The father and son met the neighbour in the shopping centre.
The two men hadn’t seen each other for a while and they agreed to sit in the coffee shop and catch up before the man did his shopping. The boy knew that the neighbour wrote in a blog and wanted to know more. After a few minutes of chatting, the man explained that his son would no doubt like to find out more about the neighbour’s blog. He suggested that he go off and do his shopping while they talked. This was agreed to and the father left.
At first, the boy looked a bit nervous. Then, driven by curiosity, he said, “I understand you write stuff for your blog”
The neighbour smiled. “That’s right.”
“What sort of stuff?”
“What type of writing, is that what you mean?”
The boy’s head wobbled. “I suppose so.”
“Well, I’d have to say creative. Creative writing draws on the imagination to get across some kind of narrative or story.”
“Are there other types?”
“There are, but I have to tell you there are different opinions about how many types there are, up to a dozen, but there are four broad categories commonly accepted.”
“What are they?”
The man raised his eyebrows. “Do you really want to know?”
“Yes. It’s my favourite subject at school.”
“I see. So, that’s why you’re so interested?”
The reply came as a resounding, “Yes.”
“OK. Types. Well, you could say there are four broad categories; persuasive, expository, descriptive and narrative.”
The boy frowned.
The man went on. “The first two are styles that I don’t use. Persuasive writing attempts to influence the reader. It tries to bring the reader around to the writer’s point of view, such as advertising or job applications, for example.”
The boy brightened. “Yes, I see that.”
“Good. Then there’s expository. This style of writing is aimed at informing or explaining some particular subject. The sort of thing you’d find in text books or instruction manuals; this style attempts to expose or uncover the facts, if you like.”
The other nods. “OK.”
“OK. That leaves descriptive and narrative. I use both of these.”
“Because you write short stories,” the boy said.
“Yes. A descriptive style is easy to understand. With descriptive writing you are painting a picture. The writer makes the reader feel that they are there, that they can actually see the person and where the person is.”
The boy nods slowly, showing that he understands.
“Finally,” the other goes on, “there’s narrative. Narrative is when the writer tells a story. My favourite style, as it happens. It can be fact or fiction. This style is commonly found in novels. Usually, there’s a main character in some particular setting, who experiences something interesting or significant. How this all plays out is called the plot. The writer can make themselves out to be the person they are writing about, and from another point of view, the reader can imagine themselves to be one of the people in the story.”
At this point, in the distance, the boy could see his father returning. “Thank you for explaining all that.” He quickly added, “Can you give me any tips?”
“Any tips?” The other grimaced and said, “Not really. There is so much out there on the internet. Writing is a very personal thing. You’ll have to look for what you think suits you.”
He paused for a moment, looking up and seeing the man drawing closer, he said, “The only tip I can give is that you only ever write what you want to write.”
The boy smiled and nodded.