|
|
Fictional Narrative Basics - Plot
Unit Completion Date: End of Week 5
|
| [ Previous ][ 15 ][ Next ] |
It might seem difficult to harness all of these concepts and keep them under control as you are drafting. Think back to the "Beginning" section of this discussion unit, and the quotes there by Marilyn Krysl and Gabriel Garcia Marquez about the first paragraphs of their story. Why is it that these two writers invest so much in the tone, style and diction of their first paragraphs?
Finding the right tone and voice can provide the writer control over a range of aspects of narrative fiction, including chronology. If you have a specific person in mind as narrator and understand the relationship between the narrator and the story, you will quite naturally keep chronology straight. In conversation as we tell one another about our lives we rarely struggle with these kinds of issues because we understand implicitly our relationship as narrator to the stories we tell.
Beyond that understanding, the narrative arc and the phases of profluent plots can help you diagnose specific problems within a story once it is written. You can be sure you understand the central conflict (internal vs. external, etc.), you can be sure you are building tension throughout, and you can identify those places where tension drops off. You can also find instances where chronology is confusing. In most cases these are localized fixes and easy to change.
|
| [ Previous ][ 15 ][ Next ] |
|
