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I can explain the narrative techniques of withholding information and timing revelations.

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2023), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Key learning points

Withholding information is a powerful narrative technique for increasing reader engagement.
You can withhold information about the who, what, where, when and how of a story.
Readers can respond in different ways to the withholding of information.
Timing the revelation of the full information affects how your reader responds to the story.

Common misconception

Students often think that they should show or tell the key details of a story immediately.

Encourage them to think about mysteries and thrillers which keep the identify of the villain secret.

Keywords

To withhold - to keep something back
To reveal - to make known or show something that was previously secret
Resourceful - skilled at solving problems and making decisions on your own
Resilience - the ability to continue to be happy and positive after something difficult or bad has happened

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Hello, and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Ms. Watson, and I'm delighted that you have decided to join me today.

We are going to be looking at narrative techniques of withholding information and timing revelations.

Once you've mastered this, you can do so many different things with your writing that is interesting for the reader.

You are going to need a copy of the prologue to \"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.\" It's by William Kamkwamba, and the book is published by HarperCollins.

So, when you're ready, we'll get started.

So the outcome of today's lesson is that you will be able to explain the narrative techniques of withholding information and timing revelations.

So let's look at the keywords.

There are four keywords today, and they are all going to be really useful for unlocking your learning.

So to withhold, if you withhold something, you keep it back.

And if you reveal something, you make known or show something that was previously secret.

You could see those two things as opposites.

If you are resourceful, you are skilled at solving problems and making decisions on your own, and resilience, fantastic quality, it is the ability to continue to be happy and positive after something difficult or bad has happened, that ability to keep going.

Now, if you would like a little bit of time to familiarise yourself with the keywords, please do that now.

Just pause the video and then rejoin the lesson when you're ready.

Two learning cycles in today's lesson.

We're gonna start by looking at the technique of withholding information, and then we are going to look at how you time the revelations.

So, withholding information.

Now this is a narrative technique used by writers to control the flow of details that are given to the readers.

So, for example, a writer might describe in detail what a character is doing, but not tell the reader why he is doing it.

And I'd like you to have a discussion.

Why might a writer choose to withhold information? Pause the video while you have that discussion, or if you are working by yourself, just pause the video and make a few notes.

So welcome back, and I hope you enjoyed that discussion.

I'd like to share with you what the Oak pupil said and invite you to compare your ideas with theirs.

So Aisha thought that withholding information builds curiosity, making readers eager to learn more and to see how the missing pieces fit together.

And Jacob agreed, and he thought it made the reader alert to inferences, which is challenging and enjoyable.

It can be like solving a puzzle.

You can see that they both sort of used imagery of puzzles.

Missing pieces fit together make me think of a jigsaw puzzle, and Jacob says that it's like solving a puzzle.

A little air of mystery, and what are these pieces, and how can we make sense of it can be really enjoyable for the reader.

So were your ideas similar? So now you're going to read the prologue to \"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind\" by William Kamkwamba, and it's published by HarperCollins, and you will need to find your own copy.

And I want you to read from the start of the prologue, where the narrator mentions \"preparation,\" to the end of the prologue, where someone says that he has achieved \"it.\" And as you read, I would like you to think about two things, what you learn about the machine, and what you don't learn about the machine, what information is withheld from you about the machine.

So, find the prologue, settle down, and happy reading.

Welcome back.

I hope you enjoyed reading that.

So, let's have a look.

What did you learn about the machine, and what did you not learn? Well, you might have said that we learned that the machine is made from recycled materials, was constructed in a valley, is the result of the narrator's hard work and imagination, attracts lots of interest from other people, but interestingly, we don't learn exactly how the machine looks, the purpose of the machine, why he's built it, and where exactly the events are taking place.

Now, after that reading, I would like you to have this discussion.

So given what you do and don't know, I would like you to summarise your response to the text using just one adjective and then explain why you chose that adjective.

I really want to stress to you that there is not a right or wrong answer here.

I want you just to be really honest about how you responded to the text.

