I love to write. I just wish I knew how to do it better. That’s going to change because I’ve decided, after all these years, to finally learn how to write like a professional. I’m going to learn about the parts of a story and how to organize my ideas so they make sense to anyone who decides to read them. And guess what? I’ve already begun. I’ve been reading through a few different creative writing books and have learned so much already. I’ll be sharing what I learn ad nauseam in this blog. Please continue reading below to find out more.
Have you ever noticed how large a part of our society revolves around the art of storytelling? Whether the story be conveyed the way of traditionally written books, movies, video games, or plays, to name a few, stories permeate every inch of our existence. They’ve even been told around campfires as the spoken word. This form goes back thousands and thousands of years and was used by many to assist with the continuity of beliefs and continuation of religions. The story is an exceptional part of who we are. Whether the story we hear is absolutely and unmistakably true or completely and utterly false, it helps us make sense of the world in which we live. It organizes and calms a sometimes reckless and seemingly out of control world. Or, it adds energy an vigor to what some view as a boring and methodical existence. Whatever your take, there’s no denying that stories have helped form what we’ve become and and what we believe.
If there’s one type of story that creates the backbone of all literature, it’s got to be fiction. As I mentioned above, writing and storytelling permeates all corners of our culture, but none does it better than fiction. These stories, where characters, scenes, settings, and storyline are made up, allow our imaginations to run wild with intense fun, pain, love, or all of the above. They’ve been around forever will likely be around forever. They’re engaging and many pieces of fiction have lasted for hundreds of years. Think about all the classics you’ve heard of, from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Perhaps The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde to The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. No matter the title or the author, many fiction books are timeless and have transcended quite a few cultural creations as well as collapses.
In the following sections I share about writing, storytelling, and literature as a whole, I’ll be focusing on specific areas of the art – some basic ideas, if you will, to start off with. I’d like to explore topics such as what the narrative forms of literature are and how they can create meaning in the stories we read. I’ll also describe, compare, and contrast the two primary genres of literary narratives; the novel and the short story. I’d like to learn about and discuss how these two genres have changed through the years, how they’ve had to adapt to different reading audiences, and where I think they’ll be heading in the future.
We all interpret writing and storytelling in different ways. We even have the potential to study the art of writing quite differently than those who may be sitting right next to us doing the same thing. No matter our technique, we all still need to gain a basic understanding of the fundamentals. We need models and structures. Methods and guides to follow. It’s for this reason that as I learn, I’ll be devising my own method of learning and I’ll be sharing that with you. To start off with in a few sections down the line, I’ll be paying extra special attention to the concept of story versus discourse. Understanding this concept will set the stage for everything else I learn and share.
Story vs. Discourse
Understanding the structure and parts of narrative isn’t the easiest or most straightforward thing in the world. There are elements to it that are complex and that require some good hard thought. There’s even a name for the study of these things. The study of how narratives work and what they’re for. This study is called narratology, believe it or not. Did you know that narratology was a thing? I sure didn’t. Now I do.
I’ve been reading up on narrative lately and feel as though I’m making some headway. All my life, I’ve been simply reading things. I never knew there was such intricacy involved. I know none of what I’m saying makes any sense right about now, but please bear with me. I’ll do my best at explaining down below.
We already have the term narratology. That word is used to describe the study of narratives. Narratology studies both the structure of narratives as well as the function of narratives. If you aren’t sure what narrative is, please continue reading below. When I say that it studies narrative, what I really mean is that it systematically studies narrative. It pulls things apart, gives them names and then puts them back together. It treats narrative as a living being and respects its different pieces. There’s actually quite a bit to narrative.
Within narratology, there are tools that we can use to gather intelligence on how narratives provide meaning for both readers and writers. And once the intelligence is gathered, it can be structured in such a way as to provide a framework or model for not only how one or two narratives came into existence or how they’re received by readers, but how all narratives came into existence and how they’re received. In more simple terms, there’s a study of narrative called narratology. This study looks at the bits and pieces of narrative in general (semiotics) and tries to put a larger system in place to aid in the later discovery of how narrative production works as well as how narratives are received by the reader.
If that wasn’t confusing enough, take a look at this. Did you know that within narrative, there are real authors and real readers, as opposed to implied authors and implied readers? I know. I didn’t know this either. But if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. And by defining these authors and readers, we’ll be adding to the model we’ll be creating while engaging in narratology. Let me explain what I mean.
Let’s pretend that Jack writes a letter to Mary. He begins like this: “To my dearest Mary. It’s me, Jack…” Do you see how the real author is jack and the real reader is Mary? In this example, who plays these parts is very clear. If you read letters, short stories, novellas, or novels that are like this, you’ll have a clear understanding of who wrote the actual piece and who precisely it was written for. Journals, diaries, etc…are like this. But what if we read a story that wasn’t written by the actual author? I mean, yes, it was written by the author because someone had to write it, but what if that wasn’t actually clear in the story? What if Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code, wrote a story where “Dan Brown” wasn’t mentioned anywhere? Dan Brown is the real author of his books, but he’s not the implied author anywhere. Let’s pretend that one of the characters in a story claims to be the author. In cases like these, that character would be the implied author. Most books we read every day have implied authors. While reading, we rarely think about real authors. That’s no fun. Implied authors are basically personas we can attribute styles and attitudes to. We need to read the actual story to find out who this “person” is.
When it comes to implied readers, we can get a general sense of who the author is writing for. We are not the actual reader because books aren’t generally written for specific people. It’s not like Charles Dickens begins his books like this: “Dear Barry…” No, he writes (or, he wrote) for a general audience. An implied reader, if you will. We can figure out who this implied reader is by the message given through the text itself. The reader of books is just as characterized as characters in stories are. You just need to know how to look at things and understand them. When you and I begin reading a book, we essentially take the place of the reader the author has created or implied.
Once it’s clear who the implied author and the implied reader are, we can begin distinguishing between the discourse and the story, which is actually the point of this post. The problem with just jumping into these later terms without any background sometimes is that nothing will make any sense. I try to build up to the meaning by providing some sort of understanding of other terms and ideas before anything else.
Discourse: This is the message that the implied author relays to the implied reader. It includes such things as who the narrator and narratee are, what the point of view is, the language used, and the theme of the story.
Story: The story is the actual events that occur, the environments in which these events occur (setting), and the characters included in the text. The narrator of the discourse relays the story to the narratee. If you had two characters in a novel who spoke to one another, that conversation would be considered part of the story. The novel itself though, shared by the implied author with the implied reader, would be the discourse. The story doesn’t always have to be shared between characters in a book though. If there’s a overall narrative voice that’s conveying the story, that’s fine too. Authors have been quite creative through the years when coming up with ways for stories to be told.
So there you have it, the difference between narrative discourse and story. I know this isn’t the most clear thing in the world, but just remember that these two ideas are on two different levels. The story is smaller and more precise than the discourse in general. The story is contained within the discourse. The story occurs between characters in a book. The book, or discourse, is the box the story was placed in.
What is Narrative?
I’ve been reading a creative writing textbook put out by Ignasi Ribó that’s called Prose Fiction, An Introduction to the Semiotics of Narrative. While I’m still only in the first chapter, I have to say that the book is pretty good. The pages are filled with details I never knew. Well, never even knew I didn’t know. Narrative is one of these details. Apparently, narrative is a pretty big deal and if you want to become any sort of qualified creative writer, I’d say you better know what narrative is.
To define the concept of narrative as best I can, I’ll pull from two resources. First I’ll use the Prose Fiction book and then I’ll use a resource called BeemGee. They’ve got a really nice post that covers the idea of story vs. narrative.
First from Prose Fiction. They basically say that narrative is the semiotic representation of events that occur sequentially and meaningfully in a story. They’re connection is between time and cause. They go on to explain how there are critical elements that make this definition what it is:
– It’s important to understand what the word semiotics means. If you’re not into writing or defining cool words, you’ve probably never heard of this one. Semiotics is the study of how signs are used as a process, as in, how signs are used as a means to come to an understanding of what something calls for. Signs can be a form of activity, conduct, or a process that leads a reader or viewer to understand what’s trying to be communicated. When it comes to narrative, semiotics are either written or spoken, can be still or moving images, photographs, or something else that is received by the reader that the reader or viewer must interpret for meaning. I’ll use a few easy examples to help you understand. An umpire swinging his arms to call someone playing a baseball game “out,” is revealing a sign. The swinging arms. We’ve all come to learn what those arms mean under those circumstances. Also, a stop sign is a sign. Even if the word “stop” wasn’t written on it, we’d still know what it wants us to do or what it calls for.
