Narrative Composition

 

- In a narrative composition, you are required to tell a story.

- The story can be created.

- You can also write a narrative composition about what actually happened or took place in your presence.

- The flow of ideas should be well organized so that the reader can find it easy and lively to read your events.

 

Sample composition 3

- The day our house caught fire I went to bed at around 10 o’clock at night. Having done a lot of homework, I was so exhausted that the moment I landed on the bed, I fell asleep.

- For how long I had slept I cannot tell but I was awakened by thick smoke which had started to choke me.

- I suddenly woke up and realised that my room was very hot and full of smoke. I wondered what was happening.

- Jumping out of bed, I fumbled with the door knob to gain exit. I proved the adage: where there is smoke there is fire.

- On opening the door, what I saw made my eyes almost pop out of their sockets.

- Fire was creeping up on the coaches and carpets in the living room. I let out a loud scream that made people’s ears prick up and in a thrush of a duck’s tail, people were running at a super-sonic speed to the scene.

- In despair, I rushed out of the house. I kept running to and fro as the fire spread rapidly, causing more panic.

- Many people were outside our house just staring helplessly at the fierce flames.

- I then remembered that my younger brother, Tom, had been asleep in the house.

- Despite the people’s warnings, I was thinking of how I could save Tom. I was headed to the house, one man, on realising that, stood on my way and made me fall down.

- I quickly stood up, enraged, and for a minute, anger blocked my throat so much that I could not utter a single word. I struggled and pushed the man out of my way and gained entrance to the house.

 

(Continuation of the composition 'The day our house caught fire')

I dashed up to Tom’s room only to find him in a pathetic state. He was wriggling in pain as he inhaled the chocking smoke. What I did was a daring mission. I carried him from his bed, not caring that I could have sprained his leg or arm. I threw him outside the window. As I wanted to go downstairs, I noticed that the raging fire had spread to the upper part of the house. My teeth rattled audibly and my feet buckled due to fear. I took a thick dry blanket from To m ’s bed and, bracing myself, I drew a shuddery breath and tiptoed downstairs. A t last, I managed to get out of the house. My effort of saving Tom was a success.

Suddenly, the smoldering fire consumed the whole house and everything went up in flames as thick smoke billowed from the burning house. Property worth thousands of shillings was destroyed. A sombre mood overcame the on-lookers. Some shed tears of hopelessness as others stood in small groups talking in low tones.

I felt the world spinning at an unbelievable speed and everything became blurred and ebony black. My knees gave way and I collapsed. I woke up to find myself in hospital. A nurse came in and told me that she was very glad that I had regained consciousness. She called upon my worried parents whose hearts were hammering away.

I was very happy to see my parents and we hugged tightly. It was a terrible encounter but I am happy that our lives were saved.

 

Details on narrative and imaginative writing

In this kind of work, you will learn how to write a story. To create an interesting story, you must use these important elements:

a) Characters: Refers to those who act in the story. They should be people, animals or objects that think and talk.

b) Setting: Describes time and place of the story for example: classroom, lakeside, town etc.

c) Plot: Refers to the series of actions that the characters go through as they try to solve a problem. In the plot, we have the:

  1. Introduction: This is usually short. It presents the character, the situation or the problem, and part of the setting.
  2. Development: This simply shows how the situation affects the characters and what they do to try and solve the problem.
  3. Conclusion: This shows the solution of a problem. It is usually short. It may lead to a happy, sad or surprise ending.

 

-  When writing a story, remember to organise the flow of your events so that the reader’s interest is maintained throughout the story.

- The element of suspense should also be created and maintained so that the reader will want to find out what is most likely to happen in your story.

- You are expected to create suspense by:

  1. Including mystery
  2. Changing the scene
  3. Creating unexpected events
  4. Including dialogue
  5. Giving surprise ending
  6. Moving from one character to another