Writing Prompts For Narrative Stories
Ollie Ander
Is probably just a couple cats in a trench-coat—the hair shedding and sunlight napping are highly suspect.
Do you know what style of Narrative Writing you default to? "Narrative Writing" is as broad of a definition as it gets, so even after decades of being a writer, many of us still struggle to define it, and don’t really think about what kind of narrative we’re constructing. Below, I’ve provided explanations of different types of narratives to help identify which you naturally gravitate toward.
I’ve also included prompt questions to answer for your current project (and hints to help with the writing process). If you can answer all the questions in one section, that’ll show where you primarily put your efforts, hopefully inspire some deeper inspection if you cannot answer all of them, or identify a weak spot in your experience (ie. realizing you’ve never tried writing a certain type of narrative before—and should try it out!).
What is Narrative Writing?
Narrative Writing is any story that conveys or recounts events, using character, plot, and description to construct a narrative. There are few boundaries to Narrative Writing, it can be fictitious or nonfiction, in chronological or nonlinear order, that’s a long-form novel or short story.
"Narrative Writing," despite its namesake, is not exclusive to stories that are presented in a style with heavy narratorial insertion (ie. being told a story with the narrator as a character themself, or with a thick use of "voice").
Essentially, if you write a story with an intended structure, it’s Narrative Writing. The style you write in can vary drastically, which even includes $ Narrative Poems$ .
Linear Narratives
Linear Narratives play out in classic chronological structure, getting characters from point A to point B, progressing the plot. Most plotting and book structure techniques support constructing a linear style narrative.
Linear Narrative Prompts:
What do you want to happen in your story/to your character?
Where does it make the most sense for your character’s story to begin?
What journey must your protagonist go on? Why?
How do you give them a fulfilling ending?
Does your main character have a goal?
What is preventing them from that goal?
How will they achieve their goal?
Non-Linear Narratives
Non-linear Narratives provide scenes in order of relevance instead of chronological order, so the final outcome makes better sense, or has a more impactful build-up. A good example would be a crime mystery, where new pieces of evidence are accompanied by flashbacks to (re)contextualize the facts.
Non-Linear Narrative Prompts:
What’s a theme you want to explore in your narrative?
How can you explore that theme through events?
How many times in a character's life has something similar happened, or they had an experience that would build on their understanding of a given topic?
*Draw a chronological timeline if it will help you plan things out, then swap events around to bring together a through-line of the strongest moments.
*There are also structures like the $ Snowflake Method$ that don’t require a linear planning process.
Viewpoint Narrative
A Viewpoint Narrative is focused on the unique/ individual perspective of the main character to present the story. In many cases, the protagonist’s perspective IS the main point of the narrative.
Viewpoint Narrative Prompts:
What is unique about your character from everyone else around them?
How does your protagonist see the world?
Why are they the best Point-of-View from which to tell your story?
What (dis)advantages do their lived experiences provide them?
What are your character’s defining personality traits?
How can you infuse their personality into their interactions as much as possible?
*Make their actions reflect their personality, but try not to hit a point of excess.
What other characters could your protagonist meet to further their perspective?
Who is the antithesis of your protagonist?
What characteristics would make a good $ foil character$ ?
Will your protagonist change as a person by the end of the book?
*Plan your character’s "mirror moments" to help shape their character development with that intention always in mind.
Descriptive Narrative Prompt
A Descriptive Narrative is more concerned with what’s around the characters to construct a progression of events than the characters themselves. Unlike Viewpoint Narratives, Descriptive Narratives are their own driving force; the setting makes the plot.
Descriptive Narrative Prompts:
Where does your story take place?
Why is the setting important?
How does it affect your characters (or protagonist in particular)?
How does the environment influence the plot?
*Take deep notes on every detail of the setting. Use as much of it as you can, in as many ways as you can! Here’s an article on $ How To Write Strong Atmosphere In Stories$ to help out.
None of these Narrative Writing prompts are mutually exclusive! Though they have different focus in conveying the story, that doesn’t mean you can’t write something that is a Non-Linear and Viewpoint Narrative.
If the broad expanse of all that a Narrative Story can be wasn’t useful in getting the creative juices flowing, and you need more guidance, here’s a $ list of some outlining techniques$ that offer structure, start-to-finish.
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