Planning and writing a narrative: part 4. Writing the problem. We know that the
basic structure of a narrative looks like this: 'orientation', 'problem' and
'solution'. In this video we are going to focus on the problem. Writing a strong
problem is really important because, as we can see from this graph, it should be
the most exciting part of the story. It's where something is going to go
wrong for our characters. In the last video I brainstormed some ideas for the
problem and the solution. Let's quickly review what we've got so far. You can see
from the planning sheet that the problem of my story is going to be that a storm
hits and here I've got a couple of ideas for the solution. I'm not quite ready to
start writing the problem just yet, because even though I've got a basic
idea, I need to do some more planning to make sure that my problem will be
entertaining for the reader. I think it would be exciting for the storm to hit
while one of the characters was halfway up the tree. Then they could decide it is
best to take shelter in the treehouse when it suddenly starts raining heavily.
Then the situation could get worse. The wind could get stronger and rattle the
windows. Maybe a piece of the roof could get blown off. I'm happy with the basic
outline of the events of my problem. Now I'm going to plan for the language that
I will use. We know that the main purpose of a narrative is to entertain and while
we should be making careful language choices all throughout our story, it's
especially important here in the problem. Remember that this is where our story
must reach its most exciting point. I'm going to need strong action verbs
because this is where all the exciting action takes place.
I want the readers to feel like they're in the middle of the storm with the
characters. The wind could howl and the thunder crack. A branch could crash into
the side of the treehouse. One of the characters could leap.
Now, because I'm writing my narrative in past tense, I'll make sure I write my verbs in
past tense. Here's a few more: 'yelled', 'grabbed', 'heaved', 'rattled'.
Now I'm going to start brainstorming some adverbs I might use. Adverbs are
words that describe a verb. For example the rain could fall 'heavily'. The tree
could shake 'dangerously'. They might have to act 'carefully'. Okay, now I don't want
to just tell the reader that the storm is strong. I want to show the reader and
so I'm going to use some figurative language to help me do this. I'm thinking
I could describe the storm as 'angry'. That would put a strong picture in the
reader's mind. I want to show that the rain is very heavy.
I might liken the sound of the rain to the beating of a drum. Maybe part of the
treehouse could 'groan' as the storm hits.
Now I've planned out my problem, I'm ready to start writing. I'm going to keep
the planning sheet next to me as I write because it's important that I use it to help me.
Okay I finished writing the problem. Pause the video here if you'd
like to read it, otherwise let's go through it together.
Let's have a close look at some language choices and techniques I used to create
interest. Look at the strong action verbs I included: 'tossed', 'ordered', 'grabbed', 'heaved',
'slamming' and others. Here are some adverbs I used to add detail: 'quickly' and
'dangerously'. These add a sense of urgency to the events in my problem.
While I was writing I also made sure to not only focus on things that we can see. To build
a strong picture in the reader's mind, I considered the other senses. Here I
described the sound of the rain to the reader, and here I described the sound
that the windows were making. I also gave detail about how the characters were feeling.
They were huddled together shivering. The rain was cold.
It's important that we describe as many of the five senses as we can.
I used figurative language to help make my problem more interesting. The howl of the
wind works to make the wind seem dangerous; perhaps like a wolf.
Can you see the figurative language I used here? I said that the storm grew
'angrier'. This is personification and helps to add
detail to the storm, making it seem destructive and dangerous. Finally, I
tried to build tension. Instead of having the roof fly off straight away, I showed
the screws popping one by one, making the reader feel nervous about what might happen.
Let's review the elements that make for an exciting problem:
strong action verbs; adverbs to our detail to the verbs; detail about multiple senses;
figurative language such as personification similes and metaphors
and building tension
In the next video, we will be looking at how to plan and write the solution of a
narrative.
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