Successful Narrative, Applying These Techniques

¶ … successful narrative, applying these techniques to the short story Two ways of seeing a river by Mark Twain. Writing a successful narrative depends on several key factors, including detailed description, a compelling opening, and dramatic action. By following these techniques, just about anyone can write a successful and compelling narrative. Two writers note, "Applebee, Apel and Masterson defined the five elements of a narrative as interesting characters, setting, a believable problem, several solutions to the problem, and a good ending" (Montgomery & Kahn, 2003). Combining these elements will produce a successful narrative, and Twain has included all of them in his narrative, taken from his autobiography, Life on the Mississippi.

Narratives are an important aspect of literary fiction, and they should be arresting and interesting. The two writers continue, "Narratives, or stories, are the most compelling forms of written language" (Montgomery, and Kahn, 2003), and they define narratives as "[R]eal or imaginary time-ordered sequences of events that are interrelated in some way" (Montgomery, and Kahn, 2003). Thus, narratives are often personal experiences, including the author's own real life experiences, and they are intended to draw the reader into the author's mind and world, involving them in the story and the story's outcome.

The first key element of writing a successful narrative is the opening. It should be interesting, and entice the reader to want to read more of the narrative. Twain's narrative is successful in its opening, because it does make the reader want to know more. He writes, "Now when I had mastered the language of this water and had come to know every trifling feature that bordered the great river as familiarly as I knew the letters of the alphabet, I had made a valuable acquisition" (Twain, 2008). The reader wants to know why this "acquisition" was so valuable, and so, they continue to read. Vivid description, and an "attention-getting moment" ("Writing activities," 2008), are the keys to good openings, and Twain's narrative contains these, making it highly readable and enjoyable. Another element of a good opening is having something appeal to the senses ("Writing activities," 2008), and Twain manages that as well, it is very easy to "see" the Mississippi in his opening lines.

The sensory details and descriptions should not be confined to the opening of the narrative; they should appear throughout the work. The editors of Holt, Reinhart and Winston continue, "And remember to use a variety of sensory details -- not just sight and hearing, but also smell, taste, and touch" ("Writing activities," 2008). These details should plant the reader right in the middle of the story, and the details should be rich enough for them to feel as if they are experiencing the same experiences the writer experienced. Twain's essay certainly contains these vivid, sensory details. He writes of sunset on the Mississippi, broad expanse of the river was turned to blood; in the middle distance the red hue brightened into gold, through which a solitary log came floating, black and conspicuous; in one place a long, slanting mark lay sparkling upon the water; in another the surface was broken by boiling, tumbling rings, that were as many-tinted as an opal; where the ruddy flush was faintest, was a smooth spot that was covered with graceful circles and radiating lines, ever so delicately traced (Twain, 2008).

Twain's writing brings the river vividly to life, and makes the reader feel as if they are right there with him, viewing the scene, and this is a key element of his narrative. He understands that these rich sensory details add texture and interest to the narrative, and keep the reader highly involved in the story. Another writer notes, "Like description, narratives need to have a rich texture of details so that the reader is seeing, hearing, smelling, and touching. The reader should experience the story, not simply hear it" ("How to write"). It is important to note, however, that too many details can bog the story down and draw the reader's attention away from the core of the story. Adding too many sensory details in every scene will spoil the overall effect for the reader. Another writer notes, "If you divide your story into a few short episodes, then you want suggestive detail within the episodes, but you want to hurry over the transitions between them" ("How to write," 2008). Twain understands this, and while he uses rich details, he also spaces them throughout the story, and this is another one of the key techniques for writing a successful narrative.

