EmeraldHike
Member
A lot has been said on this forum about descriptive paragraphs, so today, I thought I'd write about narrative paragraphs. What are they? How are they different than their descriptive counterparts? What are the primary differences between autobiographical and biographical narratives? What are the structures of those I just mentioned? How does personal growth fit in to narrative paragraphs? And finally, how can we best use narrative paragraphs to show the importance of our own personal growth? Boy, that's a lot to cover. Not to fear, I'll try my best at keeping everything clear and concise.
Okay, let's get going.
Narrative paragraphs are quite different than descriptive paragraphs. Their goals are different. What they convey is different and what they hope the reader will walk away understanding is different as well. If you recall from an earlier thread, descriptive paragraphs have very specific purposes. They exhibit the importance of something. They discuss a person, place, object, or event. And there are ways to best discuss those things. I actually love writing descriptive paragraphs because they allow me to use some flair in my writing. "The waifish young woman lightly sat her narrow behind on the hard wooden bench next to me. She whispered ever so softly that I had taken her spot. The spot she had enjoyed sitting in for over a decade straight. I looked directly into her faithful pale eyes and noticed a tear forming. It rolled down her curved cheek and dropped. Past her feather light blouse and into her waiting lap. A small wet circle formed where the drop had touched her tiny leg." After a while, it becomes a lot of fun to write in a descriptive fashion because we get to use all sorts of adjectives. And on top of that, we get to drive the varying critical aspects of our story home. Why was this girl important to the story? How did her appearance and demeanor impact the rest of the tale?
When it comes to writing narrative paragraphs though, things are quite different. In cases like these, we strive to demonstrate the change and development of a character by way of chronologically telling an important story. How has the person changed from what they once were? What have they learned from what they've gone through? When it comes to narrative paragraphs, what you write should feel somewhat akin to what you feel when reading a short story. Oftentimes, in these cases, characters start out facing certain issues and then begin to overcome those issues, and finally end with some sort of settlement and growth that stemmed from their experiences. In narrative paragraphs, the issues are explained while the rest of the events are occurring. Just as the plot unfolds inside of a novel and just as the action progresses within the same, the character in a narrative paragraph experiences their own problems, events, and some type of growth.
As an aside, as I write this post, I can't help but to think of one such book that exhibits enormous growth of its protagonist. Name of the Wind. Wonderful book. If you ever get a chance to read it, please do. It's one of my favorites and I highly recommend it.
Now, remember that just because narrative paragraphs are different than descriptive paragraphs, that doesn't mean that you don't need to describe whatever event it is that's progressing. You'll need to do that, and what's more, you'll also need to entice your readers to continue on to learn about just what's happening and how the primary character you're describing is developing. It's this type of character development that lures the reader into an investment of sorts. Readers become enthralled with their stories and books and invest important and valuable time into them. It's the writing that accomplishes this. Not any writing though, good writing. And good writing encompasses strong development of characters that are highly relatable. For me, how I'm able to relate to a character is probably one of the most important things a book can offer. I need a connection because without that, what I see on the pages are mere words. We all know this. We all connect differently to the various characters we read about in books and see in the movies. What makes these connections? Well, it may be how the character appears or how he or she acts. Perhaps the events they've experienced. And this is why it's so critical that these things be described in a complete and thoughtful way. The reader needs to be encouraged to imagine themselves leaping into the book to experience these events as well.
Just don't overdo it. Yes, we've all read those amateur writings from beginning authors who made the mistake of describing an event to such a degree that they completely lose the reader. While a connection is highly sought after, nauseating details can offend and the reader may lose interest and feel disconnected to the story as a whole.
Let's do a small thought experiment here. Let's pretend that we're writing a paragraph about how the protagonist of our story has developed as a person. Compare these two sentences to see which is more effective at conveying the message...which one created more of a connection.
John changed his entire outlook on the homeless. He never imagined how difficult it could be for a person to make it through just one day.
How could I have never known how challenging it could be to make it through just one day? What, with my privileged and wealthy upbringing, my New England private school education, and my lofty summer camp experiences in Maine, who was I to judge these people for what I once perceived as laziness? There are individuals on this planet who have faced more adversity in one week than I'm sure I will in my entire lifetime. To say that I feel ashamed would be an understatement. I'm appalled at my disgusting behavior.
Do you see how getting inside of the character's head clarified his thoughts? It allowed his feelings to flourish in the story and it invited the reader to connect and understand in a way that's simply not possible otherwise. Sure, I could have included the details of the second paragraph in the first, but they would have somehow seemed sterile. By changing perspective and including the thought process of the protagonist, I feel the second paragraph was better written. It exemplified personal growth as evidenced by the actual thinking of the character himself.
Engagement is key here. Your goal for this type of narrative paragraph is to help the reader understand the personal growth of the character you're writing about. With this in mind, it's important to decide which events and individuals are most important to the story overall. Think about what's going on and what seemingly insignificant event may lead to something more important later on. I like to think of this as "cleverness." Entice the reader say, "Oh, now I get it." Also, when deciding on which characters to focus on and write these types of paragraphs about, be sure to consider who is compelling enough to keep the reader's attention and who will captivate them. Narrative paragraphs, again, can be either autobiographical or biographical. These paragraphs can be about yourself or someone else. Decide what's best and go get it done.