And if you are working by yourself, just pause the video and summarise your response in note form.

Off you go.

This is what the Oak pupil said.

And again, I'm interested in if your ideas were similar.

So, we have curious.

\"I want to understand the full significance of the machine and its impact on the society.\" And intrigued, there's another adjective.

\"And I like knowing that something is important without knowing why.

The mystery is thrilling.\" Someone said they felt impatient.

\"I'm not comfortable with uncertainty, and I want to know everything right now.\" And confused.

\"I like to be able to picture things.

So the descriptions of wires and plastic puzzles me.\" So in four different responses, four different adjective, you may have said something quite different, but everyone's response is valid.

Well done.

Let's move on.

So now we're going to have a check for understanding.

Is it true or false to say that withholding information can create different feelings in readers, true or false? It's true, but why is it true? What might you say to explain why it's true? Have a think.

Well, you might say something like this, that withholding information is a powerful narrative tool for creating mystery, suspense, and curiosity.

Sometimes, though, it can make readers feel impatient and want to rush through to the revelation.

Really good thinking there.

Let's move on.

So, now, I would like to share some information with you, information that you might say I've been withholding from you till now, and it's about the context of the book.

And \"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind\" is the autobiography of William Kamkwamba, and it is set in Malawi, which is a country in southeastern Africa.

And the book describes Kamkwamba's determination and resourcefulness as he sets out to build a windmill that will bring electricity to his village.

And he was 14 when he built this windmill, and he built it using scrap metal, and the physics that he learned from a library book, and his neighbours, well, they doubted that he would be successful, but his resilience, imagination, and hard work really paid off.

So now I'd like you to have another discussion.

In response to this question, how does knowing the context affect your response to the prologue of \"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind\"? And in your discussion, I'd like you to consider these three things, the effect of revelation after withholding information, the age of the narrator, and the response of the crowds.

Pause the video while you have that discussion.

And if you're working by yourself, pause the video and just make a few notes.

Off you go.

Fabulous discussion there, really interesting.

I'd like you to compare your ideas with those of the Oak pupils.

So Aisha said, \"Knowing the Malawi context deepens the impact of the revelation because we realise what a huge difference electricity will make to his village.\" And Jacob said, \"It's amazing he is so young.

It shows how innovative young people are, and the crowd is impressed by the revelation, just like we are.\" Let's move on to the second half of the lesson, where we look at how revelations are timed and revealed.

So, just a reminder of the lesson outline, let's look at timing revelations.

So, I'd like you to have another discussion.

What sort of information could you withhold in a narrative? Think of as many ideas as you can, and I would like you to use the following to guide your discussion.

I'd like you to think about who, that's the characters, and I'd like you to think about what, things and events, objects and events, and why, and that would cover reasons and feelings.

And then when, the date, the past, the present, and the future, where, that is the location of the narrative of the story, and how might be the methods and systems, the processes that inform what happen.

So, pause the video while you have that discussion, or if you're working by yourself, pause the video and make a few notes.

So welcome back.

Let me share with you some of the things that you might have said.

I'm not saying this is a complete list or that these are better ideas than the ones you had.

I just think it's sometimes useful to compare your ideas with other people's.

So you might have said that you could withhold the true identity of a character or narrator, or you could also withhold the information about who knows a secret and those who don't.

The what could be the full details of a pivotal event.

You might know the outcome of the event, but not how you got there, for example.

Exactly what a thing is, that's what's happening in \"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.\" We don't know that it's a windmill until the end.

The why, the true motivations of a character, the reason a goal is important.

You can see that that happens in \"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind\" too.

We don't know why, we know he cares about the windmill, we know he cares about this mystery machine, but we don't know why.

And then when, concealing the date of an event.

And you can also have characters learning things at different points in the narrative.

And where can be really interesting.

Writers sometimes create a world that is only partially familiar, and you can also have the hiding place of a significant object or important person.

That would be a really interesting way of withholding information.

And how, that might include, say, the exact steps the hero will take to resolve the problem, or the way a conflict between characters started.

