Narrative Analysis 201
Intermediate Concepts, Skills, and Ideas
Intro
Now that you’ve mastered the basics of Narrative Analysis, you’re ready to dive into higher level concepts. Level up your reading, writing, and critique skills with intermediate literary techniques like Tone, Pacing, and Exposition.
Intermediate Techniques
Backstory
The prior events that make up a backstory can inform plot points, character motivations, and setting details.
Dialogue
How characters express themselves, using spoken or written words.
Exposition
Different ways to dispense must-know information without losing the audience’s attention.
Goals
Every character should want something. The story shows whether they get it, and how.
Pacing
How the speed of a story changes from line to line and scene to scene.
Setup and Payoff
Using foreshadowing to plant questions, then answering them at the opportune time.
Showing and Telling
Despite the oft-repeated axiom, ‘show, don’t tell,’ both showing and telling have a place in storytelling.
Stakes
What happens if a character doesn’t achieve their goal? What happens if they do?
Subplots and Side Stories
Subplots and side stories add depth to narratives by expanding the world while emphasizing themes and playing with tone.
Tension
The imbalance of information between the characters and the audience keeps the story interesting.
Tone
Tone is the emotional expression of a story’s theme, as well as the source of mood and atmosphere.
Tropes
Commonly-used narrative devices, also known as tropes, are an essential tool in all forms of storytelling.
Twists
Plot points that subvert the audience’s expectations work best when they integrate other elements of the narrative.
Urgency
Ticking clocks and time bombs: the classic narrative devices that keep stories moving.
Advanced Topics
If you think you’ve mastered the intermediate techniques in Narrative Analysis 201: Next Steps, you’re ready to move up to the next level: Narrative Analysis 301: Advanced Topics.