Narrating a story

What does one mean when one talks of a narrative in the context of writing fiction? I would like to share my perceptions about what a narrative means – particularly in the context of the exercise that we have just completed.

Good language is an essential prerequisite of narration. When the language is bad one loses reader interest very easily and may even be incapable of communicating what we wished to communicate. In the current context of writing in English, one can use Hinglish or Hindi when we have characters talking but it is best to write proper English when we are writing descriptively. Likewise using SMS lingo (hv etc.) when we are writing in emails/messages/SMSes in the story is fine but not in the narrative or dialogues.

Language, however, is not sufficient to qualify a narrative as good. A good narrative needs to get and hold reader interest, etch the characters and get the reader interested in what happens to them. A great narrative would leave the characters lingering in the minds of the readers long after the story has been read.

When we conceptualize a plot we normally find that the plot is conceived along with a narrative line. What, then, is the need for learning the craft of writing? All of us may not be geniuses at writing and may have to work at our writing in order to polish it. Sometimes, the first flow of narrative may run on too long and may fail the test of Publishers, who may have set word limits for taking up manuscripts. Without knowledge of the essentials of narration, it may become very difficult for us to edit our works to meet these requirements.

The first thing, in my mind, in deciding upon a narrative is the sequencing of events. Events may happen chronologically in a certain manner but the narrative need not necessarily follow that chronology. In the current exercise, a chronological sequencing may be suitable if the idea is to spring the identity of Strider as a surprise. Even here, you may start with a scene in the game or in the office. If it is the former, you run the risk of letting down the reader since he will be expecting a medieval story and you end up showing modern life – much like seeing a fast-paced action sequence and then have the movie-maker tell you that it was all a dream!

If, however, you choose to concentrate on how the change of mind occurred you could start with Meghana suspecting the truth of Strider’s identity, go back to the past about her contemptuous interaction with him, then cut to the present to follow her thought process on the suspicion, back to a scene where she respects Strider in the game, cut to the present to what started her suspicions and finally the confirmation of the identity and her reassessment of how she values people. The manipulation of the sequence of events can materially change the sort of story you end up writing.

Next for me is the choice of Point-of-View (POV) character. You could end up writing as a non-involved narrator (Let me tell you a story about two people type), from Meghana’s point of view, from Arup’s point of view or even a common friend’s point-of-view. You could even move from one point of view to another provided it is clear as to whose point of view is being presented at any point of time. The choice of which POV you choose depends on the story you want to write in the first place and on your comfort level thereafter.

We, then, come to the whether you use first person narrative or third person narrative. (Second person has been tried rarely and is near-impossible to do decently). Of course, first person can be adopted only if you do not prefer a non-involved narrator’s point of view. When you, say, write from Meghana’s point of view a third person narrative – “She thought….” etc. – would be like you were sitting in her mind and recording her view of what was happening. If you used “I thought…” it would mean that Meghana herself was doing the narrating. Here, by and large, the choice would be more a matter of personal comfort level.

Most stories also lend themselves to different emotional tones. If you are writing specific emotion-based genres like horror, humor etc. the emotional tone of the tale is pre-decided. When, however, it is genres like Relationships, Chick-Lit, Fantasy and SF etc. you have a choice of tones – it can be light-hearted, moody or matter-of-fact for example. Well! Actually, though there may be a palette of choices, any given author may not actually be able to do more than one type of mood. The narrative also can set the mood for the tale and most good narratives actually do set an emotional tone that resonates in the reader’s minds. The choice of emotional tone can also decide the POV character. If you choose a light-hearted tone maybe you cannot do it from Meghana’s POV – and, certainly, not using first person – since she seems to be the sort to take herself too seriously to set a light-hearted tone to the tale.

The last thing I intend discussing here is how you establish the characteristics of the persona in your tale. You could just describe your characters in so many words like “Meghana was very intelligent. She had little respect for IT support staff.” You could do a more elegant type of description like “Her eyes were sharp with intelligence. She had a faint look of contempt on her face for those less intellectually endowed, which perceptibly deepened when she came in contact with the IT support staff - whom she held in absolute disdain”.

You could have the characters described by dialogues or actions of others. For example, “Meghana has a problem with her email? The Ice Queen? She treats us IT guys like dirt. Why don’t you send Mr.Helpful Arup to her? Let us see if he can satisfy her” You could etch the characters by their own thoughts, words or deeds. For example - “These IT guys!! They can’t even get the mail working dependably” said Meghana, disdainfully.

In the normal course, the first option is frowned upon by publishers and literary agents. The second can find favor if done well. The third and the fourth option are better bets for establishing character. The idea is to let the reader discover for himself what sort of characters these people are rather than spoon-feeding them.

There is a lot more to narrative than language. A great plot alone cannot make a great story unless it is married to a great narrative as well.