– Narratives connect things. When it comes to storytelling, the narrative has to connect at least two events in a structured way and organize that structure into something that’s comprehensible.
– Narratives keep a story going and connect events in relation to time. They create sequences. They show cause and effect. An example might be: John walked down the road at night. He wore no jacket. His skin formed goosebumps in the chilly winter air.
– Narratives rely on meaning for effectiveness. The person offering the narrative expresses meaning and the receiver of the narrative understands it.
Narratives are three dimensional. That’s the best way I can say it. They’re composed of ideas that are strung together to make sense. They use time and place to help with understanding. They’re the basis for our understanding of our existence. Without narratives, we’d be stuck in a stagnant limbo with no way to look forward or back and without any understanding of how we got here.
A really helpful explanation comes from BeemGee. When narrative is compared and contrasted with a story, it all becomes so much more clear. The difference between narrative and a story is in the way whatever is being communicated is being told. If you wanted to tell someone a story of how you walked home from school a certain day, the narrative you choose to communicate is important. Let’s say three events occurred. In one narrative, you first walked through some doors. Then, you got in a fight, and then you continued to walk all the way home to your house. In another narrative, you got in a fight, then you decided to walk through some doors, and continue on home. In the final narrative, you walked all the way home, then walked through some doors, and finally, you got in a fight. Do you see how the sequencing is helpful? The story is the accumulation of events themselves, while the narrative is the intended meaning to be conveyed when expressing those events a certain way. If you merely said to someone, “I walked through doors. I walked home. I got in a fight.” They’d likely ask, “What are you talking about? A fight at school or a fight at home? Which doors? The school doors or your house doors?” This is why narrative is important – it organizes the story’s events.
Can you define narrative better than I just did? If so, I welcome you to share your definition or understanding of it down below. The more clear, the better.
What is Genre?
Genres are fun. They help us classify all types of things into groups that help us stay organized. There can be genres for books, plays, musicals, short stories, poems, and so much more. The groupings we choose for genres can be general and conventional in nature or they can be very detailed. A genre within a genre, if you will. Genres have been around for as long as people have been placing things within groups based on some sort of similarity. They’ve also served a variety of functions. Here are a few of those functions:
Classification
Books, etc…can be grouped based on many features. One of those features is what stands out to make one such book similar to another. It’s something that tells a reader or someone who may be organizing these things how two or more books are alike. These are also features that distinguish the difference these books may have from others.
Prescription
When an author is writing for a particular purpose, they’ll likely follow a set of standards or rules that inform them of a path they must follow. In order to fit into a particular genre, the author must abide by certain enforced rules or suggested customs.
Interpretation
The same guidance followed by authors within the above prescription section also assists readers with what to expect when spending time interpreting a book’s meaning.
Evaluation
When books, movies, and other artistic endeavors are grouped together by some sort of similarity, their evaluation makes much more sense. If someone compared Moby Dick to an Encyclopedia, it would be like critiquing apples and oranges. If that same someone compared Moby Dick to a similar piece of fiction writing, an individual who read or listened to the critique would be able to make a sensible interpretation of the critique.
The classification of genre has changed throughout time. If we think back a few thousands years to Greece and Rome, we’ll see that the primary genres were narrative, song, and performance drama. And within those genres were more refined ones: comedy, tragedy, etc… Back in those days, genres were fairly fixed, meaning they didn’t change very much. When someone created a play or wrote a book, it generally had to fit in an existing grouping. In today’s world, things are much more flexible. It’s not even known whether a complete list of genres even exists because of the almost constant sub-categorization of sub-categories. If you were to visit the Amazon.com of a thousand years ago, you’d have something like four categories of books to choose from. Today, a cursory glance at a website near the top of Google’s results for a search of genres tells me there are 144, just for fiction. From Fantasy to Dark Fantasy to Fairy Tale, the list goes on and on. And remember, genres don’t only apply to books. They apply to many areas of modern society. Browsing through the list of genres I just mentioned reminds me of all the grouping that are applied to video games as well. Go to any library, book store, or used video game store and you’ll get the picture.
As stated above, genres are always evolving. There’s always a new classification to place something in and individuals rarely agree on a best list. There are, however, tried and true generic classifications to place stories in. They are:
Fiction/Non-fiction – Is the story real or not? Are the events factual or not?
Prose/Verse – How was the story told? What was the literary style?
Narrative/Drama – Was the story expressed verbally or was it demonstrated?
Novel/Novella/Short Story – How long is the story?
Topic/Content – What’s the story about? Adventure? Fantasy? Thriller? Humor? Mystery?
As you can see, the list of how stories are grouped can go on for quite some time. And if you were to ask an author for their story’s proposed genre, you may receive a very different answer than if you were to ask a reader of the same story. Everyone’s opinions differ, but author’s tend to be rather specific. That may explain why there are so many genres today.
Genres help us group the never ending supply of new stories introduced to society every single day. And by no means are our current lists here to stay. As with the changing tide, opinions on which genres best capture our current mood change as well. Old genres disappear as new more descriptive ones arise. And as story type and subject come into fashion, so will new genres. Take Locked Room and Paranormal for instance. I can’t imagine these having been around for very long. But, someone out there felt there was a need for them, so here they are. While the largest and most popular narrative fiction genres have been and may currently be novel and short story, there’s no guarantee that these two will exist in future decades. Perhaps they’ll be completely replaced by something else.
What are some of the craziest genres have you ever heard of? What’s your favorite?
Prose vs. Verse & Novel Vs. Short Story
These phrases are very simple to understand, but don’t mistake their simplicity for being unimportant. If you would like to immerse yourself within literature, whether it be reading or writing, it’s critical to gain and understanding of what exactly it is you’re reading or writing. In this post, I’ll describe what both prose and verse are as well as what a novels and short stories are. Once you understand these terms, you’ll be on your way to chatting them up with your friends.
Prose
Prose is what you’re reading right now. It’s the normal and everyday usage of the language you speak regularly. I’m writing in it and you speak it to those you have contact with. Within prose, there’s usually very little metrical structure. There may be some at times, but there generally won’t be.
Verse
When you think about verse, think about poems, lyrics, and rhymes. Pieces of work with a metrical structure. These, along with prose, can be either written or spoken. While stories of way back when were commonly written in verse, they’re rarely written that way today. As a matter of fact, the average child or adult would most likely have no idea how to comprehend a story written in verse in modern times. These days, a good majority of short stories and novels are written in prose.
Short Story
A short story is a story that’s got a fully developed theme, but one that’s much shorter in length than a novel. It’s been said (by Edgar Allan Poe) that a short story should be read in one sitting and can last anywhere between one half hour and two hours. In contemporary fiction, short stories generally range anywhere between 1,000 and 20,000 words. Examples of short stories include A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. When reading a short story, you’ll notice that it doesn’t include nearly as many characters as a novel does. That would be too confusing for the reader. The characters wouldn’t have a chance to be fully developed. Also, short stories only consist of a very limited number of environments and very few sequences of events. In longer short stories (ones bordering on the line of being a novella like Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin), you may find multiple environments, but for more traditional short stories, you’ll find that things are straightforward. The authors of short stories can’t unnecessarily complicate things. They need to concentrate the plot to keep the storyline precise.
Novel
When short stories that follow a primary protagonist are combined into chapters, we call that a novel. Novels can be much longer than short stories and really have no limit to their length. Novels are longer than novellas (long short stories or short novels) and can be quite complex with the number of characters, environments, and events they contain. If you consider a short story as one or two dimensional, a novel will be three dimensional. They can be complicated, dynamic, can evolve, have a wide scope and breadth, and generally be limitless. When you go to the bookstore and see a thick book of fiction, it’s generally a novel. Unless, of course, it’s a collection of short stories.
Please don’t mistake a novel for being any better than a short story or vice-versa. Some of the best pieces of literature I’ve read have been both novels and short stories. Examples of my favorite shorts stories include A&P by John Updike, A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, and Greasy Lake by T. Coraghessan Boyle. And some of my favorite novels are The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Short stories and novels are merely various forms of narrative that highlight their own advantages. Novels can be huge and all-encompassing, while short stories can be powerful and impactful. Both are excellent forms of prose.
How To Write Different Types of Paragraphs
What are the different types of paragraphs? How to you write the different types of paragraphs? I cover the answers to these questions in this section. If you have any questions, please ask below.
