Narrative techniques to write like a Pro | Writing and Creative Storytelling

Table of contents.

• Narrative techniques: what are they for, and what is their importance?
• Some narrative techniques you should know
• Collage
• Inner monologue
• Stream of consciousness
• Multiple perspective
• Absolute perspective
• Translocation
• In media res
• Flashback
• Flashforward
• Iceberg
• The hidden data
• Parallels
• Chinese boxes
• Good tips for better writing

Narrative techniques are easy-to-apply literary devices that have proven their effectiveness. So much so that, believe it or not, you are used to them. You’ve enjoyed reading them. And, more often than you think, you use them in your day-to-day writing. For example, when composing an e-mail in your office.

But without doubt, writers are the most masters at using narrative technics. And not only book writers, but essay specialists and bloggers too. For example, at the PaperHelp, reputable but at the same time, affordable and cheap essay writing service, the are many professionals who are mastering using narrative techniques to create the best essays.

Literature is free, and developing a personal style is essential to achieve your original and attractive voice. However, some formats work. There are elements available to the writer that must be known and mastered. The key is to internalize them and then let them flow depending on each situation.

Narrative techniques: what are they for, and how important are they?

Narrative techniques are tools you can use to tell your story with greater fidelity and appeal. The best way to learn them is to read good texts and look at how the best writers of each era have written them.

Keep in mind, however, that they should never limit you. When developing your writing, you must allow the contents to flow naturally, according to your personality and circumstances. If you write a text as a succession of narrative techniques, you will create a “Frankenstein”. Authenticity and fluency are essential.

The best narrative technique is undoubtedly the one that accomplishes its mission without being noticed. It goes unnoticed, but it is there, guaranteeing its mission. To write a good text, you only need to apply the right and efficient techniques but filter by your essence.

Some narrative techniques you should know.

Collage

It consists of completing the text with visual elements or illustrations. Have you ever read The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry? It is a perfect example.

Interior monologue

In this case, the character’s intimate thoughts and reflections are presented. When narrating these contents, there is an effort to give them an order of continuity.

Stream of consciousness

Ideas are not presented logically but are peppered with memories, unfinished sentences, emotional interruptions, etc.

Multiple perspective

It consists of explaining the same fact several times from different perceptions and points of view. The truth is unique, but each of us knows it partially and interprets it in our way. If you express it in this way in your text, you project a more complete and heterogeneous vision of what is being narrated.

Absolute perspective

In this technique, you focus on the story told by a single character, in the first person, in the manner of an autobiography. This protagonist tells what happened in his or her way, incorporating subjective nuances. Depending on each case, it will be faithful or not to the reality of what happened.

After what

It consists of incorporating constant temporal changes and breaks in the story. This is fragmented into strategically assembled pieces to create suspense, interest, or attraction. You can start with the future, continue with the past, move back to the future and continue with the present. Or whatever you consider best for your expressive purpose.

In media res

This Latin expression means “towards the middle of things”. It consists, precisely, to begin the story in the middle. Typically, in the middle of the action. In this way, the reader’s attention is captured before explaining the last moments or the outcome. It allows to start the novel at the zenith of interest and excites the potential reader with the work.

Flashback

The analepsis is a fleeting flashback to the past, retrospective information introduced in the middle of the narrative. Its application is sudden and rapid. When the presence of the past is prolonged in time, it is a prolonged flashback.

Flashforward

It would be the antithesis of the previous one and is known as prolepsis. It consists of moving the main narrative forward in time. Consequently, you anticipate events that have not yet happened.

Iceberg

Ernest Hemingway was one of the main promoters of this approach in writing. It shows only a small part of the story and leaves the rest hidden. The reader must be able to complete and imagine the rest.

The hidden fact

It is based on the permanent or momentary omission of an essential facet of the story. In this way, the story acquires a greater narrative force or a certain intrigue. When it is finally revealed, the initial interpretation may be affected.

Parallel

Two or more actions or sequences, which may or may not be related, are told in parallel. Combining them generates certain additional effects on the reader—for example, intrigue or anxiety.

Chinese boxes

It is about creating the narrative as a succession of stories that contain each other. Some are primary and others secondary, but the reader is not always aware of this.

Good tips for better writing

We want to end this post with a series of practical tips that will help you enhance your style.

• Master narrative techniques before you start writing.
• Forget about them when you start writing.
• Read and study good classic texts of literary subgenres—especially narrative, description, picture, portrait, fable, and parallel.
• Paint with words. Choose words that are seen and produce emotions in readers. Progenitor and mom mean the same thing…but their effect on you is very different.
• Read some essay samples using Most Notable Free Essay Example Directories.
• Let your text sit for a long time before revising it for the last time. That way, you’ll go from author to reader and become a much better critic.

Now that you have been introduced to narrative techniques, you will write better, and readers will like you more. At least, in theory. But the important thing is practice. And, to get it, you must be perseverant, analyze the best, polish your style and always exercise. Don’t stop writing… or optimizing your texts.