English Composition I – Week 3 Lecture
Types of Writing: Narrative and Descriptive Writing
Narrative and Descriptive writing have certain elements
that are used together to convey a message. This lecture provides a brief overview
of these two types of writing. This
week’s activities include reading online material on Narrative and Descriptive
Essays, and three brief videos that discuss narrative writing, descriptive
writing, and similes and metaphors: two literary devices used in descriptive
writing.
Narrative Writing
Narrative writing tells a story. Stories should have a beginning, middle, and
end. When writing a narrative, the
things you should consider are the basic Who – What –
When –Where – Why. You should also consider the order of events. In story-telling, description and dialogue
may be used to move the story forward and make the story more vivid for the
readers.
Description/Descriptive Writing
Description is a type of writing, but it is also a writing
technique used in narrative writing. Description uses language that allows
readers to see, feel, hear, taste, and/or smell the
events within the story.
When writing a story (narrative writing), description can
enhance the readers’ interest in your story.
Description shows readers the events as they happened rather than simply
telling the story without vivid language that brings the story to life. Consider the following example:
The roar of the train filled the station as, heart pounding and adrenaline singing in
her ears, Vicki leaped
down onto the southbound tracks. The
wooden step over the live rail was too far away, almost center in the line of
concrete pillars, so she jumped,
trying not to think of the however many
million volts of electricity the thing carried turning her to charcoal. She tottered
for a moment on the edge of the divider, cursing
her full-length coat and wishing she’d worn a jacket, and then, although she knew it was the stupidest
thing she could do, she looked toward the oncoming train (Huff, p. 8).
(Huff, Tanya. (1991) Blood Price.
Daw Books Collection, Penguin Group, USA. 1st
paperback printing.)
Can you “see” Vicki’s
situation? The verbs are strong: jumped,
leaped, and tottered. There are sound
images: the roar of the train and her heart pounding. Descriptive language can
draw the reader into the story.
Description alone does not tell a story, but it can create
a mood, an impression, and/or paint a picture with words. Writing descriptions
can be challenging. It is sometimes
easier to insert the descriptive language into a story.
Descriptive writing often uses two literary devices:
simile and metaphor. Both are comparisons, but a simile is a direct comparison;
where as a metaphor is an implied comparison. Here are two examples:
Simile: The moon was like huge golden disc that hung over the mountains.
Metaphor:
The moon was a huge golden disc that hung over the mountains.
Dialogue
Dialogue is what people say. Using dialogue in narrative
writing can, like descriptive language, help to draw the reader into story. The
greatest challenge with writing effective dialogue is choosing words that move
the story forward or show your readers something about the character. Another challenge with dialogue is creating
believable conversation.
Online Readings
Purdue
University On Line Writing Lab (OWL) Descriptive
Essays. Retrieved from:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/
Purdue University On Line Writing Lab (OWL) Retrieved from:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/
Videos
Drewnowski, W. (2013, November 1) “Writing Paragraphs
– Narrative Paragraphs” Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn2sZDmMz_8
Neal, R. (2014, November 16) “Better to
Descriptive Writing In Five Minutes” Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PoKA8Dv5dE
Sasser, R. (2009, April 20). Similes and Metaphors. Retrieved April 30, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHBWZDVMVqA
