Narrative Writing Essentials

Name:

Date:

📚 Part 1: Quick Check — Narrative Elements

WALT: Understand the key elements of narrative writing.

Success criteria: I can identify setting, characters, plot, conflict and resolution; I can give examples from a short text; I can recognise language that engages readers.

1. Which of these is NOT a key element of a narrative?

Setting

Characters

Footnotes

Conflict

2. Which option best describes conflict in a story?

A problem or challenge the characters face

Background information about the setting

The final paragraph of a story

A list of character names

3. Check all that apply: Which language features help to engage readers?

Vivid verbs

Long lists of facts with no detail

Sensory details (sight, sound, smell)

Rhetorical questions that invite thought

4. Match each narrative element (left) with the best definition (right). Draw a line between matching items.

A. Setting

B. Characters

C. Resolution

D. Plot

1. The sequence of events and actions in a story

2. Where and when the story happens

3. How the story's problem is solved or concluded

4. The people or animals who take part in the story

✏️ Part 2: Short Answers & Creative Planning

5. Identify the setting from the short story you read today. Include place and time (one sentence).

6. Describe the main character in one sentence. Include one personality trait and one action they take.

7. Briefly summarise the central conflict in 1–2 sentences. Who or what causes the problem?

8. Creative planning: Write the opening 3–4 sentences of your own short narrative. Use one sensory detail and show a hint of the conflict.

Differentiation & support: Use the audiobook version or read-aloud if writing is difficult. Pair with a peer for guided discussion. Use sentence starters from the board if needed.

Extension: Research a famous Australian or Indigenous story and note two ways its narrative elements are similar or different to today’s text. Prepare to share next lesson.