Narrative Writing

Adding Details to Your Writing

What is Narrative Writing?

■ “So, what happened?” When someone asks you that,

what do you say? You respond by telling a story- when
it happened, where it happened, how and why it
happened. This is what we call narration.

■ Narrative writing tells a story about an event that

happened.
 What should a good
narrative story include?
■ Good narrative stories use details to describe all the
important elements of an event (Who, what, when, where,
and why.)
■ The story should be focused and stick to one main idea.
■ Unimportant details should be left out of the story.
■ Narrative stories should be organized in a logical way
(Beginning, Middle, and End)
■ Transitions should be used to move from part of the story to
the next.
■ The story should make a point or lead to a conclusion.
 5-sentence Narrative Stories
■ So far this year we have been working on writing five sentence narrative stories.

■ Here is how these stories were organized:

Sentence 1- Topic Sentence introducing the main idea

Sentence 2- Beginning

Sentence 3- Middle

Sentence 4 -End

Sentence 5- Concluding Sentence

■ Transition words like first, next, and last help the story flow smoothly from
beginning, to middle, to end.
Let’s look at an example
My Bicycle Accident

When I was in third grade I got hurt in a bicycle

accident. My brother and I were riding our bikes down
the steep hill at the end of our street. I was going so
fast that I hit a bump in the road and flipped over my
handlebars. I hit my head hard on the pavement and
had to be taken to the hospital by my mother. I am
lucky that only fractured my skull and got a concussion
that day, it could have been much worse.
 Here are all the parts:
My Bicycle Accident

Topic Sentence When I was in third grade I got hurt in a

bicycle accident. My brother and I were riding our
bikes down the steep hill at the end of our street. I
was going so fast that I hit a bump in the road and
flipped over my handlebars. I hit my head hard on
the pavement and had to be taken to the hospital by
my mother. I am lucky that only fractured my skull
and got a concussion that day, it could have been
much worse.
 Here are all the parts:
My Bicycle Accident

Topic Sentence When I was in third grade I got hurt in a

bicycle accident. My brother and I were riding our
Beginning bikes down the steep hill at the end of our street. I
was going so fast that I hit a bump in the road and
flipped over my handlebars. I hit my head hard on
the pavement and had to be taken to the hospital by
my mother. I am lucky that only fractured my skull
and got a concussion that day, it could have been
much worse.
 Here are all the parts:
My Bicycle Accident

Topic Sentence When I was in third grade I got hurt in a

bicycle accident. My brother and I were riding our
Beginning bikes down the steep hill at the end of our street. I
was going so fast that I hit a bump in the road and
Middle
flipped over my handlebars. I hit my head hard on
the pavement and had to be taken to the hospital by
my mother. I am lucky that only fractured my skull
and got a concussion that day, it could have been
much worse.
 Here are all the parts:
My Bicycle Accident

Topic Sentence When I was in third grade I got hurt in a

bicycle accident. My brother and I were riding our
Beginning bikes down the steep hill at the end of our street. I
was going so fast that I hit a bump in the road and
Middle
flipped over my handlebars. I hit my head hard on
End
the pavement and had to be taken to the hospital by
my mother. I am lucky that only fractured my skull
and got a concussion that day, it could have been
much worse.
 Here are all the parts:
My Bicycle Accident

Topic Sentence When I was in third grade I got hurt in a

bicycle accident. My brother and I were riding our
Beginning bikes down the steep hill at the end of our street. I
was going so fast that I hit a bump in the road and
Middle
flipped over my handlebars. I hit my head hard on
End
the pavement and had to be taken to the hospital by
my mother. I am lucky that only fractured my skull
Concluding and got a concussion that day, it could have been
Sentence much worse.
So, how does my story measure up?
■ This narrative story tells about a true event that
happened in my life.
So, how does my story measure up?
■ It uses details to describe all the important elements of
my event:
■ Who- my brother and myself
■ What- had a bike accident
■ When- in third grade
■ Where- on the hill at the end of my street
■ Why- I was going very fast and hit a bump
So, how does my story measure up?
■ The story is focused and sticks to one main idea.
■ Main idea: A time when I was hurt in a bike accident.

■ The story ends by making a point. This is called a

conclusion.
■ Conclusion: Even though I got hurt, I feel lucky to be alive
because things could have been much worse.
How can I make my story better?
■ Even though my story has all the major parts a narrative
story needs to have, it could be even better.

■ Adding more details and descriptions would make my

story more interesting for my audience.
 Let’s Give it a Try!
My Bicycle Accident

When I was in third grade I got hurt in a bicycle

accident. My brother and I were riding our bikes down
the steep hill at the end of our street. I was going so fast
that I hit a bump in the road and flipped over my
handlebars. I hit my head hard on the pavement and
had to be taken to the hospital by my mother. I am
lucky that only fractured my skull and got a concussion
that day, it could have been much worse.
 Let’s Give it a Try!
My Bicycle Accident

When I was in third grade I got hurt in a bicycle

accident. My brother and I were riding our bikes down
Add a new the steep hill at the end of our street. We were racing as
detail sentence fast as we could down the hill, trying to see who could
get to the bottom first. I was going so fast that I hit a
bump in the road and flipped over my handlebars. I hit
my head hard on the pavement and had to be taken to
the hospital by my mother. I am lucky that only
fractured my skull and got a concussion that day, it
could have been much worse.
 Let’s Give it a Try!
My Bicycle Accident

When I was in third grade I got hurt in a bicycle

accident. My brother and I were riding our bikes down
the steep hill at the end of our street. We were racing as
fast as we could down the hill, trying to see who could
get to the bottom first. I was going so fast that I hit a
bump in the road and flipped over my handlebars.
Add a new detail Before I knew it I was sailing through the air, headfirst,
sentence
without a helmet on. I hit my head hard on the
pavement and had to be taken to the hospital by my
mother. I am lucky that only fractured my skull and got
a concussion that day, it could have been much worse.
 Let’s Give it a Try!
My Bicycle Accident
When I was in third grade I got hurt in a bicycle
accident. My brother and I were riding our bikes down
the steep hill at the end of our street. We were racing as
fast as we could down the hill, trying to see who could
get to the bottom first. I was going so fast that I hit a
bump in the road and flipped over my handlebars.
Before I knew it I was sailing through the air, headfirst,
without a helmet on. I hit my head hard on the
pavement and had to be taken to the hospital by my
mother. She raced me to the Emergency Room where
Add a new detail the doctors took x-rays of my head and body. I am
sentence lucky that only fractured my skull and got a concussion
that day, it could have been much worse.