Narrative Anthology Sample - English Teacher Guru · 2015. 1. 27. · Narrative Writing Anthology © L & E Williams Holdings Pty Ltd, 2015 All stories were written by Lindsay Williams

Narrative Writing Anthology

© L & E Williams Holdings Pty Ltd, 2015 All stories were written by Lindsay Williams.

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Table of Contents Table of Contents ................................................................................ 2

Introduction ........................................................................................ 4

Story 1: The Girl with Golden Hair: A Prequel ................................. 5 Version 1 (349 words) ................................................................................... 5 Version 2 (461 words) ................................................................................... 6

Story 2: Incursion .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Version 1 (332 words) ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Version 2 (552 words) ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

Story 3: The Choice ................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Version 1 (393 words) ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Version 2 (505 words) ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

Story 4: The Sink Hole ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Version 1 (639 words) ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Version 2 (820 words) ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

Story 5: No Service .................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Story 6: The Red Flower .......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Story 7: Angelica ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Story 8: Band Aid ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Appendices: Overview of Helpful Resources for the Writing of Narratives ........................................................................................... 7

Appendix One: Features of a Compressed Narrative (Handout) ........... 8

Appendix 2: Brainstorming and Developing Ideas for a Narrative (Explanation) ....................................................................................... 9 Brainstorming: What if? And then? Questions ........................................................ 9 Brainstorming: Making Connections ......................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Sorting and Classifying Ideas for a Narrative .............. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Appendix 3: Templates for Brainstorming and Developing Ideas for a Narrative ................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. (a) Brainstorming: What if? And then? Questions ........ Error! Bookmark not defined. (b) Making Connections ......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. (c) Sorting and Classifying Ideas for a Narrative .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Appendix 4: Exemplar Narrative Showing Structure (Global and Phases) ............................................................................................... 9

Appendix 5: Planning Template for a Narrative .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Appendix 6: Feedback Checklist (NAPLAN Narrative Writing) ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.

Publishing Details ............................................................................ 11



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Copyright Notice and Credits ............................................................ 11



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Introduction Narrative, a type of story whose purpose is to resolve a complication, is important for students to read and write in school. Not only does it explicitly encourage students to be creative, but it also allows students to enter into other worlds, to walk around in the skin of others. In other words, it is one way of helping students be more understanding and accepting of the lives of others. However, the narrative writing students undertake at school will be much shorter than that included in published anthologies; stories written for school assessment (including testing) tend to be 300-‐700 words maximum depending on the year level. Writing the more compressed-‐style of narrative requires special skills and needs to be taught explicitly. Indeed, when analysing the work of students who receive very high score in demand writing tasks (e.g. NAPLAN in Australia and the QCS Writing Task in Queensland more specifically), it becomes obvious that there are certain elements these successful stories have in common. In particular:

• the complication can be resolved in a short time frame. Put another way, acting out the story would usually take about ten minutes of real time.

• the stories are based around a crisis or life-‐changing moment in the life of the main character.

• the stories start in medias res, i.e. ‘in the middle of things’. • there tends to be one main character, two at the most. • stories of this type tend to be focused on psychology and emotion, not

action. In fact, action-‐oriented stories tend not to work successfully when students have to write very short narratives.

These elements should not be seen as some sort of recipe that will lead to automatic success, but rather a set of guiding principles. The stories in this anthology are designed to illustrate these principles for varying word lengths. In addition, whilst not written by students, they are all modelled on the types of stories that students achieving high scores on externally marked writing tasks are producing. It should be noted that lengthy description (e.g. of character and setting) is not a feature of any of these stories. In fact, in stories achieving high scores, description is kept to a minimum and, where it does occur, is concise. Only description absolutely necessary to the story is included. Finally, this anthology is underpinned by the principle that students should be challenged: if teachers set the bar high and then provide an appropriate level of support, then students are likely to achieve more highly. So, the stories in this collection are deliberately intended to be aspirational. All of these stories have been used extensively with teachers and students in workshops and the response to them has been overwhelmingly positive. Enjoy reading these stories and encouraging students to write their own!



