Narrative: Pacing

Pacing is a narrative technique that authors use to control a reader's movement through the text. Effective pacing serves to maintain the reader's interest and an appropriate sense of suspense; it allows for lingering on details at just the right time and minimizes details at other times.

Narrative: Using Dialogue

Dialogue 

Dialogue is a tool that narrative authors use to move stories along and show how characters respond to and feel about situations. On

Using Description- Rewording

Description
It is the recipe for a great narrative. Your job is to make the story a mind movie for your reader. In prior blog posts, you've learned that strategies for using description in your narrative:  Detailing a Person, Place, or Thing,  Elaborating on an Event, Using Sensory Details, Showing, Not Telling, and Drawing from Word Lists.

Today you'll learn another strategy called Rewording.

Rewording

This is when you revise a sentence and you choose one word, a phrase, or even a sentence, then add or change around the word order to make it clearer.

I do this by rereading my piece then underlining the word or phrase I want to reword.  This works well when you have a partner or writing group to help you.  Sometimes it helps to have a fresh "eye" looking at your work.

Example:
I rode past the stores and thought how much I wished I had money to go shopping.  I really wanted a Rainbow Loom but I also wanted a digital camera and ipod touch.  I needed to have a lot of money to buy all of those things but since I have none, I won't buy anything.

Reworded:
My pockets were empty as I rode my scooter past Target.  Earlier that day, I saw the Target flyer and instantly I could feel my wallet burn a hole in my pocket.  I needed to save $200 to buy that ipod touch, so I'd have to ride past Target and save my money for another day.  The Rainbow Loom and digital camera would have to wait until after I purchased my iPod.  A penny saved is a penny earned.

Using Description- Showing, Not Telling

Description
It is the recipe for a great narrative. Your job is to make the story a mind movie for your reader. In prior blog posts, you've learned that strategies for using description in your narrative:  Detailing a Person, Place, or Thing,  Elaborating on an Event, and Using Sensory Details.
Today you'll learn another strategy called Showing, Not Telling.

Showing, Not Telling
There is a difference between showing and telling.  Think of the concept of Show and Tell.  First you showed the item, then you told about it.

• How was showing it different than telling about it?

Showing is a special way of telling.  It means you can visualize it.  The readers may all see the same thing.  Now how can we do this with our writing?

Take these two examples:

The food looked gross.

The gray slimy slop sloshed in the bowl.

• Which one "tells" and which one "shows"?

More examples:

(I took this from Lola's story)

I looked up and saw a panicked squirrel.

Above me a squirrel darted and forth from one tree branch to another, chattering loudly.

How is showing different from telling?

Can you turn these telling sentences into showing sentences?  Give it a try in a comment.

It was cold.
It was hot.
My mom is nice.
My friend is funny.
The sky was beautiful.
The day was dreary.
His outfit is colorful.
My bedroom is plain.
My desk is messy.
My bedroom is messy.
The pizza was good.
I like school.
Recess is fun.
I have a good friend.

Using Description- Sensory Details

Description
It is the recipe for a great narrative. Your job is to make the story a mind movie for your reader.  
In the past 2 blog posts, you have learned how to detail a person, place, or thing, and how to elaborate an event.  Today you'll learn to use description by adding sensory details.

Sensory Details
Sensory details use your senses- taste, touch, feel, hear, and see.  Choose a part of your story that would pop out at the reader better if you described it using one or more of your senses.

Example
It is raining outside.

Using Sensory Details
I took this piece of writing from Jadee's blog.  I think she did a nice job using sensory details here.
I can hear the rain pouring down, hitting the ground, making a “splash”. It feels cold and refreshing, considering I had just woke up.

Using Description- Drawing From Word Lists

Description
It is the recipe for a great narrative. Your job is to make the story a mind movie for your reader. In prior blog posts, you've learned that strategies for using description in your narrative:  Detailing a Person, Place, or Thing,  Elaborating on an Event, Using Sensory Details, and Showing, Not Telling

Today you'll learn another strategy called Drawing from Word Lists.

Drawing from Word Lists 

Using interesting words will give the reader a better visual while reading.  I will usually use simple words in my first write then go back and revise with stronger ones using my thesaurus.  There are many online sites you can use to find stronger words (synonyms).  A free one I use is http://thesaurus.com/.

Example:

I walked home after crashing my bike.

I'd like a stronger word for walked.  I'd like to show my reader how I walked after crashing my bike.
I looked up walk using www.thesaurus.com.  Here is what I got.

Now after crashing my bike, I certainly wouldn't be strutting or prancing.  I can't just use any word on the list, I have to make sure it makes sense.  Sometimes, I look up words in the dictionary after I search on a thesaurus to make sure I'm using it correctly.

I like the word ambled. I looked it up on www.dictionary.com.  Here's what it said:

It means to go at a slow and easy pace.  That's what I want readers to see when they read this sentence.

I'll choose to use the word ambled.  

I ambled home after crashing my bike.

After using this strategy for awhile, you'll notice your vocabulary growing!  It's amazing how fast that happens :0)

Please give some examples that you've used in a comment below.