Replacing Narrative Summary with Dramatic ActionFor example: Last night my father came home and told us he'd been fired. We were all shocked. He stayed up til after midnight talking to my mother about it. When I went to bed I was so worried I couldn't sleep. The reader has no other evidence that "everyone was shocked" except that the narrator says so. The narrator plants himself between the reader and the subject. Dramatic scene- The narrator tries to give the reader a direct experience of sights, sounds, and events. When Dad walked in the door,his tie was open; his shoulders were slumped. "Hya, Dad," I said, but he didn't seem to hear. He pust his briefcase on the kitchen table and looked through me. "Your mother," he said at last. "I need to talk to your mother." He started walking toward the stairway. THe dramatic scene can: ~slow the action ~introduce dialogue and gestures ~make the narrator an active character rather than a passive storyteller ~allow the reader to experience the grief/delight of the story at the same time the narrator does ~give readers the raw materials of the story so they can infer larger issues. In a movie, the director chooses carefully where to use slow motion to draw out a crucial scene. This technique usually comes at the film's hot spot- a farewell kiss, reunion, winning touchdown catch. A director would never film the entire movie in slow motion; the technique would quickly lose its novelty and become tedious. In the same way, a writer would not write a whole story in dramatic fashion- unless, perhaps, shw was writing a play. A good narrative should have a balance of scene and summary. THe writer thinks long and hard abut which part is crucial enough to render as a dramatic scene. (From What a Writer Needs by Ralph Fletcher) |
