Chronicle Editor
READERS enjoy reading stories that engage them. This involves four basic stages: Exposition. What does this mean? This includes setting, characters and situation introduced. This gives the readers enough information to engage them in the story; makes them wonder how it will develop. Stage two involves conflict.
Main character(s) encounter problems they must overcome. This makes the reader want to find out how characters will tackle difficult situations. Then the story moves on to the climax where the conflict reaches the worst point; it’s not just a problem now – it’s a really serious problem. It leaves the reader unable to work out how main character(s) can ever solve a problem.
After the climax then comes the resolution where the conflict is resolved – happily or sadly. The effect of this is that it leaves the reader feeling relieved and satisfied that the tension of the story has come to an end. Better writers plan their stories thinking about the effect they want each stage to have on the reader. They keep their readers guessing – exactly how will the hero defeat the villain, for example?
Writers make choices about how much information to reveal to the reader, and the way they will reveal it. For example, think about some of the questions below when you write the opening of one type of your story. What do I want my reader to know about the characters who appear in the opening of your story? Personal pronouns. (I, you, he, she, we, they) and related determiners (my, your, his, her, our, their) reveal the exact number of characters or the gender of the characters.
Writers can use these to withhold information from the reader, making them ask questions like “Who is this person? This can engage the reader’s interest by making them want to discover the answers. What do I want my reader to know about the setting for the opening of my story? The setting may not be the most interesting or attention-grabbing feature of a story opening. Writers might give the bare minimum of information to “paint a picture” of the setting, leaving the reader to concentrate or action.
Better writers: are very aware of the effect they want to have on their reader. Choose vocabulary such as verbs very carefully to achieve this effect. Vary the lengths of their paragraphs, use longer paragraphs to convey information and shorter paragraphs for dramatic impact.
Deciding on narrative viewpoint: Before a writer starts writing a story, they must decide who will narrate it – from whose point of view the story will be told. This is called narrative viewpoint. You also ask yourself the following question: Do I want my story to be told by a narrator who is not involved in the action? Some stories are told using the third-person narrative. The story is told by a narrator using the pronouns “he”, “she” and “they”. The narrator does not take part in the action of the story. It is as though these are spying on the characters.
Complement, Compliment: These two words may be confused because of the similarity in spelling and pronunciation. The noun complement means something that makes complete. One you read in the library complements what happens in the classroom. Disinterested, Uninterested: A disinterested person is one who cannot benefit from any outcome of a matter. Such a person will be unbiased, be a fair judge. An uninterested person is one who has no interest in something.
As he was disinterested, he was asked to judge the choirs. She was uninterested in farming and let her piece of land lie fallow. Because the word disinterested is often misinterpreted, it is better avoided and alternative expressions used, such as unbiased, neutral or unprejudiced. Distance, Distant: Both words relate to position, but distance is a noun and distant an adjective. They are not interchangeable.
The distance from here to Gweru is over a hundred kilometres. The distant object was very difficult to locate. Dream, Dreamt: Dream and dreamt are both correct forms of the past tense of “to dream”. Dreamt is the more common form in British English and dreamed the more usual American English.
Learn the proper use of “the”. We say the . . . when there is only one of something. What is the longest river in the world? (There is only one longest river in the world.) We went to the most expensive restaurant in town. Harare is the capital of Zimbabwe. Everybody left at the end of the meeting. We say the sea, the sky, the ground, the countryside/the country.
Cinema, theatre, radio, television. We say the cinema/the theatre. We went to the cinema last week. Do you often go to the theatre? We usually say the radio. We often listen to the radio. I heard the news on the radio. But we usually say television without the. We often watch television. I watched the news on television. But can you turn off the television, please? (the television set).
Meals: We do not normally use with the names of meals: What time is lunch? We had dinner in a restaurant. What did you have for breakfast? Anne invited me to (or for) dinner. But we say a meal. We had a meal in a restaurant.
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