Narrative Paragraphs
A narrative paragraph is a paragraph that tells a story to entertain or to make a point. The story may be real or imaginary. The narrative paragraph uses the who? what? when? Where? why? how? questions to gather information and show what happened in chronological order. Descriptive details are important, but you do not want to confuse the reader or distract them from the story you are trying to tell. Some important things for writers to remember are stick to the topic, tell the story simply and end it promptly. Do not ramble and include unnecessary information.
To write a
narrative paragraph, certain steps must be followed.
1. Select a topic
2. Complete prewriting tasks
3. Write the topic sentence
4. Write the first draft
5. Evaluate the first draft (see guidelines below)
6. Revise the first draft (see guidelines below)
7. Rewrite and proofread
8. Submit the final draft
Evaluating
the narrative paragraph
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1. Does the first sentence state the general idea? |
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2. Can the audience (readers) “visualize” the story by the reading of the details? |
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3. Are the details in chronological order and sticking to the topic? |
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4. Do the details flow smoothly? |
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5. Are the words appropriate to create a “picture” for the audience (readers)? |
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6. Has the story ended promptly, avoiding rambling and unnecessary information? |
The revision techniques are as follows:
ADD: Details and information are added to make the writing more clear.
REMOVE: Details and information are taken out to eliminate repetition, etc.
MOVE: Details and information are rearranged to provide variety, clarity, etc.
SUBSTITUTE: Replace informal language, weak sentences, etc. with more effective language.
Hint: To remember the techniques of revision, just
remember the word ARMS.
Below is an example of a narrative
paragraph:
Read
the following sample narrative paragraph, and pay attention to its
construction:
Joe suddenly woke up from a deep
sleep. The sun was dazzling his half-open eyes, and he couldn’t figure out what
time it was. The door to his room was closed; the house was immersed in some
sort of reckless silence. He slowly got out of his bed and approached the bench
right next to the window. For a moment, he thought, he heard a tapping sound
coming from the attic. Then again he heard the sound, only this time it seemed
to be somewhat closer. He looked outside the window and saw a man going by the
left side of the road. On seeing Joe, the man approached his garden’s fence and
whistled. At this point, Joe recognized Ron and waved his hand. He quickly got
dressed and was about the get down to open the gate, but he again heard someone
murmuring in the other part of the house. Joe decided to go to the attic and
see what was causing this, now buzzing, sound. He got to the second floor of
his house and looked toward the attic. He quickly opened its door and looked
inside. Nothing was found. He was about to turn back and attend to his guest
when he, suddenly, slipped on the stairs and fell. He called out to Ron to help
him get up.
Protagonist
– in the above paragraph, the protagonist is Joe who is introduced at the very
beginning of the story;
Setting
– Joe’s house is the setting. From the paragraph, reader can learn about his
bedroom (where he woke up), it is also clear that it’s a two-story house with
an attic, and a fenced garden;
Goal
– the goal of the story is Ron visiting Joe;
Obstacle
– what stops Joe from coming down, and earlier on, from concentrating on
getting dressed are repeating bizarre sounds coming from all parts of the
house;
Climax
– Joe trying to check what was causing the sound;
Resolution
–Joe falls from the stairs and calls out to Ron to help him get up.
Narrative paragraphs don’t need to be chronological. Action can use
flashbacks and retrospection in order to move the story forward.
Your assignment is to use the writing process to write a narrative
paragraph describing what led up to one of the most embarrassing things that
has happened to you.
Then you can pick a topic to write another narrative paragraph.