How to Write a Descriptive Paragraph
When most of us write, we simply put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and express whatever comes to mind. Oftentimes that’s fine. It’s actually what I’m doing right now. I’m typing away on this blog and I haven’t the slightest idea of what I’m going to say next. The thing is, sometimes we need to write with focus to specifically express a thought or an idea that needs to be expressed. In cases like these, we need to fall back on our training to write purposeful paragraphs that accomplish certain goals.
If I were to write a paragraph that included personal thoughts, feelings, and growth, I’d be writing what’s referred to as a narrative paragraph. I’ll give that a go right now.
I’m feeling blue today. It’s really starting to get to me and I think I may be depressed. I’m not going to take it anymore! I’ve decided to finally do something with my life.
That’s a fine paragraph, but it didn’t really describe anything. It didn’t give the reader much to go on. What was the scenery like where I was writing? Was it hot/cold? What did things look like? Were there any interesting smells stemming from the area? When it comes to paragraphs like these, the writing needs to be much more descriptive. Descriptive paragraphs need to focus on the vicinity. The writer needs to look around and vividly describe the atmosphere. Explain and describe what’s going on so the five senses are stimulated: sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch. Adjectives need to be used. The writing needs to be crafty and not only do the five senses need to be touched upon, but the sensations felt by those senses need to be described. For example, take a look at these comparative sentences:
Example 1: It smells in here.
Example 2: The wires crossed and the electrical arcs made a crackling and popping sound. The plastic insulation melted as I watched the wisp of smoke rise. The pungent odor quickly traced through my flaring nostrils, past my rapidly degrading nose hairs and straight towards my tender sinuses. When the dangerous chemical compound touched my waiting flesh, my entire head burned in agonizing terror. I shook about in the searing heat of the room as the acrid nature of the poison settled on the back of my tongue. All I could taste was the sharp bitterness of those burning wires.
I really can stop this post right here. Just by giving you those two examples, I think I’ve said enough. I’ll keep going though because once you learn the idea behind how important and powerful descriptive paragraphs are and can be, your writing will open right up like an enormous can of wiggly red worms.
So let me ask you something. If you reread those two examples I gave you above, which one do you think gives you more information about the scene? Which provides a better and more conclusive mental picture? Yes, of course the second example does. The first one didn’t really tell the reader anything more than the fact that it smells. The second one, however, provided much more of a vivid picture of whatever it was that was happening. It was also much more fun to read the second example than the first. So when a teacher or professor asks you to be more descriptive in your writing, think about sharing some information about what in the atmosphere might stimulate the five senses.
As I just mentioned, in the first example, all that was given was that something smelled someplace. That merely touched upon one sense; smell. And even then, it didn’t describe very much beyond the fact that a smell existed. In the second example, I shared aspects that appeal to smell, touch, sight, taste, and sound. As you read through the paragraph, notice which phrases and words impact which sense. “All I could taste was the sharp bitterness…” “…a crackling and popping sound.” “…as I watched the wisp of smoke rise.” “…chemical compound touched my waiting flesh…” “The pungent odor quickly traced through…” The paragraph was pretty descriptive, if I don’t say so myself. It’s the kind of writing that lets the reader imagine themselves being there.
So what are some common descriptive words you can use in your writing? Well, there are many of them, but here are a few examples. I’ll list them based on sense.
Sight: green, tall, bumpy, far away, ugly, huge, square, dark.
Hearing: loud, grating, screech, melodic, beautiful, harmonious.
Touch: soft, furry, cuddly, creamy, sticky, dry, hot, painful.
Smell: pungent, crisp, sharp, sweet, acrid, fresh, stale, fruity.
Taste: sour, savory, salty, tantalizing, appetizing.
The goal of writing descriptive paragraphs is to show the reader what’s being discussed as opposed to telling them. Although, the trick is to not go overboard. Every splinter in a piece of wood doesn’t need to be described. The exact diameter of the curved edge of a 2×4 doesn’t need to be conveyed either. Remember that you only need to educate the reader about the various details of something if those details are important to the story or if they make the story more interesting. Sometimes authors can get away with writing about nothing and still entertain the reader if their descriptive paragraphs are interesting enough. Amor Towles and Vladimir Nabokov can write so well that even if their books don’t contain the most invigorating plots, they’ll keep readers coming back simply for their beautiful writing. But for you and me, unless we’re some sort of literary geniuses, we need to stick to making sure our descriptions have something to do with what our readers need to know. Remember, the words you place within a paragraph are placed there for a reason. They carry your story along. They bring the reader with you as you tell them your story. Why is the smell of the atmosphere important? How does the taste of a food impact the actions of a character? Where does the character feel the pain and where does that pain bring the story?
Example 1: I never enjoyed giving oral reports in class.
Example 2: Ever since I was a kid, I was terrified to speak publicly in school. As a young boy, my classmates would mock me for my stutter. I was never able to speak clearly and now my seventh grade teacher insisted upon placing me in front of the class to make a fool of myself? As if I needed things to get any worse in my life. I was shy enough because of my embarrassment and stuttering through a verbal book report would only add to my humiliation. No girls would ever like me and I would probably get beat up. Then I’d have to explain my failure to my parents who were already tough on me due to my shortcomings.
In the first example, did you learn why I didn’t like giving oral reports? No. Did you learn when? No. Where? Yes, in class? What exactly did you learn? Not much beside that I didn’t like to do something in a certain location. In the second example, you learned why I didn’t like to speak in public. Because I’d be seen as a failure to my parents, get beat up, lose out on love interests, and would make a fool of myself because of my perceived speech impediment. You actually learned quite a bit in the second example, all because I decided to describe and embellish upon a small simple fact. I had perceived shortcomings, was shy because of them, and experienced a lack of confidence that I felt would affect my entire life.
While writing, always try to remember your purpose for writing. If it’s something technical where brevity would be appreciated, then by all means, keep things boring and brief, but if you’re attempting to carry your reader along, you’ll need to tap into their five senses. Allow them to smell the clean fresh air. Help them taste the succulent steak with the creamy, yet sweet and buttery mashed potatoes. Tickle their fancy with the soft delicate tip of a feather that’s fallen from a bird’s wing as it migrated south for the winter. Show your reader why what your writing is important. Help them understand and you’ll likely find yourself a new fan of your writing.
In general, there are a few common things you’ll write about. These are person, place, object, and event. I’ll cover the importance of being descriptive with each of these below.
Person
When it comes to writing a descriptive person paragraph, you really need to focus on a few critical areas. The very first thing has to do with purpose. Can you imagine writing a story about a beaver making a dam and every so often sticking in a wonderfully written paragraph about your uncle Bob? Yeah, I know. You probably wouldn’t do that. Not unless uncle Bob has something to do with the story. So when writing about a person or people, make sure you’ve got their specific purpose for being mentioned firmly squared away in your head. What’s the reason you chose to write about this person? What do they have to do with the story? How do they affect other aspects of the story? When writing about him or her, you need to make your reasoning abundantly clear. A common mistake writers make is that they get so caught up in describing details of someone that they forget about the reason the character exists in the first place. It’s best to stay on course to keep the story moving forward, and at the same time, giving the scene character and flair. Perhaps uncle Bob is a mysterious man who inherited the property upon which the beaver lives. Maybe Bob visits the beaver every morning and the two of them have developed an interesting relationship. Weave the person into the paragraph and make it come alive in a vivid way.
By asking and answering the questions I posed about the person above, you’ll effortlessly find your reasoning. And not only that, when you answer simple questions about who, what, why, when, and where, you’ll eventually end up with a format for your paragraph that makes sense. Let’s continue on with uncle Bob and the beaver.
Let’s say that you used to visit your uncle Bob on his property when you were a kid. He owned a large parcel of land that a brook ran through. In the brook, the beaver lived. He made a dam. Through the years, you’d talk to your uncle Bob and visit him more often. He’d discuss the beaver and the dam with you over the phone and during visits. By asking yourself why you chose to write about this person, what makes this particular person special, if the person is involved in a memory, what it is about this person that was so inspirational, you essentially set your paragraph up. You format it without even knowing.
You chose to write about uncle Bob because he’s owns the land the beaver lives upon. He’s special because he’s got a relationship with the beaver which is interesting to hear about. The entire paragraph will be derived from a memory of visiting your uncle. And the fact that you have a good relationship with Bob and that he’s got a wonderful piece of property inspired you to write all about it. Now, since you know all these things and since the story is a memory, it would probably make sense to set things up chronologically. You can easily make an intro sentence or two that describes how and why you’ll tell the story about your uncle and the beaver. You can also write a conclusion sentence or two that closes the paragraph out. In the middle is where you’ll get descriptive about uncle Bob. The description will be about the chain of events that occurred. Not so much about your uncle, per se, but more about how the relationships progressed and transitioned through time.
