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Narrative Texts
Structure and features
of narrative texts
PURPOSE
A narrative relates a realistic, imagined or
fictitious story. It is written to entertain, amuse
and interest the reader but simultaneously
teaches, explains or informs. Spoken or written
literary texts describe or explore human
experiences.The reader or listener responds in
a reflective, imaginative or emotional manner.
TYPES OF NARRATIVE
Narratives can be divided into traditional
fiction including folktales, fairy tales, parables,
fables, moral tales, myths and legends; and
modern fiction which includes modern
fantasy and contemporary realistic fiction.
The content of narratives therefore covers
many areas, e.g. horror stories, mysteries,
romance, science fiction, historical narratives,
choose your own adventure and cartoons.
Narratives can be found in picture story
books, simple short stories and longer stories
with complicated plots.
A narrator who determines the point of view
usually tells the story.The narrator may be
omniscient (all seeing) and outside the story or
one of the characters involved in the action. A
part of the story or the entire story may be
related by the narrator or told by the
characters through the dialogue.
STRUCTURE OF NARRATIVE TEXTS
There are four stages in a narrative (and an
optional fifth stage). Frequently the four steps
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will be repeated, increasing the suspense of the
story. Able writers creating developed
narratives may play with the structure, creating
far greater variety in the format.
Orientation
Complication
Series of events
Resolution
Reorientation/Coda (optional)
Orientation
This sets the scene, creating a visual
picture of the setting, atmosphere and
time of the story. Characters are
introduced and clues are set in place for
the coming complication.
The orientation may be brief or continue for
several pages, allowing the writer to create a
visual picture of the setting, atmosphere and time
of the story. Generally the main character and
possibly some minor characters are introduced
with some details about their personalities,
attitudes and appearance.The details chosen (e.g.
the relationship of the characters, where they live,
the time they live in and what they’re aiming to
achieve) may be important for the later
development of the story.The orientation forms
the background for the complication.
Complication
This revolves around conflicts or
problems that affect the setting, time or
characters.The hero is prevented from
reaching his or her goals.
A problem or series of problems interrupt or
complicate the lives of the characters.These
problems help to build up the suspense and
have to be resolved one at a time. Realistic
stories generally have one complication, but
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most adventure stories will have a series to shrivelled hand . . .

build up excitement.
Series of events
The story continues through a series
of expected and unexpected events.
In this part of the story a sequence of expected
and unexpected actions affect the setting,
atmosphere, characters or time.
Resolution
A solution is found for the
problem or challenge.
The resolution brings the series of events to a
close and resolves the main problem, challenge
or situation that the story is based on.The
main character has to act to resolve the
situation in a believable way to stop a disaster
occurring.There may be a temporary
resolution resolving some of the problems and
at a later stage a final resolution.
Re-orientation/Coda
Sets the scene again and
locates the characters in it.
The usual pattern of life returns but changes
have taken place or knowledge has been
gained from the experiences.This may be
written in the form of a moral or coda, e.g. in
a fable.
• The verbs are generally action verbs telling
the reader what was said, felt or thought.
e.g. She banged in a frustrated manner.
‘Why did this happen to me?’ he wondered.
• Narratives are generally written in the
past tense.
e.g. She ran, pumped her muscles and
flicked her fingers.
• Dialogue is frequently included with a tense
change to the present or past.
e.g. He walked into the room. (past tense)
‘Where is the book?’ he queried. (present
tense)
• Sentences are joined using conjunctions
that have to do with time.
e.g. He left town after he attended
the party.
Before the gunshot, she had laughed at
the joke.
• Word pictures or images are created using
effective descriptive language.
e.g.The quiet road appeared to be filled
with the joyous sounds of the abandoned
sheep searching noisily for food.
• The narrative is written in first person (I,
we) or third person (he, she, they).
e.g. I hope to leave after lunch.
We will travel towards the coast.

LANGUAGE FEATURES OF
NARRATIVE TEXTS
• The characters, whether human or animal,
have an identifying appearance, mannerism
or personality.
e.g.The angry man . . .;The man’s

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Sample Annotated Text

TEXT LANGUAGE
ORGANISATION FEATURES

T he Roughtail
Lizard Dreaming
Narrative
written in third
person—he

Identifying
appearance

{
A long time ago in the Dreamtime, there lived a Roughtail Lizard man who
Orientation—
had a lot of Dreaming and songs he kept to himself. One day he was sitting
time, setting and
by a waterhole called Ngamarlu, when some men, who were staying by the
atmosphere
water, heard him singing. Action verbs

Night after night those men got up to listen to that Roughtail man singing his
songs as he sat by the fire. Every day when the men passed his camp they Verbs in
past tense
heard his singing.All the old people came together and they sat around,
talking among themselves.They decided to send someone to meet him. Conjunctions to
do with time
Complication { ‘Go and ask that Roughtail man to sing us a song,’ they said.That person
went over and asked him,‘Show us how to sing one of your songs.’ Dialogue —verbs
in present tense
The Roughtail man answered,‘Certainly! I’ll give you my songs to learn.’
Series of events Then he called them all together and made them sit down and he gave to
each man a song. He was putting white and ochre on their chests, saying to
Word pictures
them,‘I’ll give you this white ochre to put on your chests.All these songs or images
are to be sung with ochre.’

