A narrative paragraph tells a story. Usually, you write a narrative to share an important event. The details in the paragraph should answer the 5 W-How questions: who? what? when? where? why? and how?
Example Narrative
Discovering Solitude
Topic sentence
Last Saturday morning I discovered a new best friend: me.
Paragraph body
I have always hated being alone. I’m a real people person. I also like to sleep late whenever I can. But for some reason, I woke up at five o’clock last Saturday morning. I tried and I tried to go back to sleep. Finally, I gave up. I got out of bed and went to the kitchen. I made myself a cup of cocoa. Then I went out to our back porch. Even though it was summer, the morning was cool. I sat down on the back steps. The sun was coming up. The sky turned from blue to orange to pink. I had never noticed just how clear the colors of sunrise could be. They changed right before my eyes. The changing colors reminded me of a kaleidoscope I’d had as a child. A slight breeze lifted my hair off my neck. I could smell the honeysuckle flowers from the garden fence in the slight wind. The birds began to sing as the sky grew lighter. As I watched the world come to life, I felt at peace. I thought of all the good things in my life. I thought of all my good friends and my wonderful family. For the first time in my life, I was happy being alone. I wasn’t bored. Instead, I felt refreshed, as if I’d just had another nap.
Closing sentence
I gained a new appreciation for myself.
Narrative paragraphs also tell events in order. We use transition words to show the order that things happen. What transition words do you see in the example paragraph? Below some examples of transitions.
| First | Next | Last | This morning | In September |
| Second | Then | Finally | In addition | On Tuesday |
| Third | Also | Before | Yesterday | At 3:15 |
| Later | Now | After | Meanwhile | Last summer |
Exercise
Open the exercise to begin the activity. Follow the instructions in the document.