Another important element of the narrative is to relate the events in the sequence they occurred. Usually, the narrative is a story of something that actually happened to the writer. Twain writes about his time as a riverboat captain with nostalgia, wit, and even some sadness as the narrative continues, but he places the happenings in logical order and in the sequence they occurred during his time on the river. He writes, "But as I have said, a day came when I began to cease from noting the glories and the charms which the moon and the sun and the twilight wrought upon the river's face; another day came when I ceased altogether to note them" (Twain, 2008). He relates the main occurrences in the order they occurred, but he does use flashbacks in the story to add the rich details and continue reader interest. While the events should follow a logical progression, adding flashbacks can add to the diversity and interest of the narrative and keep the reader interested and anticipating what happens next.

In addition, the scenes should relate to a specific time and space. In Twain's essay, he writes of a specific time when he piloted a riverboat, before he became a famous author. His essay is a memory, but it takes place in a specific time and place, which helps the reader feel more comfortable and familiar with the setting when they read the work. This is an area where the writer can add details to help describe the place and time, so the reader has no questions about where the action is occurring, and when it occurred.

Another important element of the successful narrative is the point-of-view. Since narratives are often personal experiences of the writer, the point-of-view is often in the first person, but this is not a hard and fast rule. The narration can be in the third person, as well, it does not matter as much as long as the story is told successfully. However, it is important to understand the nuances of point-of-view, and to keep the same point-of-view throughout the story. For example, beginning the narrative in the first person ("I"), and then switching to the third person, ("they"), is distracting to the reader and is a poor writing technique. Twain writes in his essay, "I stood like one bewitched. I drank it in, in a speechless rapture. The world was new to me, and I had never seen anything like this at home" (Twain, 2008). He uses the first person effectively because he tells the reader exactly what he is thinking and feeling, and draws the reader into the narrative, giving the author and reader a type of bond. Anyone who has viewed a magical sunset such as Twain describes in his essay will understand his feeling of "speechless rapture," and they will then identify with other aspects of the narrative, as well. The first person viewpoint also helps the essay seem more like a real event, allowing the reader to understand this is something that really happened and made a difference in the person's life.

Another aspect of the successful narrative is tension and conflict. Any story told without these crucial elements will be boring at best. The narrator must learn something, confront something, or grow and change from something, to make the narrative interesting and to give it purpose. The key to a narrative is to keep the reader involved in the reading, and a reader is not going to read a story that has no tension or conflict, because it will not be interesting, but it also will not keep the reader engaged. Something bad or negative has to happen for the story to flow and work correctly, but this tension also creates a moral or purpose for the story. In Twain's case, the turmoil or tension in the story is that because he has gained experience on the river, he can no longer appreciate the beauty and elegance that confronts him every day. In learning his job, he has lost his ability to simply look at the river without analyzing it, and he suffers because of this. The essay's rich details make it clear that he misses the innocence he had when he first began working on the river, and he would like to get it back again. Will he? The reader does not know, but it does not seem likely. He would not be writing about this subject if he had somehow regained his innocence, because there would be no tension, and there would be no point to his writing. This illustrates the importance of tension and conflict in the narrative, no matter where it comes from or how the author uses it.

Often, the tension or conflict in resolved in the last paragraph. Another writer notes, "In the final paragraph of the essay, the author reflects on the larger meaning or importance of the experience described" ("Writing skills," 2007). Thus, the conflict has served some kind of purpose in the writer's life, and the writer has learned something or grown better because of it. The conflict should not be too contrived or unbelievable, so the narrative's subject is an important aspect of the conflict. If the event that occurred really did not contain tension, drama, or conflict, it is probably not worthy of using as the subject of a narrative, because it is not sufficiently interesting to hold an average reader's attention. The reader must care about the outcome along with the writer, and without conflict and tension, the reader will not have anything to use to build up that concern about the writer and their situation. If the conclusion is not satisfactory, it should be revised to make sure the conflict is concluded. Another writer states, "If necessary, revise your conclusion so that your narrative finds meaning in the story you have told" ("Writing activities," 2008). The conclusion leaves the reader with an overall impression of the story, and so, it must be satisfactory, rather than a let down to the reader.