You can also take a different tack if you were inclined to write about your uncle’s personality and quirky ways. His eccentricities. His loneliness on that big piece of land. His ponytail and slim build with the walking stick he would take with him every single time he walked back in those woods. Either way, you’ll certainly entertain your readers with your descriptiveness about the chronology of your visits or how interesting your uncle’s personality was.
Place
Simply put, when getting descriptive about a particular place, you, again, need to think about the reason you’re mentioning it at all. As with descriptive paragraphs about people, places need purpose. You won’t get very far describing a wide open field in overly characteristic detail. Unless, of course, something of particular interest occurred in that field. And the field played a big part in that occurrence. Just because something happened someplace doesn’t mean that the area should be brought into the story. If the occurrence wouldn’t have happened without a specific layout or obstacle that was overcome, then yes, describe away.
Like above, when describing place there are two primary ways to organize your paragraph. The first way is to write about the actual place itself. Set the story up (the mood) by telling the reader about the, for example, spooky house. Instill some tension by writing about the creaky floor boards and the spider webs in the corners of the room. The long cool shadows cast by the moonlight. The bare cupboards and the broken down furniture. Alternately, you can focus on something or things that happened at the place. For example, mention that your father used to sit in his favorite chair that was set in the corner of the room. How your mother used to come from the brightly lit kitchen with a steaming dinner to hand your father as he basked next to the warm fire in the fireplace nearby. Oh how you loved that house because of all the memories that were created there. You get the idea.
Here’s a tip for you. While describing place in your paragraph, be sure to stick with it and don’t stray off where you shouldn’t go. For example, if you’re describing your childhood home and all the memories that were created there, stay there at home and let your description flourish. Allow your readers to immerse themselves in your writing and to imagine that they were there with you as a child. Don’t jolt them by suddenly discussing another place that you used to also cherish as a child as well. Wait for a different paragraph to do that.
Object
Ask yourself a question. Why in the world have you chosen this object to write about? What good is it? Why is it important? What does it have to do with the story? You can use the same pattern within most descriptive paragraphs. Ask yourself why you chose to write about something and then stay focused on that thing to get your point across.
When writing descriptive paragraphs about objects, you’ll ask and answer the question of why you chose that particular object. Once that happens, you’ll know how you should structure your writing. If the object itself is of particular importance, you’ll likely describe its characteristics, powers, or something like that. Think of a powerful sword in a fantasy novel or the kryptonite in a Superman movie. These things hold special importance and need to be described appropriately (history, ownership, etc…). Alternately, an object may hold significance if something of importance occurred near it. Think of the waystones in The Name of the Wind. At these waystones, important events occurred (marriages, concerts, etc…). In cases like these, you wouldn’t want to describe every minute characteristic of the stones, but more of why an event may have transpired there.
Remember though, whatever type of structure you choose for describing an object in a paragraph, you really do need to focus on the object itself. For instance:
– The sword was handed down from my father’s father and then my father to me. It holds great significance and a power unto itself. With its ruby eye, it can see all and with its gold and armor plating, it has the strength of one thousand horses.
– The bridge is where we stopped at least once per month while we were passing through. With its mighty arches and strong stone structure, it was able to hold all of our carriages at one time. My family and our troop would park nearby and feast on the foods we gathered from town. The bridge would shield us from the wind and protect us from pirates who may be on the lookout for their next prey.
In both of the above examples, while the story progressed, I still focused on the object at hand. In the first example, the object was the sword and in the second, the object was the bridge. In the first example, I was more concerned about the characteristics of the object, while in the second example, I was more concerned about what occurred near or around the object in somewhat of a chronological order. It’s important to differentiate the two types of writing to remain clear and to allow the reader to understand your intent.
Event
This is where we mix things up a bit. With the previous three descriptive paragraph type examples, we focused primarily on two different types of structures; one where we’d describe the person, place, or object itself or one where we’d describe an event connected it what we’re describing. Those previous examples were fairly straightforward, as is what I’m about to discuss below.
When it comes to describing an event, think about discussing the specific things that have either happened, are currently happening, or will happen in the future. Typically, you’ll write chronologically from the past to the future or vice-versa. For example, if you recently engaged in a fist fight, you might want to describe the feelings of trepidation you had before the fight, the rage you felt while you were fighting, and the relief you felt when it was over. If the fight hasn’t happened yet, you might describe the feelings of anxiety you currently have or some other feelings you may be experiencing due to the impending altercation.
In the most basic sense, while in the previous three examples, we were sure not to allow any particular event overshadow the person, place, or object, this time, we’re all about the event and the ideas and feelings that surround it.
Review Assignments – Person
1. Write a descriptive paragraph about a person in your family following one of the organizational schemes listed.
I’ll choose to write about my grandmother. I’ll use the organizational scheme that focuses primarily upon personal characteristics.
She sat in her chair glaring at me. I noticed her stare immediately. She always looked at me the same way; with disgust and despair. I’m not sure why or how she first formulated her disdain, but it was on full display currently. I sat and faced her squarely. I wouldn’t back down this time. Our eyes met. I quickly broke as mine wandered slightly, only to glance quickly at my grandmother’s freckled hands, vein filled arms, and wrinkled face. I do believe I hated her as much as she hated me. The longer we sat facing one another, the narrower her eyes became. I could feel her seething. She was boiling. Her tiny eyes became more narrow yet and I watched as her boney old fingers clutched the arms of her chair. Her knuckles became white, which complemented her pale yellow dress. Her dress with those tiny white and light blue flowers. Such a wonderful looking piece of clothing for such a disgusting and hate filled woman.
2. Write a descriptive paragraph about an important person in history using the event organization. Instead of indicating how the person is important to you, indicate how the person is important or significant within history.
His fingers trembled as he placed them on the switch. Everything he had done – all of his life’s work hinged on this moment. He could sense the current lying, waiting, ready to pounce on the filament when the signal was given. If the bulb lit, he would surely let out a yelp. There was no one else in the room to hear him make a sound, but he wouldn’t have the will to contain himself. If this experiment worked, humanity would be changed forever. Thomas Edison stood before his work bench and flipped the switch that eventually lit up the world.
Review Assignments – Place
1. Write a descriptive paragraph about your hometown. Describe the town and indicate why it is important either to you or to society as a whole.
My hometown sits a mile high in the sky. It represents the epitome of the height of land. My hometown holds secrets and dreams and fantasies for people all around the world. Those very people come to Boulder to witness the majesty of the Rockies just a stone’s throw away. While Boulder’s arid climate and abundant sunshine offer a paradise unto itself, it’s those Rocky Mountains that contain the key to adventure. Boulder is merely a pathway there. Stay here. Spend a night. Enjoy the nightlife and the warmth of our population. Then, climb those mountains to the west and let your life truly begin.
2. Write a descriptive paragraph about one of the original Coast Salish settlements at the time of first contact with European explorers. Describe the location and environment, paying close attention to how the structure of the settlement was a response to the coastal environment.
Those powerful sea storms would whip up and down the west coast and destroy much in their wakes. Powerful they were, so powerful in fact, the Coast Salish people were forced to build their settlements away from the edge of land. Sheltered bays, mouths of rivers, and inlets kept the their people safe from the high winds and dangerous sea surge. Fishing was good where they had long called these places home, so that became part of their culture. The land played host to the Salish. The rivers fed them. The beauty of both allowed these ancient folk the ability to appreciate their lives through ceremony and legend.
Review Assignments – Object
1. Write a descriptive paragraph about a gift you received on your birthday. Remember you can arrange your paragraph according to the characteristics of the object or by detailing the event at which you received it.
I tore through the wrapping paper and saw the box I had been waiting for. It was light brown cardboard with a dull matte face. The words sang to me. I can’t recall which sang louder, Rolex or Submariner. Rolex watches are pure art, but the Submariner brings that art to the next level. The box was small, but it had some heft to it. I hadn’t given much thought to the weight of the watch I had lusted after for so many years. I couldn’t wait any longer to open the box to reveal what I waiting for me inside. So I didn’t. I didn’t wait and I cracked open the shell of the oyster to reveal the pearl. The contents contained within nearly blinded me. The shining silver sparkled and each time I twisted what was in my hand, another glimmer would reveal itself. It was as if I were holding a giant sparkling crystal clear diamond in my hand. The front of the watch was flawlessly pure glass and behind that was a coal black face with snow white numbers and time markings. The hands went tick, tick, tick, with the utmost precision. No matter what I did, the watch called out at me, tempting me to pull it from it’s resting place to slide around my hand and onto my wrist.
