Narrative: Telling the Story

by Amy Jones

Overview

What is the best way to tell a story? In first-person peripheral, or third-person focalised? Unfolding in the present, or as events in the past? Where is the camera? What is the lens? Where is the action? In this concise little book, educator Amy Jones describes the different ways that novelists and scriptwriters tell their stories. Packed with examples and insights, this is an essential reference guide for writers of all ages and disciplines. It’s not the story, it’s how you tell it!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781952178368
Publisher:	Wooden Books
Publication date:	03/15/2024
Series:	Wooden Books North America Editions
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.33(d)

About the Author

Amy Jones heads a leading English department in a Somerset college where she teaches English Language, Literature and Creative writing, alongside podcast writing, poetry and theories of narrative. She is also author of Literary Devices and Plot in this series.

Read an Excerpt

It is one thing to plot a story. Telling it is another matter. This book covers narrative method, the art of turning a plot into a tale well told. In the pages which follow, we will explore the fascinating range of narrative methods which have been developed and wielded over the centuries by some of the world’s finest storytellers. On every page in every chapter, an author must select the best way to relate the scene, carefully choosing the viewpoint and focus that will suit their purpose and pull their readers, listeners and viewers into the characters and the world of their story.
While this book deals with the telling of a story, the art of constructing and refining a story and plot is covered in our sister book: Plot: The Art of Story. You may want to read that alongside this.
Fashions in narrative come and go. Most early novels, such as Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones (1749), were written from the perspective of a third person, whereas nineteenth century authors, such as Mary Shelley, in Frankenstein (1818), and Charlotte Brontë, in Jane Eyre (1847), drew readers closer to their characters using private letters and first person viewpoints. In the early 20th century, writers such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf brought readers even closer, penning the unfiltered stream-of- consciousness of their protagonists.
Narrative viewpoints have evolved too, with authors increasingly telling stories from the points of view of children, women, animals, plants, villains, and even aliens, alongside those of adult male heroes.
Crucial decisions around your narrative style will ultimately characterise your work. As Jack Kerouac [1922–1969] famously wrote:
It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it.