Narrative Structure & Time

By now you know these terms (if you do NOT, please learn them!):

• Exposition
• Rising Action
• Climax 
• Falling Action
• Denouement/Resolution

If a novel was a five paragraph essay, that means we would have a paragraph dealing with each of these items in different lengths or complexities. Exposition, for example, is best used in contemporary fiction sprinkled throughout a story, not just at the beginning.

But were you aware that we have some choice in narrative structure?
We could write a story:
1. Chronologically - the story is told from beginning to end

advantages: It's easy; Moving a story ahead chronologically is linear and less complicated, often avoiding literary traps and convoluted plot devices; it's simple (we are used to telling stories like this)
disadvantages: It's difficult to tell a complete textured story without shifting time; Without flashbacks--a technique in which you interject a scene or scenes that happened prior to the current action--your storytelling options are limited; it's so familiar it's boring; We often don't know when to stop or where to begin, feeling like we need to cover everything that happens within the characters' lives and histories.

2. Total flashback: starting in the present (for the character), you flashback to a previous scene or event in the character's life and write back up to the present. This can also be called a frame story because the beginning and ending start and finish in the same time.

advantages: Opens up the story and allows the writer to include information that would be absent in the chronological tale; a flashback allows the opportunity to add critical backstory or commentary from the character/narrator, comparing past with present--this adds texture and depth to a story; After the frame (when you flashback) the story is just like a chronological story.
disadvantages: It is possible for a reader to be confused when the switch in time occurs; it is more complex to pull off than the chronological story.

3. A combination of the two (the Zigzag method): think Madonnas of Leningrad, for a recent example: but the zigzag allows for a back and forth structure utilizing the strengths of flashbacks AND chronological sequences and scenes.

advantages: allows for complexity and texture in the story; needed background can occur at any time; it is intellectually more compelling; it can increase suspense; it can create layered and developed characters
disadvantages: It takes some skill to tell a story both back and forward in time; it is a more complex narrative form; readers may become confused as to events.

Lab Activity: Select a fiction piece that you originally wrote as a chronological narrative. Switch the narrative by placing the ending sequences at the beginning (and then again at the end), (i.e., use the flashback or zigzag method.)

Lab Activity #2 & #3: #2 please complete the analysis on Cat's Cradle (due at end of class), then spend time reading the book. #3: complete and revise any workshop pieces you did not get to last class.

HOMEWORK: Please try to complete Cat's Cradle by Friday, May 4. Your portfolio will be collected Friday as well. Please make sure all the assignments from this marking period are complete and printed out in your portfolio.