2. Write a descriptive paragraph about the provincial flower, the dogwood. Be sure to indicate why the flower is important to the province.
The dogwood isn’t a large tree, but it sure does offer some beautiful flowers. Springtime brings the large and shadowy white blooms into full display and sightseers and local residents enjoy them for weeks on end. Such beauty is offered – so much beauty, in fact, that British Columbia captured it and made the dogwood its official floral emblem. This occurred in 1956 and yet the tranquility and demure of this lovely plant has endured favorably to this day.
Review Assignments – Event
1. Write a descriptive paragraph about a commemorative event that you attended or that you plan to attend in the future (wedding, memorial, graduation, etc.). Remember to include the people, location, or objects that make the event significant.
He has been my best friend for decades and today he was fully prepared to devote his life to the woman he loved. I’ve been anticipating this important and pivotal day for as long as I can remember. Through the years John and I had discussed what might bring him to this memorable event and just recently we had both agreed that he was doing the right thing. She was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen, both on the inside and out. She was what John was and wasn’t. She filled in the gaps as he did for her. The union would be a special one that I was proud to be a part of. With the waves crashing down below and the birds soaring above, it seemed as though the stars were aligned for these two souls.
2. Write a descriptive paragraph about the next or last federal election, focusing on why this election is significant in the United States.
Half of the country can’t stand Donald Trump, while the other half can’t stand Joe Biden. We’re completely divided without any chance of reconciliation, which is odd because as I discuss politics with my friends and family who allegedly have different viewpoints than I have, I realize that we’re not actually as far apart as we pretend to be. Each and every conversation that I’ve had has ended up in complete and utter agreement. We all want what’s best for our country, ourselves, and each other. The strange thing is, during this entire election cycle, the media, whether they be on TV, the internet, or on paper, has tried their damnedest to rip apart the very fabric that holds us together. Why? Think about it. Every four years, giant media companies are faced with a question. Would they like to have campaign cash flow into their coffers or not? They assuredly choose yes so they begin working feverishly to polarize the electorate. The more polarized we the people are, the more each campaign needs to spend to persuade, cajole, and connive. The 2020 election cycle spending is now in the billions. That’s billions spent on media advertising. If we were all in agreement, no advertising would be necessary at all. Think about that for a moment. Let it sink in. Every single thing you read or listen to is meant to make you hate one side and love the other. And the worst part about it is, they’re all in it together.
What Are Narrative Paragraphs?
In this section, 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.
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 section above, 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.
Autobiographical Narratives
I’ve always enjoyed writing autobiographical narratives. The reason for this is that I’m completely in tune with my own inspirations, motivations, views, and thoughts. There’s no one else in my head besides myself, so I’ve got access to it all. That’s a wonderful thing because I can dig as deep as I’d like to. There’s no one to stop me and there is no information that I don’t have. Basically, any biographical narrative I have is based on my own life experiences.
Because of all this, any organization type I choose for my paragraph will stem from a personal place. While it’s challenging to accurately describe the thoughts and motivations of another person, any writing I do about myself will contain these things to the best of my ability. When it comes time to start typing, I need to make sure that whatever it is I write revolves around the specific event or events that have to do with my own personal growth and what was going through my head before any critical event, during it, and after it.
So, how do I organize this type of paragraph? It’s actually easier than one would think. Basically, I can organize things two different ways; I can either explain the event itself while integrating my motivations for making that event happen or I can keep the two separate. If I keep them separate, I can either describe my feelings and motivations before the event has taken place or after. Here are a few examples of what I’m referring to:
Integration
1. As I took the first left turn after leaving my driveway in my very own car, I thought about how long I had waited to obtain my drivers license. This maiden voyage by myself meant so much to me. It epitomized my independence, my trustworthiness, and my responsible nature. As I accelerated down the road, so many thoughts swam through my mind, but more than anything else, I felt pride bursting from my soul.
Keeping Separate
2. I have always craved a sense of pride. I wanted to feel what others felt; independence, trustworthiness, and a certain level of responsibility. It was because of these desires, I decided to earn my drivers license. I felt that if I had one, I’d eventually obtain that feeling of pride and I was sure it would burst from my soul.
I started my car and pulled out of my driveway. I rounded the first bend and accelerated and knew that I was on the road to self satisfaction.
Do you see how those two paragraphs differ? The first is fully integrated in a way that describes both my motivations as well as the actual events that are occurring. The second keeps these things separate. Now, the question is, which is better? The answer to that would be what you’re hoping to accomplish.
I’ve always thought that merging things together as I did in the first paragraph makes for a well written piece. It’s easy to read and offers a lot of continuity. Also, as a writer, it’s nice to not have to remember things. I don’t need to struggle to decipher which sentence goes here or there – I let them fall where they may.
There’s another side to this though. If I were writing a story where I wanted to have some punch, I might decide to keep a few areas apart from one another. Let’s say that my motivation for a particular event was overwhelming and it deserved to be described by itself for effect, I’d certainly want to highlight that in its own paragraph and then offer some description of the event either before or afterward. So really, it’s a stylistic choice.
Whichever organizational structure you choose, you need to remember what’s called for. You need to discuss your personal growth in an autobiographical narrative paragraph and you need to either integrate these thoughts into an event or around it (before or after or both).
Biographical Narratives
There’s a major roadblock when it comes to writing biographical narratives. Unlike autobiographical narratives, where the author has the ability to look inside his or her own mind to express their own feelings in their writing, there’s no such luxury with the biographical type. Unless you’re extremely close to the person you’re writing about or unless you’ve perhaps interviewed them and had them share deep and personal thoughts with you, you’ll need to tread lightly when it comes to detailing how someone felt during a certain time in their life. As such, it’s common for biographical narratives to be less personal and more formal than their counterpart. If you do have access to the person’s thought process from before or after an event, then you can certainly structure the paragraph in the same ways I outlined above. If you don’t have that access, you’ll be left to infer. And actually, it’s quite common to do so.
Think about it this way; you’re writing a biographical narrative paragraph and you don’t know what a person was thinking or feeling either before or after an event, but what you do have is facts. Let’s pretend that the character made an apology to someone for something they did. Although you can’t be sure, you can infer that the person in question felt regret and possibly remorse for their action. If you keep a keen eye on their actions following the apology and if they’re consistent with what you might assume they’d be after an apology of the sort given, you may proceed with writing what you conclude the person may have felt in their own mind. Was the apology genuine? Did their actions change? If they did, then the apology was most likely genuine. If they didn’t, the if may have been a false apology which opens up a whole host of opportunities in that direction.
Basically, when writing this type of paragraph, it’s your job to come to conclusions based on the known actions and behaviors of your character. Then, while writing, show the evidence for your conclusions so what you say is believable to the reader. Otherwise, writing this type of paragraph is similar to the one discussed above in the previous post.
Review Questions
1. What is the purpose of a narrative paragraph?
Narrative paragraphs have two primary purposes. First, they should demonstrate personal development. If a character about which you’re writing experiences an important event in their life, they may have grown personally from the experience. Describing and explaining that growth is what narrative paragraphs are all about. Furthermore and along the same lines, if the event your character has gone through was life changing enough, they may have permanently changed or learned something from the experience. These things should also be written about in this type of paragraph as well.
2. How does a narrative paragraph differ from a descriptive paragraph?
Narrative paragraphs and descriptive paragraphs have two distinct purposes. I just described what the purpose of the narrative paragraph is above. Now I’ll describe what a descriptive paragraph is used for. Basically, when writing a descriptive paragraph, the author is attempting to explain the importance of something, whether is be a person, place, object, or event. When writing descriptive paragraphs, it’s best to use adjectives to help explain the importance of something you’re attempting to describe. For example, it’s oftentimes not good enough to write, “The flame.” It’s much better and more thorough to write, “The simmering cool orange flame at the candle’s top leapt about as it was dwindling down in its last throes of life.” Descriptive paragraphs can be a good opportunity for an author to embellish, if you will.
3. What are the two ways you can organize an autobiographical narrative?
There are two primary methods for structuring an autobiographical narrative. These include keeping the event that’s occurred separate from the thought process of the individual in question or combining the two. Please see the Autobiographical Narratives post above for a more thorough elaboration. The headings you want to look for are Integration and Keeping Separate.