Okay, let's get going.
Narrative paragraphs are quite different than descriptive paragraphs. Their goals are different. What they convey is different and what they hope the reader will walk away understanding is different as well. If you recall from an earlier thread, descriptive paragraphs have very specific purposes. They exhibit the importance of something. They discuss a person, place, object, or event. And there are ways to best discuss those things. I actually love writing descriptive paragraphs because they allow me to use some flair in my writing. "The waifish young woman lightly sat her narrow behind on the hard wooden bench next to me. She whispered ever so softly that I had taken her spot. The spot she had enjoyed sitting in for over a decade straight. I looked directly into her faithful pale eyes and noticed a tear forming. It rolled down her curved cheek and dropped. Past her feather light blouse and into her waiting lap. A small wet circle formed where the drop had touched her tiny leg." After a while, it becomes a lot of fun to write in a descriptive fashion because we get to use all sorts of adjectives. And on top of that, we get to drive the varying critical aspects of our story home. Why was this girl important to the story? How did her appearance and demeanor impact the rest of the tale?
When it comes to writing narrative paragraphs though, things are quite different. In cases like these, we strive to demonstrate the change and development of a character by way of chronologically telling an important story. How has the person changed from what they once were? What have they learned from what they've gone through? When it comes to narrative paragraphs, what you write should feel somewhat akin to what you feel when reading a short story. Oftentimes, in these cases, characters start out facing certain issues and then begin to overcome those issues, and finally end with some sort of settlement and growth that stemmed from their experiences. In narrative paragraphs, the issues are explained while the rest of the events are occurring. Just as the plot unfolds inside of a novel and just as the action progresses within the same, the character in a narrative paragraph experiences their own problems, events, and some type of growth.
As an aside, as I write this post, I can't help but to think of one such book that exhibits enormous growth of its protagonist. Name of the Wind. Wonderful book. If you ever get a chance to read it, please do. It's one of my favorites and I highly recommend it.
Now, remember that just because narrative paragraphs are different than descriptive paragraphs, that doesn't mean that you don't need to describe whatever event it is that's progressing. You'll need to do that, and what's more, you'll also need to entice your readers to continue on to learn about just what's happening and how the primary character you're describing is developing. It's this type of character development that lures the reader into an investment of sorts. Readers become enthralled with their stories and books and invest important and valuable time into them. It's the writing that accomplishes this. Not any writing though, good writing. And good writing encompasses strong development of characters that are highly relatable. For me, how I'm able to relate to a character is probably one of the most important things a book can offer. I need a connection because without that, what I see on the pages are mere words. We all know this. We all connect differently to the various characters we read about in books and see in the movies. What makes these connections? Well, it may be how the character appears or how he or she acts. Perhaps the events they've experienced. And this is why it's so critical that these things be described in a complete and thoughtful way. The reader needs to be encouraged to imagine themselves leaping into the book to experience these events as well.
Just don't overdo it. Yes, we've all read those amateur writings from beginning authors who made the mistake of describing an event to such a degree that they completely lose the reader. While a connection is highly sought after, nauseating details can offend and the reader may lose interest and feel disconnected to the story as a whole.
Let's do a small thought experiment here. Let's pretend that we're writing a paragraph about how the protagonist of our story has developed as a person. Compare these two sentences to see which is more effective at conveying the message...which one created more of a connection.
John changed his entire outlook on the homeless. He never imagined how difficult it could be for a person to make it through just one day.
How could I have never known how challenging it could be to make it through just one day? What, with my privileged and wealthy upbringing, my New England private school education, and my lofty summer camp experiences in Maine, who was I to judge these people for what I once perceived as laziness? There are individuals on this planet who have faced more adversity in one week than I'm sure I will in my entire lifetime. To say that I feel ashamed would be an understatement. I'm appalled at my disgusting behavior.
Do you see how getting inside of the character's head clarified his thoughts? It allowed his feelings to flourish in the story and it invited the reader to connect and understand in a way that's simply not possible otherwise. Sure, I could have included the details of the second paragraph in the first, but they would have somehow seemed sterile. By changing perspective and including the thought process of the protagonist, I feel the second paragraph was better written. It exemplified personal growth as evidenced by the actual thinking of the character himself.
Engagement is key here. Your goal for this type of narrative paragraph is to help the reader understand the personal growth of the character you're writing about. With this in mind, it's important to decide which events and individuals are most important to the story overall. Think about what's going on and what seemingly insignificant event may lead to something more important later on. I like to think of this as "cleverness." Entice the reader say, "Oh, now I get it." Also, when deciding on which characters to focus on and write these types of paragraphs about, be sure to consider who is compelling enough to keep the reader's attention and who will captivate them. Narrative paragraphs, again, can be either autobiographical or biographical. These paragraphs can be about yourself or someone else. Decide what's best and go get it done.