‘Introduction’ in composition writing

Morris Mtisi
YOU are still perplexed with the NO-INTRODUCTION maxim in narrative composition writing?

A 21st century English language teacher must not continue to sing the old song – Introduction, Body and Conclusion. Even when you have discovered how your pupils get lost in the logic of these Stone Age terms, why teacher, do you continue to be old-fashioned and boring in this era of a new curriculum demanding a 21st century attitude of best practices?

A 21st  English teacher, especially teaching in Zimbabwe, perhaps all of Africa, must by now have learnt how and why students fail to write composition thrillers; how they fail to conjure up captivating and gripping stories, especially at the beginning of their stories.

The opening sentence must be carefully and cleverly crafted to make sure it hooks the interest of the reader, in the context in question – the marker.

It is the opening sentence that ignites this fire and literally arrests the desire of the marker to want to read on. Rather than drag the marker or reader from cold to warm right up to hot (hopefully), the fish must swallow the hook at once and the fisherman must pull out his catch at will, with confidence and joy right to the frying pan.

Do you understand what I am talking about?

For ages many teachers (please note: not all) have expected composition thrillers but failed to teach their students the correct skills to do so. They know what they want to teach and want to see or mark, but they have not been innovative enough to let their students get there.

There are many books, old and new, that continue to emphasise the “INTRODUCTION, BODY, CONCLUSION” song. This writer was taught that way. Many English Language learners today in high offices and important government and non-government offices were taught in the same way. I call this the old IBC recitation: “Your composition must have an introduction, body and conclusion.”

What is astonishingly disturbing is how and why after so many centuries many teachers still do not or refuse to understand why students fail to pick up interest right there in the opening sentence; instead they begin with bare facts and information: “It was last year on 15 August that (90 percent of them would say, ‘when’, which is of course wrong,) my father and I drove to Chimanimani to see Gogo Kwembeya who was not feeling well. She had been taken ill and for months had been in and out of clinics.  It was only proper that we drove to see her and this time take her to a specialist private doctor in town.

“We started off early in the morning around five o’clock. There was not much traffic on the road and obviously no police roadblocks, so the driver chose to drive Air Zimbabwe, that is fly instead of driving.”

There is no doubt that the student is in the A-B grade class. His or her language level is quite above average. But the beginning is a typical INTRODUCTION, wasting time and space.

Listen teachers! First impressions are vital in composition writing, particularly the story-type composition. Do not start with bare facts like the example above. Leave these details and bare facts until later. Instead, go straight into your action, subject or theme. This is a skill students must learn if they want to instantly intrigue and cleverly keep the reader in suspense and glued or hooked onto the story.

Consider the following topics:

1. A Terrible Accident I Witnessed

Opening Sentence: I turned around quickly when I heard the sudden crash.

Problem: Who were these people? Where were they going? Was anybody hurt, and if so, how badly?

All these questions show how the writer has skilfully succeeded to arouse anxiety in the opening sentence. But notice that these questions must not be answered right there at the beginning. The bare facts can wait until later. The opening sentence only sparks off the fire and sets the problem.

Example 2: In one blink of the eye I saw pieces of metal and human flesh flying in all directions.

Example  3. My first glance at the flying car allowed me a second and third glance, but certainly not a fourth?

In both example 2 and 3, you can already see how so many questions (the problem) come onto your mind seeking answers. That is the power of the opening sentence. An introductory statement carrying detail and facts cannot build a gripping interest, cannot hook the interest of the reader.

2.Write a story in which you were involved in crossing a river.

Opening Sentence: We both walked to the edge of the river and stared nervously at the raging current.

Problem: Did you or they cross safely? When was this? Who was involved? What river was this? The questions begin to pour onto the mind. That is what a powerful opening sentence does. An introduction with bare facts and information cannot do this.

In case we have forgotten. Every composition type has a particular purpose. The purpose of a story – a narrative composition, is to evoke a thrilling sensation in the reader/marker who wants to enjoy this story and be glued to it right to the end.

He is not interested in the facts and details of the story. The thrill can only come from how the story is being told more than the details of the story. After all, the marker knows this is creative writing.

He wants to be intrigued by the writer’s imagination and verbal intelligence – the style and flavour of it all mesmerising him at each stage of the story’s movement. NOT THE BARE FACTS! He is not looking for information. He is looking for thrill, excitement, joy and sheer literary skill.

3. Trapped

Opening sentence: I woke up and started to cough incessantly; the small room was full of thick dark smoke.

Problem: Did the writer escape safely? What was the cause of the fire? What was the writer doing; where was he or she going?

This is a very effective but simple way of teaching how to begin a story without resorting to the typical boring, time- and space- wasting.

INTRODUCTION.
You can even easily begin with action or direct speech. These two methods or styles both beautifully create vivid dramatic scenes at the beginning of a composition. The flashback and drama method (dialogue or monologue) can be used in combination helping to heighten or deepen the desired grip at the beginning.

Until next week think of how you can be a better English Language teacher; a creative and innovative classroom practitioner who understands and practices 21st century teaching and learning skills. Move out of that Stone Age cocoon and teach effectively, efficiently and efficaciously.

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Do you see how the following sentences can be beautiful beginnings (not introductions) to beautiful compositions?

1. Tinashe stood there cold as a stone but staring at the teacher straight into her face, ready for anything.
2. The moment my mother walked out through that troubled door, I knew life would never be the same again.
3. As she quietly walked to the kitchen, suddenly I remembered how eight years before my mother had gone to the same kitchen and came back with boiling water which she used to scald my father and nearly killed him.
4. I thought no more about my injury and returned to my cellphone concentrating my thoughts on trying to remember what the ambulance hotline number was.
5. Slowly I crept into my sister’s bedroom where the noises were coming from.
6. When I finally free, I ran down the corridor, tripped up and waited for my death.
7. “Hold your tongue, young man,” the third armed robber said, “… and stop being a fool stupidly applying for me to do the worst.”
8. “We’re certainly in soup and the worst is not yet out of reach, but in God we trust and will never stop hoping for the best,” I said to my friend knowing how we both knew how we were hopelessly hoping to escape death.
9. “I wish you’d let me be your best friend indeed, your shoulder to lean on when you were weary; your pillow to cry on in such times and your hanky to wipe away all those tears,” the strange man said and suddenly we knew what it all meant.
10. My friend growled something I didn’t hear clearly and went straight for the kill, but he was too late.