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Story 1: The Girl with Golden Hair: A Prequel A well-‐known, western fairy tale forms the basis of this first story (which one will become obvious in the final sentence). As the title suggests, this is intended as a prequel, providing a possible explanation for the actions of the main character. You will notice that two versions of the story are provided. The first is a shorter, edited version; this is the approximate length that is likely to be reached in short, demand writing tasks such as NAPLAN. The second version is the longer, original draft. Compare the two versions and identify which details the author considered crucial to retain in the shorter version, and which were considered dispensable. In groups, discuss what has been lost and gained in the editing process. Do you think the final version could have been edited so that it would be even shorter? Note: Longer versions are also provided for Stories 2, 3 and 4. In addition, on first read, it might seem that this story breaks the ten-‐minute rule (see page 3). However, the second paragraph is actually a flashback providing brief, but necessary back-‐story. As you read other stories in the collection, take note of how flashbacks are incorporated and evaluate their effectiveness. Finally, identify other traditional tales (not just western ones) that might lend themselves to a similar treatment.

Version 1 (349 words) The gnarled bark of the towering pines resembled faces, watching the girl stumble as she ran across the rough ground of the darkened forest. Earlier, after a terrible argument with her parents, the girl had run away from her home. Planning to hide, she entered the woods at their back fence, moving deeper and deeper into the gloom. Coming at last to a clear, swift moving stream, she flopped on the soft, mossy bank, and fell asleep to the burbling of water. Hours later she awoke in the dark. The girl stood up and heard strange noises: hoots, howls and growls. Twigs snapped nearby and feet seemed to be padding towards her. She screamed, turned to flee – and fell head first into the cold water of the stream. Struggling to her feet again, she clambered up the opposite bank. Trying to escape the unseen menace, the girl ran deeper into the woods, occasionally stumbling over small, lichen-‐covered rocks and knotted roots. When she could run no further, she stopped and listened. Nothing. She slumped onto the fallen trunk of a tree, relieved. However, the trunk -‐ resting precariously at the edge of a steep hillside -‐ began to roll; the girl tumbled and somersaulted close behind. At the foot of the hill, she rolled through a dead thicket of blackberries, coming to an abrupt stop as her head smacked into a boulder.



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[Remainder of story omitted in sample.]

Version 2 (461 words) The gnarled bark of the towering pines resembled faces, watching the girl stumble as she ran across the rough ground of the darkened forest. Earlier, after a terrible argument with her parents, the girl ran from their home. Planning to hide for a time, she had entered the woods at their back fence, moving deeper and deeper into the gloom so that she could not been seen. Coming at last to a clear, swift moving stream, she had flopped on the soft, mossy bank, angry but satisfied. She lay on her back, arms folded behind her head like a pillow, listening to the lullaby of the burbling water. Without meaning to, she drifted into sleep. Many hours later she awoke in the dark; night had fallen. The girl stood up, disorientated. She heard strange noises all around her: hoots, howls and growls. Twigs snapped nearby and feet seemed to be padding towards her. She screamed, turned to flee – and fell head first into the cold water of the stream. Struggling to her feet again, she clambered up the opposite bank. Trying to escape the unseen menace, the now muddy and wet girl ran deeper into the woods guided only by faint rays of the moon that insinuated their way through the tangled canopy to the forest floor. She ran for a long time, occasionally stumbling over small, lichen-‐covered rocks and knotted roots snaking across the rough ground. When she could run no further, she stopped and listened. Nothing. The girl slumped onto the fallen trunk of a tree, relieved. However, the trunk rested precariously at the edge of a steep hillside and her weight was enough to start it rolling; the girl tumbled and somersaulted close behind. At the foot of the hill, she rolled through a dead thicket of blackberries, her momentum snapping and cracking the brittle branches. She came to an abrupt stop, her head smacking into a boulder. [Remainder of story omitted in sample]



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Appendices: Overview of Helpful Resources for the Writing of Narratives On the following pages are a number of resources to assist you with the writing of narratives:

1. Features of a Compressed Narrative Handout. This summarises key elements of successful short narratives.

2. Brainstorming and Developing Ideas for a Narrative. Stuck for story ideas? Here are some strategies for overcoming writer’s block.

3. Templates for Brainstorming and Developing Ideas for Narratives. These are blank templates to help you create story ideas.

4. Exemplar Narrative Showing Stages (Global and Phases). Story 2 has been placed into a table and annotated to show you the overall (i.e. global) structure, as well as the sub-‐stages (phases) of action, interaction, reaction and description. This will help you write a story that is balanced and does not contain too much action.

5. Planning Template for a Narrative. Once you have developed a story idea, this table will help you plan your narrative in detail.