4. How do you show the feelings and thoughts of other individuals when writing a biographical narrative?
In order to exhibit the thoughts and feelings of a character in your paragraph while writing a biographical narrative, you’ll need to make inferences based on facts contained in other areas of your writing or research. If you have a concrete example of an action made by your character, then you might be able to make assumptions based on the individual’s actions either before or after that action. Once you’ve made those inferences and assumptions, then may weave them into the paragraph while using whichever of the two structures described above you wish.
5. Write an autobiographical narrative about your experience as a writer. Be sure to stress how you have grown as a writer by including both descriptions of past situations and your feelings and thoughts about these situations.
I’ve been writing since I was 23 years old. My first quality piece was for a History of AIDS class I took in college. When I began writing that piece, I wondered what I would write about, But as I progressed through the paper, my ideas and feelings began to flow more and more easily. By the time I had completed what I needed to complete, more than one tear had rolled down my cheek. It was at that point that I knew I had a special gift. I was so proud of that paper. It inspired me to continue on to become the writer I am today.
What is an Expository Paragraph?
There are quite a few different types of paragraphs and many of them have already been described on this website, but one of my all time favorites is the expository paragraph. The reason I enjoy writing these types of paragraphs is that they allow me to explain various topics through my writing. Almost like I’m doing right now. We already know what descriptive paragraphs do. They describe various subjects and topics. We already know what narrative paragraphs do. They detail the personal growth of a character or characters. Do we know what expository paragraphs do? Well let me fill you in. Expository paragraphs explain things to the reader. They clarify and educate the reader. And in doing so, it’s important that they be formulated in such a way so to provide sound and solid reasoning through a specific framework of organization. Now, if that sounds sort of confusing, don’t worry. I’ll explain exactly what I mean below.
It’s all about organizing this type of paragraph. When attempting to explain something to a reader, as a writer you’ll need to build a solid framework to do so effectively and understandably. I want you to think of the structure of a house for this. In a normal house, there is a foundation, a front door, walls, and a roof. If we attribute these things to a wonderfully written expository paragraph, we can think of the foundation as the thesis. What’s the paragraph about? What do you hope to achieve? The door can be thought of as the introductory sentence, which will invite the reader into the paragraph. The walls can be thought of as the body of the paragraph. The body that both sits upon the foundation and around the door. This is where most of the heavy lifting takes place; the explaining, verifying, clarifying, etc… Remember, the body of the paragraph must also be convincing and provide evidence where appropriate. It must also be complete and not leave anything of importance out. Finally, there’s the roof. This is where everything is held together. This is the concluding sentence. Wrap up all of your points and complete the paragraph here.
Please remember that, as a writer, you’re never funneled into a narrow track that’s meant to confine you and kill your creativity. These descriptions of the different types of paragraphs are meant to help you organize thoughts and give purpose to your writing. When you head into writing a piece, it’s helpful to have an understanding of the paragraph’s purpose which will guide you through the process of doing a good and effective job. After all, your writing is meant to be read. The better you prepare and execute your craft, the happier your reader will be. Also, the longer you write and the more used to these types of paragraphs you become, the less you’ll have to think about the “rules” and the more time you’ll have to focus on your ideas. This is just the way it is. It can be somewhat challenging in the beginning, but writing because second nature very quickly, especially if you write a lot.
Down below, I’ll cover the different types of sentences we can use while writing expository paragraphs. I’ll go into some detail because it’s quite important to decipher which is which when it comes to this type of paragraph.
How to Craft Quality Introductory Sentences
As I stated above, introductory sentences are one of the building blocks of well written paragraphs. If you take a look at other types of paragraphs, you’ll see that their structures differ from the expository type. Take persuasive paragraphs for example. Those are meant to take a stance or opinion on a topic and to persuade the reader to the author’s point of view. When it comes to expository paragraphs though, the goal is quite different. With this type, the author must focus on structuring the paragraph in such a way as to explain something. And in doing so, he or she must structure effectively. It’s not an easy task to get someone to understand something and that’s why it’s so critical to focus on the format of these types of paragraphs. It’s sort of like spoon feeding a baby. You want to set things up in small chunks to make them easily digestible. I’m sure we’ve all had those teachers or professors we’ve found to be absolutely terrible. The probable reasoning behind our opinions is that we thought our instruction was somehow disjointed or incomplete. Let’s not allow that type of opinion to be formed about our paragraphs. We’re here to help others understand.
The best way to help others understand is to break our explanation down into bite sized chunks. Since our goal is to clarify and explain, it helps to, as stated above, break the paragraph down into parts and then describe how those parts interrelate with one another and the whole. Each component of the paragraph is meant to justify the explanation you’d like to convey. Introductory sentences are a huge part of this, as they tell the reader what they can expect to be reading about.
So, what exactly do introductory sentences do? Well, they:
– Give the issue at hand a nice introduction.
– Push the cruft aside and describe the topic in a clear way.
– Offer the reader the categories that will be utilized in the issue’s explanation.
– Offer the reader the thesis statement.
Can you imagine attempting to explain something to someone without first introducing what you’d like to explain? Trust me, getting your point across relies heavily on the setup. It’s the introduction that paves the way for success. As a matter of fact, expository paragraphs that fail to do their jobs usually have the lack of a complete and effective introductory sentences to blame. After all, it’s this sentence that introduces the topic or issue. What really helps during this setup is to offer some background to the reader along with the introduction. If you’re going to be discussing a topic that not many folks have information on, perhaps a short lesson would be in order. As an example, let’s say you are going to be explaining something about the great New York City Fire Department (NYFD), you should also give some perspective to the reader. You can start off like this: “The New York City Fire Department, founded in 1865 and having employed 337,000 brave men and women, ….” Now, I made up that employment number, but you get the idea. A bit of background on your topic can go a long way. Down below, I’ll get into much more about introductory sentences and the primary jobs they’re tasked with.
Why Write an Introductory Sentence Anyway?
Well, I just explained that above, but let’s get into it a bit more below.
First and foremost, these types of sentences are responsible for introducing a topic and telling the reader why it’s important. Here’s an example of that:
After an analysis of times to fire for the NYFD, we’ve determined that the new routes and routines we’ve implemented have reduced response time and safety by more than 50%.
If you look closely at the sentence above, you’ll notice that it introduces the reader to the reasons we’re writing the paragraph in the first place. Ultimately, the NYFD is looking to cut response times and improve safety. By doing what they’ve done, they’ve accomplished their goal, or are at least on their way to doing so.
Introductory sentences do more as well. They also outline what the following paragraph will be about and bring the main ideas to light. Here’s another example of that:
After calculating recent results of time to fire and incidences for the NYFD, it’s become apparent that much needs to be improved in the way of response times and safety.
Again, if you look closely, you’ll find what the main ideas will be of the following paragraph as well as the order they may be expected to be presented. If you aren’t aware, the main ideas are response times and safety.
And finally, we’ve got the good ol’ thesis that we all know and love so much. A thesis statement is the main point or the overall claim of the entire paper or the specific paragraph, such as is the case here. Let’s try another example:
The NYFD is expected to make it to their destination fires or emergencies in a timely manner, safely, and efficiently.
The statement above pretty much sums up the purpose of the paragraph. It’s simply and complete.
Personally, I’ve found that the better I craft my introductory sentences, the more I’m able to look at them for guidance as I’m writing the rest of my paragraphs. If you’ve been writing for any amount of time, you surely know how easy it can be to go off track. By creating an effective sentence up front, you’ll not only be introducing all of the points you’d like to cover in your paragraph for your readers, but you’ll also be creating a map from which you can write. This is helpful for both you as a writer as well as your readers. Again, the more organized and intentional you are, the better your message will be received. And if you’re the type of writer who likes to take breaks every so often, having a good introductory sentence from which to work will help immensely. You can write, get up for a break, return to your desk, reread your sentence, and continue writing.
Above all else, you must remember that readers are humans. They need to be captivated and entertained, no matter how boring the topic is at hand and no matter how boring you assume your reader to be. Your goal is to have your audience read your entire paragraph, not get through a few initial sentences and toss your writing aside. When writing your introductory sentence, never apologize. Never act as if you aren’t certain of your topic. Never begin with a dictionary definition (I hate those) and never be blunt and obvious, such as, “Today, I will be writing about…” Just don’t do those things. They’re for amateurs. You’re better than an amateur.
What should you do? Be entertaining. Be captivating. Be interesting. Use a little flair. Intrigue your reader. Pretend that you’re giving a talk in front of a large audience. Start your paragraph off with a surprising fact or an interesting quote. Perhaps include some humor. That always gets people going. Of course, whichever tactic you choose should be relevant to your topic, but when using something like this, it usually helps catch the reader and it encourages them to continue on reading what you’ve written.
