(MENAFN- the post)
narrative writing is like a journey; a beautiful, picturesque, and peaceful journey which takes you through the landscape and, as you travel, you enjoy the flowers, the scent of the flowers, the mountains, you enjoy the soothing air as you climb the beautiful hills. good narrative is immersive and relaxing and world-changing. you sit there reading a beautiful narrative, and, there you are! the narrative opens vistas of knowledge and worlds to you.
good and effective narrative writing is gripping as well as immersive; it allows you to drench as it were, in the pulse of the narrative. like every skill, writing effective narrative is a craft, a delicate skill that can be learnt and perfected. today we focus on the art or craft of writing good narrative. the narrative streak, as we have seen, is similar to taking a good journey in which you enjoy and revel at the picturesque environment and soak yourself in its being and heartbeat.
i often like to use the term“narrascape” in which i invent the confluence of narrative and landscape – the physical landscape as well as the emotional landscape and intensity which a text evokes. the landscape i conjure is not only physical, but it is more mental and emotional. writing takes you to new places and allows you to experience meeting people from different places and see new objects and hear new sounds and watch the beautiful landscape and its hues and fragrances. the narrator, as an astute storyteller, leads you in the journey. the narrative depends on the effectiveness of the storyteller and his ability to excite, surprise and complicate the narrative through various twists in the tail just like a beautiful journey would be complicated by the contours unfolding on the narrow paths as the being and pulse of the landscape unfolds and recoils to itself.
here is a fine and compelling example of narrative writing.
“he knew he would find her sitting on the big, flat rock by the river. she was scribbling in her diary again and seemed oblivious to the sound of the birds and the gurgling water of mohokare river. she kept on writing, her small frame shadowing him from the big black diary that had almost become a part of her, part of the landscape he called home. he knew she had worn the pink, layered skirt for him. she looked up, saw him coming, and quickly climbed down from the rock and ran towards him, her arms outstretched, her pink skirt floating and swirling around her. she was barefoot but the long skirt gracefully covered her small feet.”
this narrative is gripping as well as it is colourful and intriguing. it creates suspense. have you seen the narrative acumen of the omniscient narrator, penned in the third person narrative style? an omniscient narrator is an“all-knowing” narrator who is alive to everything about the character. i hope you have seen how the narrative beautifully brings the girl to us; the girl is absorbed in her world and is gracefully captured. she is also in love. the narrator captures her feelings, thoughts and the salient features of the landscape to create an atmosphere of romance, heightened by nature's hues – the gurgling water, the chirping birds and her seeming obliviousness to everything around her. she is also absorbed, completely immersed in her diary. she is writing and the writing has become her world.
have you seen how an excellent narrative strives to paint atmosphere through the interaction of text, setting, characters and the general landscape? atmosphere refers to the general mood and effect a certain piece of writing evokes.
let's focus on another extract showing the craft of effective narrative writing.
“at first i thought it was a tram, but its shape was too organic, too lumpy, and it was going far too slowly for that, making almost no noise. it was swaying, swaying up the street with an even momentum in a rolling motion that was drawing it away from us like a tide, and every time it rocked forward, something about it made a soft dragging sound on the rails. as we watched, the thing sucked in air and then let a deep groan.”
the narrative above is so intense, vivid and gripping. the extract describes a narrator's impressions of an elephant she meets during the night. i hope you have also seen the importance of good observation in writing good narrative. the writer had to watch everything so closely; the hideous appearance of the elephant, its graceful walk, its huge and grotesque features and the sounds it made. look at the use of the word“thing” to emphasise the hideous and grotesque nature of the elephant.
as we have seen writing good narrative is a craft, it is a journey in which the narrator takes us into the pulse of events and we observe.
vuso mhlanga
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