The question every writer child or adult must ask themselves when starting a narrative is, 'how will my story begin in a way which makes the reader wish to read on?'if pupils are to progress beyond, 'once upon a time' and 'long, long ago. ' then we can help by providing them with a broad menu of suggestions for alternative openings. The opening sentence or paragraph needs to be considered before discussing the introduction of characters and the use of effective locational writing.young writers can benefit a great deal from being introduced to the power of the 'attention grabber' the opening which surprises the reader into wanting to continue. The teacher collects a range of attention grabbing openings which are presented to the pupils and discussed in relation to the following three questions

what makes the opening effective? why does it catch your attention? does it make you want to read more and if so, why? once a debate begins regarding narrative openings a range of methods which the pupils can apply/experiment with should be introduced. The suggested range are not intended as a 'fixed' menu rather, pupils should be encouraged to break the rules and to invent their own opening strategies.

This cannot be achieved, however, without first having some idea of a breadth of opening strategies. in medias res in medias res literally meaning 'in the middle of things', is a useful way of transporting the reader directly into the heart of the action without the need for a preamble and as such it creates both excitement and tension from the very start. All was silent hellip.and then it came again, only this time closer to us. b.and then the explosion ended the life i had once held with such little regard. I felt soil and mud raining down on me and when the noise and movement ceased i found that i was partly buried and could barely move myself. c. I could swear that minutes passed between it leaving my fingers and crashing to the ground with such terrible consequences. when studying the first example, draw the pupils' attention to the adverb 'suddenly'. When used at the very start of a story this simple word instantly creates an 'in medias res' effect.

Asking pupils to use sentences of, no more than, seven words throughout the first paragraph will help to build an atmosphere of tension. This device can easily be taught but the reason for using a connective at the beginning of a sentence should be absolutely clear: quite simply it is because it is stressed. If we were to say the sentence aloud we would accent the word 'and' making it 'stand out'. A method of teaching this is to brainstorm sentences beginning with the first person pronoun 'i' in which something terrible happens. i felt cold as ice but then my skin grew as hot as fire the advantage of this kind of opening is that it usually 'suggests' a storyline.

Pupils can be encouraged to consider story plot after producing more of these 'contradictions'. Questions such as 'why did he feel like this?' and 'what made this happen?' encourage the development of a storyline based on the initial sentence. unexpected / surreal openings. in advertising the power of a surreal image has long been understood. It can be used to great effect in the opening of a story i dragged myself up the face of the clock and then sat on the second hand wondering what to do. i didn't know that i could breathe underwater until i fell into the deep end and found myself sitting happily on the bottom! when running writing workshops with key stage 2 pupils i tend to model two or three examples like the one above. I then ask the pupils to produce a sentence/ sentences which will surprise everyone. This approach of modelling followed by pupil experimentation is a powerful way of introducing new approaches to narrative. direct address to the reader a method of opening a narrative, which creates an empathic response from the reader is the 'direct address' method.

Again, it is best taught by example followed by discussion, have you ever wondered what it might be like to fall from a plane and not have your parachute open? let me describe it for you! by combining a direct address and a question in the opening sentence we amplify the empathic response. series of questions. an extension of the previous example, this approach creates a highly dramatic effect. The reader wants to know what the answer is and the mystery this creates draws them into the story. The technique is used to great effect by emile zola in the short story 'the girl who loves me'. This story opens with 5 paragraphs, each of which begins with the phrase 'is the girl who loves me.

' immediately after these 5 paragraphs, with which zola has 'hooked' the reader, he begins the story proper with the sentence, 'yesterday i went in search of her in a fairground.' this effective opening method is straightforward to teach. It is possible to build from a single question george eliot begins the prelude to 'middlemarch' in such a manner with equally effective results! a technique more familiar than the preceding five is the utilisation of dialogue as an opening device. To teach this i use a modelled example of how the 'cinderella' story could begin if this device was used to open it: 'midnight already' he said.

At first i didn't stop dancing but then it dawned upon me hellip 'i have to leave', i cried. He wore a perplexed expression. 'i can't tell you, but i must.' the seventh stroke chimed out. I had no choice but to run as fast as my legs would carry me, but as i reached the top of the steps i could see that my glorious coach was once more a pumpkin! as difficult as it is to begin a personal narrative essay, wrapping it up can be even more challenging.

Writers often fall into the trap of tying the narrative up too neatly, telling the readers what they are supposed to take away from their story instead of letting the reader come to their own conclusions. Study a few essays from some of the great writers and notice how they conclude their stories. Often the ending to their narratives is left ambiguous the reader isn’t exactly sure how everything will turn out however, the reader should be left with a sense of closure.

Below are some strategies you might use to come to a satisfying conclusion in your own stories. When nature essayist scott russell sanders was in omaha to talk to writing students, he said one of the most common problems for beginning writers when crafting a narrative essay is conclusions. showing an image prevents you from telling your feelings. in the essay buckeye, scott russell sanders uses the image of a grazing deer to conclude his narrative: . Within a few paces of a grazing deer, close enough to see the delicate lips, the twitching nostrils, the glossy, fathomless eyes. this lyrical conclusion comes from bathing, as writer kathryn winograd shows the last moments of her bath: the wind sings through the window like a siren, and the steam floats from my skin like milk. show yourself in action. Do something, anything, to avoid telling the reader how happy, or sad, or hopeful you are in the end. Look at something, and walk away, as edward hoagland does in the courage of turtles: but since, short of diving in after him, there was nothing i could do, i walked away. or look at something, and become mesmerized. A chapter from the classic memoir, stop time by frank conroy, yo yo going down, a mad squirrel coming up, shows a young conroy as he watches a girl through a window: that same night, hidden in the greenery under the window, i watched a naked girl let down her long red hair. end with dialogue dialogue can be tricky to conclude with, but can work if it avoids a message or moral.

You’ll only want to use this concluding technique if it has been maintained in the narrative you probably don’t want to throw in spoken word if we haven’t heard anyone speak up until that point. David sedaris, in his essay, cyclops, ends with the voice of his father, who is the main character in this essay: i don’t know where you got it from, but in the end, it’s going to kill you. the following brief reply, taken from jo ann beard’s the fourth state of matter, shows an image, followed by unquoted dialogue. Beard uses italics instead: around my neck is the stone he brought me from poland. Shards of fly wings, suspended in amber. another example below comes again from scott russell sanders, this from cloud crossing, as his toddler son babbles: moon, he is piping from the back seat, moon, moon! end with reflection when used well, reflection is a great way to convey feelings without telling the reader how you felt – or how they should feel. Reflection offers the writer’s thoughts about what is happening or has happened.

Reflection can include thoughts about the moment or thoughts looking back, about the experience. Reflection can add clarity, as we see the writer thinking through the experience. This concluding moment is from james baldwin’s notes of a native son: . Think about what feeling, emotion, or question you want to leave your readers with, the take away, then pick the type of conclusion that best suits the piece. If youve done your job showing the event or experience throughout the narrative, the conclusion will come naturally. A dramatic, attention grabbing opening can determine whether your audience will devour your story or stop reading.