Narrative Paragraphs
A narrative paragraph demonstrates the development of a person through the chronological retelling of an important event.
In this video, we’ll explain the characteristics of narrative paragraphs so that you can write your own.
A narrative paragraph should indicate how a person has changed or learned from this experience.
The experience should unfold much like the plot of a novel or short story,
beginning with the individual facing a problem and ending in the resolution of the problem and subsequent growth of the individual.
In a narrative paragraph, the writer must do the following:
Describe the event. What happened? This is crucial to the reader’s understanding and interest.
Describe the subject’s feelings, thoughts, desires, or insights.
For the reader to see that the individual has transformed, you must present the inner thoughts, etc.
before and after the alleged transformation so that the reader can compare and evaluate the personal growth of the individual on their own.
There are two ways you can approach including these two things in your paragraphs:
By integrating the description and the motivation, or by including the description and motivation in separate blocks.
Integrating the description of the event with the person’s motivations in the same paragraph
is more seamless but might be confusing with complicated events.
Here’s an example of this approach:
Today, I stepped into a new stage of my life by moving into my own apartment.
I am so excited, because I have always lived with roommates, and this will be my first time living alone.
I was able to find a great used couch on Facebook Marketplace that I have set up in the living room.
My friends think living by myself will be lonely, but I am really enjoying setting up my place exactly how I want it.
After we got everything moved in, I spent the afternoon rearranging furniture, putting dishes away, and hanging pictures.
The sections in red, where the narrator talks about moving in, setting up furniture, etc. are the description of the event.
This is what happened.
The sections in blue, where the narrator talks about feeling exited, and enjoying setting up their new place, are
the motivation. These sentences describe the thoughts, feelings of the narrator,
and help the reader understand the narrator as a person.
Now let’s look at the other potential approach.
Separating the description and the person’s motivation can be more effective for complicated events,
and can help build suspense. Here’s an example of this approach:
Today, I moved into my new apartment. We got up at 6 a.m. to load up the truck up with all of my stuff and drop it off at my new place.
That took most of the morning. I was also able to find a used couch on Facebook Marketplace, which we picked up and brought over.
I spent the afternoon rearranging furniture, putting dishes away, and hanging pictures.
It was a very exciting day. I have always lived with roommates, so this will be my first time living alone.
My friends think living by myself will be lonely, but now I can set up my place exactly how I want it.
It feels like I am entering a new stage
Like with the previous paragraph, the sections in red are the descriptions of the actual event,
where the blue sections describe the thoughts and feelings of the narrator, which give the reader a sense of their motivation.
Whether you’re separating these two elements into separate blocks,
or integrating them into one paragraph like you saw in the previous method,
you have to make sure including both a description of the event and a description of the character’s motivation.
Keep these things in mind when you write narrative paragraphs.