How to Craft Quality Body Sentences
Now that we’ve given the, I guess you can call, scope of the paragraph with the introductory sentence, it’s time to turn to the heavy lifting. Body sentences are used for support. They fully explain the viewpoint of the author, offer examples, and show evidence, if available. But remember this; no matter how well written an introductory sentence is, the entire paragraph will fall flat if that sentence isn’t supported as it’s supposed to be. Take a look at these two examples:
Example #1: The NYFD is late to eight out of ten fires it’s called to and that’s an unsustainable situation. Because yeah, no one likes it when the fire department is late. It just stinks. They should be on time. Or they should at least try to be on time more than they are.
Example #2: The NYFD is late to eight out of ten fires it’s called to and that’s an unsustainable situation. The reasons for this are varied and the results can be catastrophic. From what we’ve discovered, the routing to calls is what’s most concerning and what’s most responsible for the tardiness at hand. On most routes where the fire department is late, either the roads have been under construction or there has been substantial traffic that has slowed the trucks down. To deal with this, more effective routing software should be used by the dispatchers. This is a critical situation because when the fire department is late to a fire, the loss of life can be tragic and the loss of property can be quite consequential.
After reading those two examples that begin with strong introductory sentences, which body do you think is more effective at conveying the author’s message? Obviously, the second one. But why? Well, if we take a look at the body sentences in the first example, we’ll find that there was no support given. There were no reasons offered to explain why the tardiness of the fire department isn’t sustainable. In the second example, there were reasons given. And not only that, there were also reasons given for why the department is late. The second paragraph’s body sentences illuminates the topic at hand and was well organized. The results of research were used as was the effects of a poorly dispatched department.
Let’s take a closer look at what makes an effective body sentence or sentences. What should these sentences do? What should they contain? What should the result be after reading good ones? What makes well written and well argued body sentences?
– Body sentences should reflect the argument offered by the introductory sentence.
– They should also contain supporting evidence, such as research, quotes, and data.
– The supporting evidence should be fleshed out and explained.
– All sentences in the body should stay on track and maintain relevance to the introductory sentence.
– All sentences should flow well into and from one another and be related.
If we delve into the individual sentences contained in the body of an expository paragraph, we’ll notice that the first body sentence introduces the primary subpoint of the paragraph. The introductory sentence opened everything up, but the sentence after that needs to continue on in the same vein. Let’s take another look at the second example again – at the two sentences in question:
The NYFD is late to eight out of ten fires it’s called to and that’s an unsustainable situation. The reasons for this are varied and the results can be catastrophic.
As you can see, the first sentence is very broad, as is the second one, but the second one narrows the scope slightly. This is the way it’s supposed to be. As the body progresses, the scope becomes more and more narrow.
If we continue on in the body from the above example, we’ll notice something interesting:
From what we’ve discovered, the routing to calls is what’s most concerning and what’s most responsible for the tardiness at hand. On most routes where the fire department is late, either the roads have been under construction or there has been substantial traffic that has slowed the trucks down.
Do you see how I jumped into the facts? I narrowed down further. The research showed that the actual routing to the calls was to blame. And after I offered that fact, I went on to explain exactly how the routing was to blame; because of construction and traffic.
When it comes to the body of this type of paragraph, we must finally ask why. Who cares? Why write the paragraph at all? Well, if we again look at the example I wrote above, we’ll see why.
This is a critical situation because when the fire department is late to a fire, the loss of life can be tragic and the loss of property can be quite consequential.
The answer to “why” has been answered. In this case, we’re dealing with the loss of life and property. That’s good enough for me. So really, it all boils down to this one line. The answer to the questions we ask. And if we can answer that why or who cares question properly, they we’ve written a well crafted body.
How to Craft Quality Concluding Sentences
The concluding sentence in a paragraph is hugely important. I wouldn’t say it’s more important than the other parts of the paragraph, but it’s just as important. It’s actually very simple as well. Here, read this quick example:
This is what I was going to say, this is what I said, and why.
How’s that? It’s important to use the opportunity of writing your concluding sentence to continue on with the good impression you’re attempting to portray. You set out to do something and you explained what that would be in your introduction. Your goal was to explain something to your readers and you did that within your body. Now, with your concluding sentence, you’ll need to remind your readers what you set out to do and then after that, how you did it. If you have space, tell them why as well. Just don’t sound repetitive in this sentence. Use your skills as a writer to rephrase things to make them sound fresh and new. Also be sure to bring closure to your paragraph at this time. It’s the time to say goodbye. Well, for this one topic anyway.
What should you hope to accomplish with your concluding sentence?
– You can reflect upon your initial argument.
– You can offer a quick summary of your paragraph’s main points.
– You can give a strong, yet smooth closing for your paragraph.
While this sounds easy and straightforward, there are a few temptations we must try to avoid at all costs. Don’t attempt to rehash your introduction during your conclusion. Your introduction is already complete. Also, steer clear of cliche terms and phrases, such as In summary or In conclusion. People don’t have time for that kind of amateur. Don’t go over what you’ve shared in the body of your paragraph in great detail. You already did that and a brief glancing will be enough. Never apologize for not going further in your topic or for not having all the answers. Your paragraph was intended to cover a certain scope and that’s what you did. You can write more later if you discover new information. And finally, don’t be an absolutist. Don’t make bold claims. Don’t write things like, “This proves it!” or “There is now no dispute!” That’s showmanship that’s best left out of this type of writing.
While concluding sentences may seem repetitive, they’re certainly necessary. They’re also a challenge for the better writers of us. It’s not easy to craft an elegant conclusion that offers closure, reiteration, and punch. With the concluding sentence, you’ve been given one last chance to make your point and to really drive it home. Think about energizing speeches, political commercials, and advertisements by nonprofits asking for donations. It’s usually in the last few seconds that the point of the message is driven home. Whether a bold statement be made, a warning given, an image evoked, inspiration conveyed, or something else, this is the time to draw the mental image for your reader and to leave them walking away with the message you tried to convey loud and clear in their minds. Let’s see what I can do with the example I gave above in the preceding sections. Again, this can prove to be the most challenging section of the entire paragraph. The other sections can be perfectly factual, but the finale needs to be emotional.
Introduction
After calculating recent results of time to fire and incidences for the NYFD, it’s become apparent that much needs to be improved in the way of response times and safety.
Body
The NYFD is late to eight out of ten fires it’s called to and that’s an unsustainable situation. The reasons for this are varied and the results can be catastrophic. From what we’ve discovered, the routing to calls is what’s most concerning and what’s most responsible for the tardiness at hand. On most routes where the fire department is late, either the roads have been under construction or there has been substantial traffic that has slowed the trucks down. To deal with this, more effective routing software should be used by the dispatchers. This is a critical situation because when the fire department is late to a fire, the loss of life can be tragic and the loss of property can be quite consequential.
Conclusion
We know what the problem is and we know the causes; dysfunctional routing, road construction, traffic, but what we must ultimately ask ourselves is if this is the type of city in which we’d like to live – one that asks its citizens to pay hand over fist for a top rate fire department that does its job wonderfully, but that can’t get to those jobs on time.
And there you have it. Please ask questions if you have them.
Review Questions
1. What are three of the main purposes of an introductory sentence?
The three main purposes of an introductory sentence are: to introduce the topic at hand and to explain why it’s important, outline the structure of a paragraph and to highlight the main ideas, and state the thesis of the paragraph.
2. What should you never do in an introductory sentence?
In an introductory sentence, you should never: apologize, make sweeping generalizations, use dictionary definitions, or announce your intentions.
3. How should you refute counterpoints?
To refute counterpoints within your introductory sentence, a writer should clearly lay out their position and why it’s important. Also, if there is something that directly contradicts their position, it helps to introduce that as well and to negate that argument.
4. What is the formula for a well-argued body sentence?
The formula for a well-argued body sentence goes like this: the writer can start off by mentioning the initial argument that was laid out in the introduction. Then they can support that argument with sources and quotes from recognized sources. After that, they can articulate the significance of each source or quote, all the while staying on track and making sure that any supporting information remains relevant to the initial argument. And finally, the writer can seamlessly transition to the next body sentence.
5. What should you include in a concluding sentence? What should you never include in a concluding sentence?
The things a writer should always include in the concluding sentence are: a reiteration of how the thesis plays into the paragraph, a summary of the primary point for writing the paragraph, a concise articulation of any statements made, and a strong sense of closure to the paragraph.
