Introduction

 
Narrative articles “tell a story” (as opposed to expository articles, which explain something).  Whereas expository articles are concerned with a more rigid “beginning – middle – end” structure, narrative articles have a somewhat different structure, and look at observed reality under a different light.  Narrative writing material can cover a wide range of subjects and writing genres, from high-school book reports to novels.  In this “Sentences and Paragraphs” book, narrative writing genres such as book reports, film reports, and personal anecdotes will be examined.  These are the assignments that are typically encountered by undergraduate college-level English students in China today. 
 
     Much of the material appearing in this section can be found in other writing textbooks (although there are some new ideas).  As in the earlier sections of this book, the aim is to complement what already exists in the book stores, not to compete with them.  The overall aim of this book is to provide a simple “writing system” that can help the English language learner in China to do basic writing tasks. 
 
     These narrative articles (and their plans) will have the following nine parts: Title – Introduction – Setting (time) – Setting (place) – Characters – Plot Summary – Conflict – Resolution of Conflict – Conclusion. 
 
     Rationale for using this narrative article plan structure:  There are many ways to “structure” a plan when writing a narrative article; this is only one way.  Here are the reasons: 
 
       (a) It can be “standardized” for most types of narrative articles. 
       (b) It is easy to follow and understand. 
       (c) It allows you to easily review and compare the same parts of different articles.  Over time, you may have notes on many articles you studied, and having a standardized approach will make future work easier. 
       (d) It allows you to have more freedom (of expression) within limits (of structure).  Sometimes, having this “freedom, within limits” is a good thing, as you slowly and carefully learn to express yourself in a new language.  Later, if you wish, you can discard the structures, and “take off” into your own, personal form of expression. 
       (e) A framework is predictable, and this makes the task of writing the whole article more manageable.  It is also easier to start and stop the writing, as you know where you are in the overall process. 
 
     On “writing tense”: When writing a narrative article, it is (usually) best to write in the past tense; this automatically removes some grammatical problems.  (When writing expository articles, the present tense is better.)