Ending)
(viii)Detecting Errors (Nothing Is Perfect)
(ix)Conclusion

Mr. James Chow (Nov 2013)
English Tutor
Kent Ridge Tutors @ Jurong

For more information, please contact us via

Jurong West Branch (KRTC@JW)
Email : jurongwest@krtc.com.sg
Hotline : (+65) 6397 0444

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The 7 Ds Of Narrative Writing In Primary Schools (i) Introduction

On December 3, 2013   /   Articles   /   8 Comments

Narratives are stories about characters in fictitious situations. In such writings, the writer is like a film producer, trying to capture the readers’ attention through words and sentences that convey actions, plots, meanings, feelings and connections in a skilful manner.

In schools, students are given different composition topics to practise which require them to generate logical and interesting ideas, develop their language competencies and experiment with various styles of developing good story writing skills. Writing is more than just stating what someone did at a certain place due to certain circumstances. More than that, writing must ‘enlighten’ and ‘illustrate’ the action, people and scenario like a movie does.

If a student writes – ‘The boy tripped and fell into the big drain’. A reader or a teacher would want to know more :

what kind of a boy is he? – naughty, playful, athletic, careless or clumsy
how does he look like? – skinny with spiky hair and huge bookish glasses
what tripped him? – a rock, his shoe laces, a cat or was he day dreaming
what kind of drain? – smelly, dirty drain with disgusting and filthy rubbish
where is this drain? – beside a busy road, in front of the shops or near home
how would he feel? – foolish, terrified, embarrassed, stunned or bewildered

The following pointers serve to provide and imbue beginning and intermediate young writers with some useful tips on writing well and writing meaningfully in class or for exams.

1. Describe The Scene
2. Describing People (Characters)
3. Describing Action(s)
4. Describing Feelings (Emotions)
5. Using Dialogues
6. Be Different (Beginning & Ending)
7. Detecting Errors (Nothing Is Perfect)

Which I will further elaborate in the following posts.

Further Reading:
(ii) Describe the Scene
(iii) Describing People (Characters)
(iv)Describing Action(s)
(v)Dscribing Feelings (Emotions)
(vi)Using Dialogues
(vii)Be Different (Beginning & Ending)
(viii)Detecting Errors (Nothing Is Perfect)
(ix)Conclusion

Mr. James Chow (Nov 2013)
English Tutor
Kent Ridge Tutors @ Jurong

For more information, please contact us via

Jurong West Branch (KRTC@JW)
Email : jurongwest@krtc.com.sg
Hotline : (+65) 6397 0444

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