narrative paragraph

Narrative Paragraphs

Narrative paragraphs are a lot of fun to write. Here you can tell your reader a story from beginning to end. You don't have to imagine anything out of the ordinary - only tell the story, tell what happened. This alone usually allows the nervous writer to stop worrying about generating ideas, and to concentrate on organizing the events in the story being told.

There are a few things to think about when getting ready to write narrative paragraphs:

	Know the information well.
	Know the order in which things happened
	Think of your audience: does anyone there need extra information to understand part of your story?
	Identify your characters well
	Explain the setting/ place where things were happening
	What is the MORAL OF THIS STORY? What lesson did you learn from it?
	Make your sentences as interesting as possible
	Organize all of this information in a way to show the beginning, the middle and the end of the story.

Now you are ready to write:

Start by telling your audience what you learned from this event or story.

Do this right in the beginning

Explain the setting for the event: tell where, when, how the event happened.

Introduce the main character - later you will have time to introduce other characters.

Tell your reader what happened in the beginning of this story or event.

Tell your reader what happened in the middle. This usually contains the most important part of the story

Tell what happened at the end

Go back to the moral of your story again to finish the paragraph!

You are ready to double check your work, to edit your paper.

Check to see if:	Yes	No
1. all of your sentences are strong, clear and varied - some long and some short, all interesting
2. the order of the story is correct; if you forgot some key information, it will be difficult to tell the story well
3. your story has a beginning, a middle, and an end
4. your transitions help explain the sequence your reader will have to follow
5. your main idea is clear; if the moral of the story is right at the beginning of your paragraph
6. your conclusion restates what you said in your main idea
7. you have any spelling or grammatical mistakes
8. your reader will easily understand how or why the event is taking place
9. you need to add details such as time, location, or anything else needed for your reader to understand the story

Edit your paper again. Put your process analysis paragraph away for a day or two, then edit it once more. You will be glad you did.