The things an author should never include in a concluding sentence are: a rewritten introduction or thesis statement, any overused phrases (as described above in the Concluding Sentence section), a reiteration of what’s already been written in the body of the paragraph, an apology for not being more thorough, and any absolute claims of certainty.
What’s a Persuasive Paragraph?
By my very nature, I think I’m best at persuasive writing. And speaking. For some reason, I think I’m always trying to talk people into doing things. That probably goes back to my helpful nature and experience with teaching, but perhaps it’s just who I am. Anyway, let’s get on with this post about persuasive writing. Or, to be more accurate, persuasive paragraphs.
What’s the aim of a persuasive paragraph? It’s to make an effective and convincing argument. After all, you can be as effective as you want, but if you’re not convincing, you’ll never persuade anyone. And really, at the end of all of it, you’ll want to change your reader in such a way as to do something that they were never planning on doing, thinking a new way, or altering an existing behavior. There’s a goal to this type of writing and it’s to get inside someone’s head to tinker about a bit. You want them to think differently and you’ll never do that without knowing how to.
We already discussed expository paragraphs here in this post. Those types of paragraphs aim to explain things and to clarify them to such a degree as to create an understanding by your reader. When it comes to persuasive paragraphs, we plant our feet and take a stand on an issue. The thing is, we need to be careful how we do this. We can’t simply say, “This is what I believe!” and that’s it. We also need to back up our statements with facts and details. Writing persuasive paragraphs are much like going through a debate. Every statement and claim that’s made in a debate needs to be backed up by some sort of true information. And beyond that, it’s got to be information that persuades someone to act or think differently. Quotes, examples, opinions from professionals in their fields, facts from trusted resources – these are all fair game when it comes to persuading.
Having said all that, knowing facts and figures and conveying those things through your writing again isn’t enough. To be effective, you’ll need to organize your thoughts and writing so your persuasion seeps into your reader’s mind in the most efficient manner. If you began with the ending and ended with the beginning, your reader would be thoroughly confused. But if you structure your writing the proper way, they’ll understand your argument much more acutely.
I’ll get into describing the specific pieces of these types of paragraphs below, but let me begin by saying that organizing persuasive paragraphs is much like organizing other types of paragraphs. They begin and end with introductory and concluding sentences that wrap the primary content. In this case, this primary content takes the form of your arguments and supporting evidence. Each of these sections should contain supporting information as well, so keep that in mind.
As I go through each section of a persuasive paragraph below, please remember that you won’t need to strictly adhere to what I say. Just read everything over and become familiar with how these things work. Then, practice your writing. Come back here, reread this post and then practice some more. When I learn something new and then head off to practice it, I tend to forget what I’m doing. That’s why I suggest practicing and then returning to the lesson. In this case, this page is the lesson.
Nothing on this page is meant to keep you constrained in any way. It’s actually meant to help you flourish as a writer. It’s meant to give you confidence and strength. And really, if you look at the suggestions I offer below, you’ll find that they’re more reminders than anything else. My goal is to make you aware of the expectations as they pertain to this type of writing. By following the guidelines below, you’ll increase your effectiveness because you’ll likely include the necessary parts of the paragraph. And once you get used to writing in this style well, you’ll loosen up and become more creative, which in turn will likely increase your effectiveness. You’ll do less positioning and formatting and more expressing and explaining, which is the key to persuading.
Persuasive Paragraph Introductory Sentences
Like with many other types of paragraphs, a strong introductory sentence is key to the goals of the message that you’re attempting to convey. Getting this sentence right can be a bit tricky though because it’s actually got two goals: to introduce the topic of the rest of the paragraph as well as to introduce your argument. By failing to combine this mix of ingredients, you’ll certainly have a tough time selling your reader on your argument. And just like so many others, this first sentence needs to contain the thesis of your writing, which makes it all the more critical you get it right.
What do writers hope to achieve when writing introductory sentences for their persuasive paragraphs? Here are a few things.
1. The issue of the paragraph needs to be introduced.
2. A glimpse of the writer’s argument needs to be given. A general summary, if you will.
3. A quick outline of the arguments that will appear in the body sentences needs to be addressed.
4. If there are any points that counter the writer’s arguments, mention them here.
5. And finally, the thesis statement needs to be given.
So, as you can see, there’s a lot that goes into this first part of a persuasive paragraph. I’ll discuss all this more below.
Many writers are highly intelligent human beings. They know so many things, but oftentimes fail at organizing their thoughts to they’re coherent and rational. Because of this, their messages aren’t taken as seriously as they may have been if their writing was better organized. When it comes to writing persuasive paragraphs, so many arguments have failed to gain traction because they lacked their necessary introductions. As mentioned above, it’s critical to set the writer’s arguments up front, so the reader can prepare mentally to comprehend what’s being addressed. That said, a great way to set these types of sentences up is to offer some background information on the arguments at hand. Think of this is laying the foundation for the entire paragraph. For example, if a writer wanted to address the dangers of climate change, they might begin be introducing the topic like this: “Rising temperatures, polar bears drowning and dying, sea levels rising to swallow cities whole – global warming is at our doorstep.” If a paragraph is introduced like this, there’s little discrepancy as to what the remainder of the writing will entail. Informing your audience is critical at this point.
Why write introductory sentences? What’s their purpose?
Introductory sentences explain to the reader why the paragraph is important. They also introduce the topic of the paragraph.
Example: A recent study has concluded that rising sea levels due to global warming has already had a catastrophic effect on marine life as well as coastal communities, resulting in significant loss of biodiversity as well as economic activity.
In the example above, I explain to the reader how detrimental global warming can be and I imply that by taking action now, we can reduce the negative effects going forward.
Introductory sentences also play a large part in creating and communicating the structure of the following paragraph. They also express the main ideas that will be conveyed.
Example: When we take note of how few Americans appreciate the severity of global climate change, we find that media, internet forums, and conspiracy theories play a huge role in their ignorance.
Above, I explain what I’ll be addressing and in what order I’ll be addressing it. I also inform the reader of the main ideas I think are important.
And finally, introductory paragraphs offer the paragraph’s thesis.
Example: Climate change is harming many facets of our global environment and civilization and as such, education regarding these detrimental effects should be encouraged around the world.
In my final example, I state what I’ll be arguing throughout my writing.
It really is all about informing your readers of your intentions. So while you’re introducing your primary topic, you’re also expressing what you’ll be arguing. You can consider the introduction as sort of a map to the rest of what follows. And like so many other types of paragraphs, both your readers as well as yourself will benefit from this type of setup. So many times I have gotten far too deep into my own writing that I’ve actually forgotten what I was writing about. Or, I forgot what my main point was. Or what my arguments were. By crafting a thorough introductory sentence, I basically write myself a reminder that I could easily come back to during subsequent sittings.
Just like with debates, it’s critical that any counter arguments are tackled up front. The introductory sentence is a great place to do this. Basically, these counter arguments will contradict your thesis, so admitting that these counter arguments exist and giving them a pre-rebuttal, you can actually strengthen your own argument. Think along these lines:
While it’s been said that global warming isn’t something we need to concern ourselves with now, the facts tell us that…
You can see how easy it is to deflate a counter argument is not so many words.
We’ve already covered many examples of what you should and shouldn’t do in introductory sentences in this post and when it comes to persuasive paragraphs, the same rules apply. Don’t apologize, don’t stereotype or use generalizations, and don’t use dictionary definitions. Your goal is to appear strong and convincing, keep your reader engaged and your argument valid, and to stick to your viewpoint, not a fact.
Here are some areas that are suggested you do:
– Captivate your reader and keep them engaged.
– Tell your reader what the primary issue is.
– Keep your explanations simple and easy to read.
– Be short, but thorough. Write coherently.
– State and counter-arguments and refute them.
– Tell the reader what your thesis is in a concise arguable fashion.
– Offer a structure that includes the arguments your reader will find in the paragraph body.
No one wants to read a boring persuasive paragraph or any type of paragraph for that matter. So when writing these things, keep your reader interested and entertained. If you desire to keep your reader reading, you’ll need to captivate them from the very beginning. A good trick to achieve this goal is to start your writing off with something of great interest.
Did you know that every single whale that’s ever lived has weighed over three million pounds?
That was an exaggeration that obviously wasn’t true, but it certainly was interesting, wasn’t it? I’m not saying you should lie, but I’m sure that what ever topic you choose to write about most certainly has something interesting about it. Find out what it is and use it. And then continue on and use the same amount of interest to cover the points made above. Also, when using an opening piece of interest, be sure that it integrates and relates well to the rest of your writing. The last thing you want to do is captivate your reader and then confuse them because of some disjointed writing.
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