Writing a narrative
English · Key Stage 2 · The School
Something has to change
A story is not a sequence of events; it is a change. Someone wants something, something gets in the way, and by the end either they or the situation is different. "We went to the beach and it was fun and then we went home" has events but no change, which is why it feels flat however well it is spelled. Decide what is different at the end before you start.
Show it happening
Listing adjectives — "it was a big, dark, scary forest" — tells the reader what to feel. Showing gives them the evidence and lets them feel it: "the path narrowed until branches closed overhead, and she could no longer hear the road." Use what a character notices, does and says. A detail a reader assembles themselves is far stronger than one they are handed.
Pace lives in sentence length
Long sentences with several clauses slow a reader down and suit description. Short ones speed everything up. He ran. That is why an action scene made of long, careful sentences feels oddly calm — the punctuation is telling the reader to relax while the words say otherwise. Vary the length on purpose, and shorten it when you want the reader to hurry.
TELLING: "Sara was nervous about the test." LISTING: "Sara was nervous. She was worried. She felt sick." — three sentences saying one thing. SHOWING: "Sara read the first question three times. The words would not sit still. Somewhere behind her a pen clicked, and clicked, and clicked." No feeling is named, and the reader knows exactly. Then vary the pace: three short sentences speed it up; one long one slows it down.