6. Feedback Checklist (NAPLAN Narrative Writing). This checklist can be used to evaluate your story drafts. It has been organised according to the NAPLAN marking criteria and provides dot point elaborations to assist you.



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Appendix One: Features of a Compressed Narrative (Handout) The purpose of a narrative is to resolve a complication in a story. Globally, the genre has the following, basic stages:

Orientation Who, what, where, when is revealed.

Complication

The central problem is revealed.

Evaluation The narrator’s attitude towards

the events is revealed. This may be woven into the unfolding story.

Resolution

The problem is solved

Reorientation/Coda (optional) Return reader to present and

summarise the meaning of the events.

However, for demand writing tasks such as NAPLAN, it is usually best to write a compressed narrative with the following characteristics:

• Slice of life (about 10 minutes of ‘real time’ – a life changing or crisis moment)

• Orientation: starts in medias res (i.e. in the middle of things) • Characters: one, maybe two maximum • Not too action oriented (see below). Rather, you need to ensure that at

each stage of the story, you have a mixture of the following phases: [Material omitted in sample]

• Some figurative element, e.g. metaphor or symbol; these help with compression.



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Appendix 2: Brainstorming and Developing Ideas for a Narrative (Explanation) Here are some practical strategies for those moments when you cannot come up with an idea for a story. There are two strategies for initial brainstorming:

• What if? And then? Questions • Making Connections.

Once you have a basic idea, then you can develop it further using the sorting and classifying table. These are explained below and then blank templates have been provided on the following pages.

Brainstorming: What if? And then? Questions This is a very simple idea. Imagine something crazy, unusual, frightening or embarrassing that might happen to a character. Then, write what might happen as a result. For example: What if? And then? Someone finds a box buried under a tree in their backyard…

…and then the person open it and it contains a wormhole that they fall into and travel into the past.

A group of evil soldiers invades a farm and kidnaps the parents…

…and then a brother and sister decide to rescue them.

This idea can be used very effectively if you have been given a stimulus picture (as happens with the NAPLAN writing test). For example, the first idea was based on a picture of a red box with a light shining from it. [Material omitted from sample.]



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Appendix 4: Exemplar Narrative Showing Structure (Global and Phases)

Global Structure Phases (action, interaction, reaction and description) Orientation

(description) It was night-‐time and, with lights glittering up and down its towers, the fuel refinery looked like a diamond-‐encrusted birthday cake. Through their binoculars, the two renegades could see (action) the insect-‐like invaders prowling the grounds, guarding one of their most valuable bases.

Complication [Material omitted in sample] Complication (action) He barely reached the van as explosions (description)

bloomed in the night-‐sky like a bunch of flaming roses.



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Publishing Details Published by Wordsmart Consulting The trading name for L & E Williams Holdings Pty Ltd ABN 46 120 587 528 35 Elysium Road Rochedale South QLD Australia 4123 Telephone: 3841 2812 Email: [email protected] Web: www.englishteacherguru.com Second edition published in 2015

Copyright Notice and Credits Copyright © 2015 L & E Williams Holdings Pty Ltd What the purchasing school IS permitted to do

1. Upload this document to the intranet of the school which purchased the anthology.

2. Allow the anthology to be accessed by students and teachers whilst they are employed at or attending the school.

3. Modify materials ON THE CONDITION that appropriate credit is clearly indicated on the modified materials.

4. To authorised staff and students (see point 2 above), disseminate the anthology (or extracts) in hard copy form as required.

What the purchasing school is NOT permitted to do

1. Remove any copyright notices or Wordsmart Consulting branding from the documents.

2. Modify the anthology or any of the stories without appropriate and clear acknowledgement of the original source and Wordsmart Consulting.

3. Allow any of the material (or part thereof) to be copied for or by staff and students not employed at or attending the purchasing school. This includes all forms of transmission, including but not limited to hard copies, USB, CD, email attachments.

4. Allow any staff leaving the school to retain digital copies of any of the materials. As a small business, we ask you to respect our intellectual property and remember that illegal use of this material is unfair to those of us trying to make an honest living. Image credits: The cover shot was taken by the author, Lindsay Williams, in Guangzhou, China.

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Narrative Anthology Sample - English Teacher Guru · 2015. 1. 27. · Narrative Writing Anthology © L & E Williams Holdings Pty Ltd, 2015 All stories were written by Lindsay Williams