Hello and welcome to our lesson today where we'll be planning outstanding narratives together.

My name is Miss Sutherland and I'll be teaching you today.

Our learning outcome for today is to be able to plan an interesting narrative, and I'm so excited to see what you come up with today.

We have three keywords for today's lesson, they are, "chronological"; "manipulate"; and "ignominy".

Let's go through each one now.

"Chronological" means following the order in which a series of events actually occurred.

So if we are telling a story in chronological order, we will tell the story from beginning to end.

Manipulate.

"Manipulate" means to change or control something in a skillful manner.

If someone tries to control your behaviour, they might be called a manipulative person.

But today, we'll be looking at how time can be manipulated in a narrative, how we can control time in a skillful manner.

And "ignominy" means public shame or disgrace.

Pause the video and take a moment to reflect upon those three key words now.

Off you go.

Great job.

Let's look at our learning cycles now.

In our first learning cycle today, we'll be condensing the narrative arc.

So we'll be learning how we can use the narrative arc in a condensed way to fit our short-story format.

And then in the second learning cycle, we'll look at another way to structure our writing by manipulating time.

So let's start off with condensing the narrative arc.

When we think of a narrative, we might often think of a traditional narrative arc like the one below that begins with an exposition, goes onto the rising action, then has a climax, then has the falling action and ends with the resolution.

That is the format in which most stories follow.

However, our aim is to write a short story.

When writing a short story, what problems might we encounter when trying to use this narrative arc? Pause the video and discuss.

You may have said that when writing our narratives, we need to be aware that we may not have time to tell a full story.

It is a better idea to shape a strong sense of voice and tell a condensed story than rush through a full storyline without any conscious crafting.

In other words, we might not be able to use each of those points of the arc.

We might be only able to use three of those points of the arc.

So if we are limited on time and we are only writing a short story, we could condense the narrative arc.

We could include the exposition, rising action, and climax in a short story, and skip the falling action and resolution.

Not only will that allow us to really think about the quality of the storytelling, but so we'll also leave the story on an interesting note for then the reader to work out what might happen in the rest of the story were it to continue.

So let's plot one of these narratives on the condensed story arc.

These are our prompts that we looked at in our previous lesson.

Write a narrative titled "Outsider".

Write about a time when you discovered something no one else was supposed to know.

Write a narrative beginning with the line "I have no idea how I ended up here." And write a narrative that takes place in the future.

So we are going to plot a narrative in which someone finds out something they weren't supposed to know, and we are going to plot it on this condensed arc.

So we could start off with the exposition.

Someone is set a project to create a family tree.

Rising action: they begin researching and something interesting catches their eye.

And the climax: they find out their parents have been lying about their true identity.

So that's how we could plot one of our story ideas on the condensed narrative arc.

Discuss now how might we plot the structure for Jun's narrative idea.

Jun's narrative idea is that he's going to write about the extinction of humans for his narrative set in the future.

How might we plot the exposition, rising action, and climax of Jun's story? Pause the video and discuss.

So the exposition, we could start with this idea that new leaders take over society, implementing new ways of living.

So there we're still introducing characters and we're still setting the scene as we would in any exposition.

For the rising action, we could skip to it being time for the daily games that the new leaders host, and usually humans compete in these games.

Now, for the climax.

For Jun's narrative, we could say the climax is when the games suddenly change and the games suddenly involve robots versus humans.

And this time robots win, which obviously then leads to Jun's idea about the extinction of humans.

So that's how we could plot Jun's narrative on the condensed narrative arc to have a really interesting storyline, but still keep it in the limits of a short story, and in the timeframe of a short story.

Let's look at another condensed narrative arc for "the woman discovers her husband's infidelity." Exposition: wife and husband are happily married.

Rising action: wife senses husband is hiding something from her.

And climax: husband denies that he's hiding something from his wife.

