TIPS FOR NARRATIVE COMPOSITIONS

Narratives usually follow a similar time sequence

Background Events Result/Sequel

We sometimes start a sentence with phrases like the ones below to give a sense of
drama.

1-Like lightning, he vanished into thin air.

2-Not daring to move,…………………………..
3-Never stopping to look back,
4-With hardly a sound,……………………..
5-In the nick of time,……………………..
6-Like a bolt from the blue,…………………
7-Quick as a flash,he………………………….
8-Without stopping to think,………………….
9-Hardly daring to breathe,……………………..
10-In barely a whisper she,…………………………..
11-Without a word of warning,…………………....
12-Barely had the sound of tapping stopped when….
13-In the twinkling of an eye...............................................
14-In the wink of an eye......................................................
15-In the blink of an eye..(extremely quickly) There was a huge "boom" and in the
blink of an eye the buildings were gone.

These short,agitated sentences heighten the sense of drama.

Avoid childish beginnings such as:It was a nice day and the sun was shining.
Try to arouse the curiosity and interest of the reader.
Use descriptive adjectives and specific verbs (ways of…….)
Use adjectives that describe people’s feelings (dejected, downcast, jubilant,etc)
Include a heightened sense of suspense,short sentences.
Use a neutral tone.
Include sudden,unanswered questions (Did anybody care?)
Use formal connectors (nonetheless, nevertheless,furthermore,etc)
Include connectors that express sequence:For a start,first of all, in the first
place,,secondly,last but not least.
Include inversion of order .
Include reduced relative clauses
Use formal constructions:Having said that ,he………../Difficult though it
seemed,…………However hard he tried ,all his efforts were to no
avail./fruitless.
Collect phrases from stories ,novels ,articles that may be included in your
compositions.
“That episode will never be effaced from my memory.”
“His heart was beating/pounding frantically”.
“After a prolonged moment of ominous silence ,I at last caught the sound of
shuffling footsteps.”
 “A misshapen hand,more like the claw of a bird,shot out and gripped my
arm..Then she let out a meaningless cackle”.
“The leaves of the trees rustled in the soft night breeze”
“Such a scene met my eyes that I thought I would faint with horror”

Useful phrases

He stared at us in disbelief, his mouth gaping open.

I lowered my eyes and blushed.

Not on a large scale, not with some breathless outrush of sobs, but the tears started
gathering in the corners of her eyes, and when we stopped at Clarkson for……..
(Oracle Night)

She knew that if she kept on hounding him to open up, things would worsen.
Burdened by the past,………………….

Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman
in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.

The use of sounds and noises in compositions

Snap! A branch just broke to the right of me. Rustling sounds

are coming from the bushes. I look to the left, then the right.
Nothing! I can't see anything, but I know there has to be
something out there; noises just don't arise on their own. I look
all around, searching every bush, tree, and shady spot to try and
locate the noises; then, peace and quiet again. The calming
sounds of birds chirping, the distant roar of the river, and the
wind blowing leaves around, cover up the scary noises that I
just heard. The back of my mind just won't forget those eerie
noises, and I look all around me every five seconds for some
kind of beast.