Narrative paragraph is one of the seven types of paragraphs. It differs from others in its use of informal language and lack of descriptive analysis – all information is contained in action determined by predicates, mode, and pace of the story.
What Is a Narrative Paragraph?
Narration paragraphs are most distinctively used in fiction. As such, they will contain all necessary components of action development: protagonist, setting, goal, obstacle, climax and resolution. Writing a narration paragraph requires, consequently, sequential order and chronology. There are many descriptive elements included into the body of a narration paragraph but, if composed correctly, the paragraph will feature much more action than depiction.
Example of a Narrative Paragraph
Read the following sample narrative paragraph, and pay attention to its construction:
Larry 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 Larry, the man approached his garden’s fence and whistled. At this point, Larry recognized Nick 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. Larry 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 Nick to help him get up.
Elements of a Narrative Paragraph
Narrative paragraphs contain several regular elements:
- Protagonist – in the above paragraph, the protagonist is Larry who is introduced at the very beginning of the story;
- Setting – Larry’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-storey house with an attic, and a fenced garden;
- Goal – the goal of the story is Nick visiting Larry;
- Obstacle – what stops Larry from coming down, and earlier on, from concentrating on getting dressed are repeating bizarre sounds coming from all parts of the house;
- Climax – Larry trying to check what was causing the sound;
- Resolution – Larry falls from the stairs and calls out to Nick 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.
In order to write good paragraphs, you need to know how paragraphs are constructed and what types of paragraphs can be used in writing. Check out the Writing Paragraphs section for full information on the subject-matter.
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