Descriptive narrative text

What do you smell?	What do you taste?	What do you see?	What do you hear?
What might you touch or feel?

Remember:  Avoid simply telling us what something looks like--tell us how it tastes, smells, sounds, or feels!

Consider this…

• 
  Virginia rain smells different from a California drizzle.
  
• 
  A mountain breeze feels different from a sea breeze.
  
• 
  We hear different things in one spot, depending on the time of day.
  
• 
  You can “taste” things you’ve never eaten: how would sunscreen taste?
  

Using Concrete Details for Narratives

Effective narrative essays allow readers to visualize everything that's happening, in their minds.  One way to make sure that this occurs is to use concrete, rather than abstract, details. 

Concrete Language…	Abstract Language…
…makes the story or image seem clearer and more real to us.	...makes the story or image difficult to visualize.
…gives us information that we can easily grasp and perhaps empathize with.	…leaves your reader feeling empty, disconnected, and possibly confused.

The word “abstract” might remind you of modern art.  An abstract painting, for example, does not normally contain recognizable objects.  In other words, we can't look at the painting and immediately say "that's a house" or "that's a bowl of fruit."  To the untrained eye, abstract art looks a bit like a child's finger-painting--just brightly colored splotches on a canvas.
Avoid abstract language—it won’t help the reader understand what you're trying to say!

Examples:

Abstract:  It was a nice day. 

Concrete:  The sun was shining and a slight breeze blew across my face. 

Abstract:  I liked writing poems, not essays. 

Concrete:  I liked writing short, rhythmic poems and hated rambling on about my thoughts in those four-page essays. 

Abstract:  Mr. Smith was a great teacher.

Concrete:  Mr. Smith really knew how to help us turn our thoughts into good stories and essays.

In writing, the words point and purpose are almost synonymous. Your point is your purpose, and how you decide to make your point clear to your reader is also your purpose. Writers have a point and a purpose for every paragraph that they create.

Writers write descriptive paragraphs because their purpose is to describe something. Their point is that something is beautiful or disgusting or strangely intriguing. Writers write persuasive and argument paragraphs because their purpose is to persuade or convince someone. Their point is that their reader should see things a particular way and possibly take action on that new way of seeing things. Writers write paragraphs of comparison because the comparison will make their point clear to their readers.

The purpose of Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay is to quickly and easily teach students how to organize information and make points clear. Then in the Writing with Purpose section of the writing program, students learn to apply their new writing strategies to different types, kinds, genres, and modes of writing. The truth is that it’s quick and easy to get students to write many different types of paragraphs when they have the right foundation.

Put simply, all of the different types and kinds of paragraphs simply involve layering on a different purpose or intent. When students have the right foundation, it’s just that simple. What are you trying to achieve in this paragraph and in your whole composition? What is your purpose right here? Do you wish to describe? Do you want to evaluate? Is your goal to narrate? Is your intent to persuade?

When students don’t have a proper foundation, these questions don’t mean much to them.  After Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay, students say, “I get it! I finally get it! I can’t even read what I was writing before!”.

After Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay, when the students’ purpose or intent is to:

 •   Describe   QQQ   they write a   QQQ   Descriptive Paragraph

 •   Inform    QQQ   they write a   QQQ   Informative Paragraph

 •   Narrate   QQQ   they write a   QQQ   Narrative Paragraph

 •   Persuade   QQQ   they write a   QQQ   Persuasive Paragraph

It’s just that easy! For amazing writing success, CLICK HERE! Let’s get your students writing amazing paragraphs. Wait! Why stop there? Let’s get your students writing entire essays filled full of amazing paragraphs! Put simply, Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay is the fastest, most effective way to teach students organized multi-paragraph writing… Guaranteed!