Now, if you would like to, a little bit of time to add those possibilities to your notes, that's fine.

Do that now, and then we'll move on.

Now let's have a check for understanding.

I would like you to use the who, what, why, when, where, and how to identify the information that is being withheld in the following narrative examples.

Number one, \"The dates on the tombstone had been chiselled away.\" What would you say? That's right, that is the when.

Number two, \"The lights went out, and suddenly, he was free.\" That's the how.

We don't know how he got free.

The lights went out, suddenly he was free, how did that happen? \"Her eyes widening in surprise, she lifted it out of the box.\" What is being withheld there? The what.

We don't know what that it is.

We know it's surprised her, and that makes us interested in it, but we don't know what it is.

\"Inside his desk were six passports, each in a different name.\" What would you say for that? That's right, the who.

We have no idea who this person is.

They have so many aliases that they are obviously a bit suspicious.

And number five, \"There was supposed to be a house on the spot marked X.\" That's right, where, and that, withholding that information, where's the house, where's it gone, was it ever there, that sets up the mystery there.

And then number six, \"They didn't explain their weird behaviour during the full moon.\" That leaves us with why.

We might notice the moon and the behaviour, but we don't know what's going on, why they're behaving like that, we have a sense of mystery around them.

Really well done if you got those right.

Let's move on.

Now, remember, we are thinking about timing the revelations because when you reveal the withheld information, that affects the narrative.

For example, do you drip feed the information, or do you go for a big reveal at the end? And I would like you to think about this.

Which method do you think is likely to be more effective? And I'd like you to refer back here to the feelings you had towards the withholding of information in the extract.

Remember, there were four that we looked at, curious, excited, impatient, confused? Obviously, you might have said different things.

So work with those ideas, with that particular adjective that you chose.

So I'd like you to have a discussion about that, about the revelation of information, and what you think is likely to be most effective.

Pause the video while you have that discussion.

And again, if you are working by yourself, just pause the video and make a few notes.

Off you go.

So welcome back, and I'm going to share with you what the Oak pupil said, and invite you to think about whether you agreed with them or not.

Now, Aisha said that she loves a story with a twist at the end, \"Because I love surprises.\" Sometimes those kind of stories are known as a tale with a twist.

And then she said, \"I like going back over the story and seeing if there are any clues that I missed.\" I suspect Aisha really likes detective stories because that is the structure that they often follow.

At the end, we discover that the criminal is someone we never expected, but when we go back over it, we realise, if we were paying attention to those clues, possibly, we could have worked it out.

And Jacob said that he liked bits of information to be revealed.

He likes it to come out bit by bit, and again, he uses this puzzle analogy.

He says, \"It's like putting a jigsaw together.

Suddenly, something that was there all along looks different.\" That's a really interesting idea.

Makes me think about \"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.\" We are thinking about what is he doing? What are these wires? What's all the plastic about? Why is it so important? And then we realise, finally, it's there to make electricity.

And that glow is the surprise.

And yes, now we see it.

It's almost like we now see the whole of it.

And we understand why it's so very important.

Now, you don't have to agree with what the Oak pupils said.

I know you had really interesting things to say too, but you can compare your ideas with theirs.

So that brings us to the end of the lesson.

But before we say goodbye, I would like to summarise what you have been learning today.

You have been learning that withholding information is a powerful narrative technique for increasing reader engagement.

And you can withhold information about the who, what, where, when, and how of a story.

And you've also been learning that readers can respond in different ways to withholding of information.

Some get impatient, some really, really enjoy it.

It's worth saying, though, that impatience isn't necessarily a bad thing for a reader to feel.

It can increase their desire to read on and find out what's happening.

And you have also learned that timing the revelation of the full information affects how your reader responds to the story.

So really, really good work today.

I would like to thank you again for coming to the lesson and express my appreciation for your hard work and your focus and your fantastic ideas in the discussion.

I look forward to seeing you again in another lesson on non-fiction, teenage kicks.

Have a brilliant rest of the day, and bye for now.

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