Now discuss, does this story fit the arc in the way it ought to? What would you change? Do all the events link seamlessly to one another? Is this a believable narrative? Pause the video and discuss.

The climax ought to be the most exciting, dramatic, tense part of a story.

The current climax does not quite fit this criteria.

There's not really anything dramatic or shocking happening in that climax there.

We could change it to something like this: wife overhears a hushed conversation between her best friend and husband.

Now in this climax, something truly dramatic and shocking is happening.

We then have to consider if the exposition and rising action set the climax up appropriately, because we need events to unfold in a believable way.

Now, if we start by describing a happy couple at the beginning of our story, the build-up to the climax might not seem believable as the events develop too fast.

How on earth did the couple go from being completely happy to then something going very wrong, in the space of a couple of paragraphs? That might not quite work out.

So, we might need to start our story with something already being wrong.

Like, the wife and husband have hit a rough patch in their marriage.

This exposition might work better, because it not only builds intrigue from the get-go about what's gone wrong in their relationship, but it allows the story to develop seamlessly so that the climax is more believable.

In short narratives then, we may need to plant a seed for something going wrong in the exposition to ensure events develop in a believable way.

Let's look at all the example expositions for all of the narratives we have just planned.

In the first example, a unique school project was set.

In the second example, new leaders have taken over the earth with new rules.

And in the third example, the husband and wife are in a rough patch of their marriage.

So in all of these expositions, there isn't a fairytale feel or a slow start.

There is a seed for something to go wrong, and that's something to bear in mind for when you start planning your narrative.

How are you going to make the events to the climax build up in a believable way? What inkling might you give to the reader at the beginning of your story that something is about to go wrong? Let's check your understanding of what we've talked about then.

For short narratives, what might an exposition need? Pause the video and answer that question.

So in short narratives, an exposition might need a seed for something to go wrong.

And that is because we want events to build up to the climax in a believable way.

If we start our short narrative off with a fairytale beginning and everything's picture-perfect, the reader might not believe that something has gone wrong for your characters in the way that it has.

The progression of the story might not seem tangible or believable for the reader making your narrative less powerful.

We don't want that.

So in your story, consider planting a seed for something to go wrong in your exposition.

Now, let's move on to our practise task.

First of all, discuss which narrative idea did you previously come up with? So, which narrative prompted did you go with from the list? And what was your idea, and what was your proposed voice? I then want you to plot your narrative on the condensed narrative arc.

So what will your exposition be? What will happen in your rising action, and what will happen in your climax? Pause the video and get planning now.

Off you go.

Now, great job on planning your story.

I'm really excited to see how your story comes into fruition later on.

I now want you to reread your plan and answer the questions below to check your narrative will be believable and engaging.

Firstly, in your exposition, does this part of your story introduce key characters and a seed for something to go wrong? In your rising action, is there a sense of something going wrong at this point? And in the climax, is there a conflict here designed to shock readers? Pause the video and reflect upon your narrative plan now.

Off you go.

Great job reflecting upon your plan.

Let's move on to our next learning cycle where we'll be looking at how to manipulate time in a narrative.

Because we have limited time to tell our story, it is a good idea to try to innovate on the traditional story structure.

And we've looked at how we could do that in the previous learning cycle.

We've looked at how we could potentially skip out the falling action and the resolution.

We could also innovate on the traditional story structure by manipulating time rather than telling events in the chronological order.

So discuss now, how might we manipulate time in a narrative so that events do not unfold in a chronological order? Pause the video and discuss.

So in order to manipulate time, we could begin our story with the climax.

Begin with a moment after the narrative, and then shift the past to unravel the story.

And we could also begin the story with a flashback.

In the narrative where the woman discovers her husband's infidelity, I could begin with a moment after the main events of the narrative have taken place.

So for example, "I have no idea how I ended up here, It's a joke really.

40-year-old me back in my childhood bedroom, walls clumsily plastered with Britney spears cutouts, each one's staring in the depths of my soul.