One by one he gave each man a different song. Over and over he put the
white ochre on them, telling them,‘This day I’m giving all these songs to the
men.When I put this stuff on your chests, you may start to sing.’ Conjunctions to
do with time
Then he began singing for them and as he sang he showed them dances.
When he had finished he said,‘I give these songs to the men to keep, each
one in his own camp, a different song for each.’

And so from north to south, from east to west, each has his song from the
Resolution/Coda { Dreamtime.Today if you go over there to Wirrumanu you can see this
waterhole called Ngamarlu.

From Tjarany Roughtail by Gracie

Greene and Joe Tramacchi (Magabala
Books Aboriginal Corporation)

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Name _________________________________________ Class _______________ BLM 1

Outcomes Checklist Narrative Texts

At the end of the units on narrative texts, students will have worked towards achieving the
following National Level 3 (NSW Stage 2) outcomes.

SPEAKING AND LISTENING BLM DATE & COMMENTS

NA 3.1 NSW 2.1 13, 16, 21,

Communicates and interacts for specific purposes 22, 29, 36,
with students in the classroom and in the school 43, 44
community using a small range of text types.

NA 3.4 NSW 2.2 13, 17, 18,

Interacts effectively and reflects on own skills and 29, 35
how others use communicating skills and listening
strategies.

NA 3.2 NSW 2.3 14, 17, 18,

Recognises that certain types of spoken texts are 35, 37, 38, 50
associated with particular audiences and purposes.

READING AND VIEWING

NA 3.5 NSW 2.5 11, 13, 16,

Reads a wide range of written and visual texts and 21, 22, 25,
interprets and discusses relationships between ideas, 28, 43, 49
information and events.

NA 3.8a NSW 2.6 12, 25

Efficiently integrates a range of skills and strategies
for interpreting printed and visual texts.

NA 3.8b 38, 40
With teacher guidance, uses several strategies for
identifying resources and finding information in
texts.

NA 3.6 NSW 2.7 36, 37, 39,

Identifies simple symbolic meaning and stereotypes 45, 49
in texts and discusses how writers create worlds
through language which achieves a wide range of
purposes.

NA 3.7 NSW 2.8 10,11, 24, 44,

Identifies, discusses and uses the grammatical 52
features and the structures of a range of text types
to create meaning.

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BLM 2 Name _________________________________________ Class _______________

Outcomes Checklist Narrative Texts

WRITING BLM DATE & COMMENTS

NA 3.12a NSW 2.9 14, 19, 23,

Uses strategies to plan, review, proofread and 24, 30, 31,
publish own writing with awareness of audience 32, 39
and written language features.

NA 3.11 NSW 2.10 2.14 23, 26, 43,

Able to produce a clear text using correct sentence 45, 46, 47, 51
structure, most grammatical features and
punctuation conventions of the text type.

NA 3.12b NSW 2.11 19, 24, 28,

Consistently makes informed attempts at spelling. 31, 32, 39,
40, 51, 53

NA 3.10 NSW 2.13

Recognises and discusses how own texts are 36, 46, 47,
adjusted to relate to different readers, how they 50, 53
develop the subject matter for particular purposes
and audiences.

NA 3.9
Experiments with interrelating ideas and 19, 26, 30,
information when writing about familiar topics 39, 45, 46, 47
within a small range of text types.

NSW 2.12
Writes using consistent shape, size, slope and 14, 23, 31,
formation. Demonstrates basic desktop skills on the 32, 51
computer.

Follow-up suggestions

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Background
Lessons
When students first begin to write narratives they
need to examine sample texts to familiarise
themselves with the purpose, audience and
features. As many texts as possible should be read,
followed by a discussion and modelling of the
structure.
Session 1
Joint construction
To help develop understanding of characterisation,
storyline, setting and structure, a narrative text
should be composed as a joint construction by the
whole class or as a group activity. At each stage
focus students’ attention on the structure and
function of the text.
As a class or in groups, brainstorm possible ideas to
form the basis of the narrative. (See BLM 3.) Once
an idea has been decided on, help students to
organise their ideas by completing one of the
following:
• A story map where the action and setting of the
story are drawn.
• A story outline where the events and settings of
the story are planned. (See BLM 4.)
• A cartoon that sequences the story.
• An oral development of the outline of the story.
When students first start writing narratives they
frequently focus on the action with little emphasis
on development of the characters.To develop a
skilful approach to the stages of the narrative,
prompt students with questions that will help them
to organise their thoughts.
ORIENTATION
What do you need to explain to create the
appropriate settings, atmosphere and time period
for this story? Can you see the place where you
will set your story in your mind? Is the story
written in the present, past or future? How will
you begin your first sentence or lead sentence so
that it grabs the reader?
Have you introduced your main characters and any
minor characters? Are the main characters people or
animals? Have you thought about and described an
aspect of each character’s personality, distinguishing
characteristics and appearance? Do we know what
the characters are trying to do or achieve?
What descriptive words will you use to create the
images? Have you thought ahead about how you
will end the story and the reason for it ending
this way?
COMPLICATION
Why did this happen? Who is involved? How will
the complications or challenges be introduced?
What problems will your characters face? Which
word will describe the action?
SERIES OF EVENTS
What will happen? How will this affect the
setting? Does the atmosphere change? What will
happen to the characters? How long a time period
will this take?
RESOLUTION
How will these problems be solved? How will you
tie all the pieces together?
CODA
Is there a lesson that can be learnt? How have the
characters changed?
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Session 2 included in their narratives, and describe their

