Writing - Narrative
Narrative writing asks you to tell a story with characters, a setting, and a problem that gets resolved. Markers look for a clear situation, events in a sensible order, description and dialogue that bring the scene alive, and an ending that finishes the problem rather than stopping in mid-air.
Set the scene quickly
Two or three sentences should establish who, where, and what is about to go wrong. Nadia had rehearsed her speech eleven times. Now, backstage, she could hear the audience settling into their seats.
Give the story a shape
- Problem: something the character wants and cannot easily get.
- Rising action: two or three attempts, each raising the stakes.
- Climax: the moment of greatest tension or decision.
- Resolution: how the problem settles and what the character now understands.
Show, don't tell
Replace a label with evidence. She was nervous becomes Her card shook so hard she had to hold it with both hands. Use sensory detail - sound, texture, temperature - and keep dialogue short and purposeful. Punctuate it: "I can't do it," she whispered. Keep tense and point of view consistent.
Worked example
Draft: Then the dog ran at me and I was scared and then I ran away and then I got home. Revision: The dog lunged, low and fast, its collar jingling. My breath caught. I spun, sneakers slipping on the wet grass, and did not stop running until my own gate clanged shut behind me. Reasoning: the draft uses then three times and tells the feeling (I was scared). The revision sequences with varied transitions, shows fear through breath and slipping feet, and uses sound (jingling, clanged) to mark the scene. Same events, far stronger evidence for the marker.
Traps that cost marks
- Telling a list of events with no problem to solve.
- Dialogue that carries no information or is punctuated incorrectly.
- Shifting tense halfway through.
- Resolving the problem too fast, with no attempts first.
- Ending with then I woke up or it was all a dream, which cancels the story.
- Using description that does not move the plot.