I used to look like that once, I think, scanning the photo booth Polaroids framing my dusty mirror.

I look at my reflection now and I'm bleary-eyed, sallow and matted.

I used to think nothing could top the ignominy of your husband leaving you for your best mate, but this is an all time low." So that's an example of a story that begins with the moment after the main event of the narrative has taken place.

In the next parts of my story, I might reveal how the narrator ended up there.

So my next section, I might build up to my conflict.

"The day I found out was like any other day.

." And then in my final section I might give my big reveal.

And that's the climax of my story in which the narrator finds out what her husband has done.

So let's consider how we can manipulate the narrative arc in Jun's story.

How could we manipulate time in Jun's story to make this story not follow a chronological order? What might be an interesting non-chronological order for us to describe these events in? Pause the video and discuss.

So here are some ideas of how Jun could manipulate time in his narrative.

Firstly, he could begin with the climax.

He could start by describing the brutal end of humanity, then describe the build-up to this moment.

Jun could also begin with a flashback.

He could describe a time when humanity flourished, then describe how something, how everything changed.

And Jun could also begin with a moment after the narrative.

He could describe robots in complete control of the earth, then describe the events that caused this.

So there are many, many possibilities of how you can manipulate time in your narrative.

And each one of those ideas on the screen is really interesting and engaging for your reader.

It's really up to you which way you manipulate time in your narrative.

Let's consider how time can be manipulated in this narrative where the narrator finds out something unexpected.

A keen investigator decides to take on a suspicious case despite moving house.

The investigation is tedious and most leads are dead.

The narrator decides to do her own digging online.

The narrator comes across an article in which her own house is featured.

Footsteps are then heard from above.

Look at this new plan.

How has time been manipulated in this narrative we just considered? If the writer chooses to describe events in this way that you see on the screen, how have they decided to manipulate time? Have they decided to begin with a flashback, the climax, or a moment in the future? Pause the video and discuss.

In this example, the writer has decided to begin their narrative with the climax.

We see that, because the narrative starts with the woman hearing something above her head.

It starts with the floorboards creaking above her head.

It starts with this idea of someone being in her house that she doesn't know.

And that was the climax of the story.

So by beginning with that climax, this author has decided to manipulate time to interest the reader.

It is only then that the writer will reveal the background to this story and describe events that led up to this climax.

Let's check your understanding of what we've talked about so far then.

Which of the following would not be a way to manipulate time in a narrative? Pause the video and answer that question.

Well done if you said "describing events in a chronological order would not be a way to manipulate time in a narrative." By describing events in a chronological order, you are using a traditional storytelling method for your story, which would not be manipulating anything in the story arc.

Remember, we're trying to manipulate time in our narrative to make our short stories more engaging for our reader.

Because we only have limited time with our reader, we need to make a good impression on them from the get go.

Now, I want you to reread your narrative plan.

Firstly, discuss how could you manipulate time in your narrative.

I then want you to decide upon a way to manipulate time to best hook the reader.

And I then want you to map out how events can unfold from that point.

Pause the video and discuss how will you manipulate time in your narrative.

Off you go.

You've come up with some really creative ideas.

I can't wait to see how these can be executed in your stories.

I now want you to reread your plan, reflect upon the following questions.

How is your manipulation of time designed to hook the reader? And how does each section of your narrative link together despite not being in chronological order? Pause the video and answer those two reflection questions now.

Brilliant.

Let's look at what we've learned today then.

When writing a short story, we can condense the traditional narrative arc.

We need to craft for a believable unfolding of events for a short story.

In short stories, we may need to plant seeds of conflict from the very beginning.

We can also manipulate time in a short story to hook the reader.

And we can begin our story with the climax, a flashback, or a moment after the event of the narrative have taken place.

I hope you've enjoyed today's lesson.

I hope it's given you some fresh ideas for how to plan an engaging short story, and I hope to see you in another lesson soon.