1. Narrative Writing
Daniel Flower

2. Mini-discussion
http://3oneseven.com/29/singin-in-the-rain/
Why do we tell stories?
What makes a story great?

3. encapsulate
information, knowledge,
context, and emotion.
--Don Norman, Things That Make Us Smart
danorbit.
Stories are important
cognitive events, for they

4. JD Hancock
Language
Stories Use Concrete

5. Concrete language grabs
attention by appealing to the
five senses.

6. Stronger imagery creates
deeper impressions on a
reader.

7. Yau Hoong Tang
Need Details? Use the RENNS Model

8. Reasons
Why did something happen? Why did someone do
something?
Why did something happen? Why did someone do
something?
Why did something happen? Why did someone do
something?
Why did something happen? Why did someone do
something?
Why did something happen? Why did someone do
something?
Examples How did it happen? How did someone do something?How did it happen? How did someone do something?How did it happen? How did someone do something?How did it happen? How did someone do something?How did it happen? How did someone do something?
Names Who was involved? Where did it happen?Who was involved? Where did it happen?Who was involved? Where did it happen?Who was involved? Where did it happen?Who was involved? Where did it happen?
Numbers When did it happen? How many were involved?When did it happen? How many were involved?When did it happen? How many were involved?When did it happen? How many were involved?When did it happen? How many were involved?
Senses
hearing
(auditory)
sight
(visual)
smell
(olfactory)
touch
(tactile)
taste
(gustatory)
TheRENNS Model

9. Random Characters1_milano

10. light and dark, shades and hues,
visible shape and appearance
Sight
timitalia

11. The restaurant was shaped like a big bottle, though squatter than a
real bottle, and on its cap was a revolving figure of a grinning
boy holding a hamburger aloft.
--Joyce Carol Oates, “Where are you Going, Where have you Been?”
Thomas Hawk

12. SmellOften used metaphorically
Andrew Morrell Photography

13. ...I remembered clearest of all...how the bedroom smelled of
the lumber it was made of and of the wet woods whose scent
entered through the screen. --E.B. White, “Once More to the Lake”
James Jordan

14. Gustatory, detecting flavor--related to smell
Taste
ani-bee

15. ...the walking boots that taste
of Atlantic and Pacific salt...
--Robert Frost, “A Record Stride”
striatic

16. Soundvolume
tone
word choice
Vox Efx

17. ...there came to my ears a low,
dull, quick sound, such as a
watch makes when enveloped
in cotton.... It was the beating
of the old man's heart.
--Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell Tale Heart”
alvaro tapia hidalgo

18. Touch
emotion (tension, reactions)
Tactile experience and
Shemer

19. You grasp the bark by a rugged pleat,
And look up small from the forest's feet.
--Robert Frost, “On Going Unnoticed”
ben matthews

20. Ira Glass: A Story’s Building Blocks
713 Avenue

21. ...you can feel through its form [that it's] inherently like
being on a train that has a destination...and that
you're going to find something..." --Ira Glass
The Anecdote
96dpi

22. The Moment of Reflection
cambiodefractal

23. Robert McKee’s
Commandments
of storytelling
yoppy

24. Thou shalt not take the climax
Βethan
out of the protagonist’s hands

25. Thou Shalt Not Make Life Easy For The Protagonist

26. Thou shalt not use false mystery or surprise
practicalowl

27. Respect Thine
Audience
yozz!

28. Have a god like knowledge of your universe

29. Use Complexity Rather
Than Complication
Thuany Gabriela

30. Thou Shalt Take Your Characters To The End Of The Line
emma.c

31. Thou Shalt Not Write On The Nose Dialogue
B Rosen

32. Thou Shalt Dramatize Thine Exposition
My Melting Brain

33. Thou shalt
rewrite
pj_vanf

34. becca.peterson26

35. simulate and to inspire.
--Chip & Dan Heath, Made to Stick
Stories have the amazing dual power to