Rhetoric and Composition: ENG 015 007: Blog Response #3

Writing a narrative is much harder than I expected. I am much more used to writing an analysis of a novel or a poem. Writing a narrative is unfamiliar territory for me as I have only done it once or twice in high school. The narrative is very different because I as the writer have complete control of the story. I am not reacting to a story; I am part of the story. It is difficult to determine what needs to be added and what can be left out. The use of I is not too hard to master. I use the first person as often as I would when verbally retelling a story. The trick is figuring out what style to use. How often do I address the audience? The use of "you" is a much more interesting idea to tackle. Also questions such as digressions and humor come into play. I want to stay true to how I would verbally tell a story, which would include mild humor and brief breaks from the story. It is hard to determine what is good for the flow of the story and what gets too far away from the point. It is also a challenge for me to work with dialogue. I find it is a challenge to the flow of the narrative uninterrupted when including speech from multiple characters, The use of characters is another problem. After reading my first draft, I could tell that I was too dominating in the story. My other characters did not appear enough in the story. It is a challenge to get all of my thoughts across while giving enough stage time for the other people in history. It is truly a daunting task to take every thought and emotion and action in a particular setting and put it on paper.