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Classroom resources 39

Innovative educational theories and

methods to use with your students

NARRATIVE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
TO AWAKEN AND MAINTAIN THE

AUDIENCE’S INTEREST

Eva Saiz
Ages: 13 to 17 years old

Writing a story of whatever kind is a long and sometimes complex journey. It is an
adventure in which there will be exciting moments where we will think we are the next
Charlie Kaufman (arguably the most famous screenwriter to have ever existed) and
others in which we will consider if our work is good or actually a little bit of a mess.

If evaluating the quality of a story is already difficult in itself, I don’t even want to tell you
if on top of that you wrote it. Writing is a self-centered exercise, but also a courageous
one, because through writing you expose your hardships to the world. The audience
always makes a value judgment, because stories contain elements that connect and
define us all.

We are all familiar with stories or at least have ideas in our heads, but that does not mean
that we are capable of telling them well, giving them articulation, life, or making them
interesting, genuine, and unique.

The reason some stories succeed, and others don’t is not down to us, because whether
we like it or not, we do not live in the audience’s head. But since anything can come
from a good script and only a bad movie from a bad one, I am going to give you three
examples of basic theory that we must consider when producing a good story (or at
least trying to).

Characters must want to achieve something

The pursuit of a goal has been the engine of storytelling ever since stories began,
whether it’s the return to Ithaca or destroying the One Ring. Characters need a goal
and achieving it must require effort from them.

So, my first advice is to ruin your character’s life.