"shape a narrative" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it when you are trying to describe how someone may be trying to form a particular story, tale, or account. For example, "The author used her experience to shape a narrative that showed the importance of self-reliance."
The viewer must piece together the critical elements to shape a narrative.
It dealt with past events, so he was able to use perspective to shape a narrative.
Just like the arts, we want sport to have a shape, a narrative we can believe in.
As a presidential candidate part of your job is to be aware of how easily the horse race narrative can overwhelm whatever story you want the country to be hearing, and to do everything in your power to actively shape a narrative that will inevitably be shaped by the press's zeal for "who's up/who's down" reportage as well.
In many ways, it is Al Jazeera's moment — not only because of the role it has played, but also because the channel has helped to shape a narrative of popular rage against oppressive American-backed Arab governments (and against Israel) ever since its founding 15 years ago.
The media has a tremendous amount of power to shape a narrative, and those stories can be destructive to people's lives, whether intentionally or not.
Jeff is very, very good at creating intense media interest, and then shaping a narrative for the press to write their stories around".
The series shapes a narrative around then-and-now intercutting of old footage of astronauts and mission managers, with voice-over narration by the actor Gary Sinise, who played the astronaut Ken Mattingly in "Apollo 13," that stitches things together.
DANIEL OKRENT Since opinion by definition is subjective, then op-ed columnists are the most "fair" because they explicitly disclose their hand in shaping a narrative, whereas reporters do not.
In shaping a narrative around watershed moments of the past, writers and filmmakers naturally reflect the worries of their own time.
But he does need the pressure of form, a narrative shape that forces his bland fictional representations to muster their significance.