appearance and personality.
Narrative structure • Have students retell a story they have read
changing the personality of one of the
Below are numerous suggestions of activities that
characters.
can be used to develop writing skills and to help
• Invite students to become one of the characters
students understand the structure of narrative
and relate their feelings as they experience the
texts. Depending on students’ abilities these can
story.
be completed individually or with a writing
• After reading a narrative told by one character,
buddy, but should always be first modelled by
have students rewrite the story from a different
the teacher.
character’s point of view.

• The teacher reads a narrative and students draw

a time line showing the sequence of activities.
• A narrative is read and students draw a story
map showing the sequence and details of the
setting and action.
• Students are given a story map of a narrative and
then create the narrative.
• The teacher supplies students with the outline
of a text and students complete the story by
adding appropriate details.
• Students are given a setting and characters and
they create a complication.
• After being supplied with the problem or
complication, students have to think of a
resolution.
Session 4
Other ideas
You may wish to encourage more capable students
to explore other ideas.
• Have students rewrite a tale using antonyms for
all the adjectives, adverbs or verbs.
• Invite students to describe events or experiences
as one character to another.
• Taking a story that is familiar to them as a
starting point, encourage students to write a
parody changing some of the elements.

Session 3
Characters
In order to develop the ability to write effective
and believable characters, give students the
opportunity to work on some of these scaffolded
tasks which offer support while writing.
• Supply students with pictures of a setting or
characters that are to be used as the basis of a
narrative.
• Select familiar characters and settings from
different stories to be used in students’
narratives.
• Have students draw characters that will be

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Name _________________________________________ Date _______________ BLM 3

Narrative Outline
Setting Main Characters

Orientation

Complication

Series of Events

Coda/Resolution

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BLM 4 Name _________________________________________ Date _______________

Narrative Scaffold
Orientation
When

Where

Who

What situation

Why

Complication
A problem that must be resolved occurs.

Series of Events
1

Resolution
The problem occurring in the complication is resolved by one of the main characters.

Re-orientation (optional)

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Name _________________________________________ Class _______________ BLM 5

Writing Record

Date Title Text Type Outcome

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BLM 6

Narrative Skills Checklist

Name:
Class: Date/Level Date/Level Date/Level Date/Level
PURPOSE
Demonstrates understanding of the
purpose of narratives.
STRUCTURE
Writes a clear orientation.
Creates complications based on
unexpected events.
Writes a well-developed series of events.
Able to tie up ends in a clear resolution.
Able to recognise different types of
narratives.
TEXT ORGANISATION
Develops a well-sequenced plan for
narrative writing.
Writes a well-developed and clear
orientation.
Uses paragraphs correctly for new stages
in the text or new developments in the
complication.
Able to write a clear sequence of events.
Writes a resolution connected to the
orientation and complication.
LANGUAGE FEATURES
Makes use of clear images in
descriptions.
Uses conjunctions to sequence events.
Uses action verbs correctly.
Uses correct tense.
Uses dialogue correctly to build up
interesting narratives.
Uses first and third person correctly.
Writes interesting lead sentences.

LEVEL CODES 1 Consistently evident 2 Sometimes evident 3 Not evident

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BLM 7
Narrative Writing Interview
Name:
Class:
Date:

Self-assessment e.g.What do you like writing about? Is there anything you don’t like writing
about or find difficult to write about? How do you rate yourself as a writer?

Range and preferences e.g.What kinds of texts do you like writing? What do you like writing
about and for what type of audiences? What strategies do you use to make your writing clear and
interesting?

Skills e.g. How do you plan your stories? How do you edit your work? Are your ideas more
important, or accurate spelling and correct sentence structure? How do you check spelling if you
are unsure of a word?

Current projects e.g.What are you writing now? Which parts are you happy with and which
do you think need more thought? What would you like to write?

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BLM 8

Narrative Writing Assessment

Name:
Class:
Date:

Task e.g. narrative, procedure, recount

Context e.g. individual, pairs, group, teacher directed

ANALYSIS
Content e.g. purpose, text organisation, awareness of audience

Skills e.g. planning, drafting, editing, redrafting, spelling, punctuation, handwriting

Language study e.g. use of adjective, adverbs, complex sentences, link between sentences

Teaching needs e.g. attitude to task, teaching needed for further development

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