Narrative Essay
Narration
In a narrative, essay we basically tell a story that is related to
your own life. It can be a narration of a personal experience or the
events that happened to someone you know. The narrative essay should
have a purpose. It must make a point and the reader must learn a lesson
or gain insight.
Tips to write a narrative essay
- Tell a story based on one of your own experiences.
- Use concrete details so that your readers can visualize what is
happening. Give as many sensory details and vivid descriptions to
involve the reader.
- You may use dialogue.
- Make sure that your narrative essay communicates a main idea or a lesson.
- Spend some time drafting what you can remember about the experience.
- Create an outline of the basic parts of your narrative.
- Write your first draft and don't pay attention to mistakes at this stage.
- When writing a narrative essay you may use the tools of descriptive writing.
- Edit the essay:
1.
Does the writing effectively recreates the experience for your readers?
2. Are there any more details and descriptions are needed?
3. Are there any information that has to be removed?
4. Is your narration effectively written to help your readers visualize events?
5. Is there any logical or chronological order in your narration?
6. Are there any grammatical or spelling mistakes?
7. Have you used appropriate cohesive devices?
- Write your final draft.
Narrative Essay Examples
In a narrative essay you tell a story, but you also make a point. So, it is like a story told for a reason.
Narrative Essays: To Tell a Story
There are four types of essays:- Exposition - gives information about various topics to the reader.
- Description - describes in detail characteristics and traits.
- Argument - convinces the reader by demonstrating the truth or falsity of a topic.
- Narrative - tells a story, usually from one person’s viewpoint.
A
narrative essay uses all the story elements - a beginning and ending,
plot, characters, setting and climax - all coming together to complete
the story.
Essential Elements of Narrative Essays
The focus of a narrative essay is the plot, which is told using enough details to build to a climax. Here's how:
- It is usually told chronologically.
- It usually has a purpose, which is usually stated in the opening sentence.
- It may use dialogue.
- It
is written with sensory details and vivid descriptions to involve the
reader. All these details relate in some way to the main point the
writer is making.
All of these elements need to seamlessly
combine. A few examples of narrative essays follow. Narrative essays can
be quite long, so instead of a full length example of an entire essay,
only the beginnings of essays are included:
Learning Can Be Scary
This
excerpt about learning new things and new situations is an example of a
personal narrative essay that describes learning to swim.
“Learning
something new can be a scary experience. One of the hardest things I've
ever had to do was learn how to swim. I was always afraid of the water,
but I decided that swimming was an important skill that I should learn.
I also thought it would be good exercise and help me to become
physically stronger. What I didn't realize was that learning to swim
would also make me a more confident person.
New
situations always make me a bit nervous, and my first swimming lesson
was no exception. After I changed into my bathing suit in the locker
room, I stood timidly by the side of the pool waiting for the teacher
and other students to show up. After a couple of minutes the teacher
came over. She smiled and introduced herself, and two more students
joined us. Although they were both older than me, they didn't seem to be
embarrassed about not knowing how to swim. I began to feel more at
ease.”
The Manager. The Leader.
The following
excerpt is a narrative essay from a story about a manager who was a
great leader. Notice the intriguing first sentence that captures your
attention right away.
“Jerry was the kind of guy you love
to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive
to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply,
"If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager
because he had several waiters who had followed him around from
restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was
because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was
having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on
the positive side of the situation.”
The Climb
This
excerpt from the climb also captures your attention right away by
creating a sense of mystery. The reader announces that he or she has
"this fear" and you want to read on to see what that fear is.
“I
have this fear. It causes my legs to shake. I break out in a cold
sweat. I start jabbering to anyone who is nearby. As thoughts of certain
death run through my mind, the world appears a precious, treasured
place. I imagine my own funeral, then shrink back at the implications of
where my thoughts are taking me. My stomach feels strange. My palms are
clammy. I am terrified of heights.Of course, it’s not really a fear of
being in a high place. Rather, it is the view of a long way to fall, of
rocks far below me and no firm wall between me and the edge. My sense of
security is screamingly absent. There are no guardrails, flimsy though I
picture them, or other safety devices. I can rely only on my own
surefootedness—or lack thereof.”
Disney Land
The following narrative essay involves a parent musing about taking her kids to Disney Land.
“It
was a hot sunny day, when I finally took my kids to the Disney Land. My
son Matthew and my daughter Audra endlessly asked me to show them the
dream land of many children with Mickey Mouse and Snow-white walking by
and arousing a huge portion of emotions. Somehow these fairy tale
creatures can make children happy without such “small” presents as $100
Lego or a Barby’s house in 6 rooms and garden furniture. Therefore, I
thought that Disney Land was a good invention for loving parents.”
The Sacred Grove of Oshogbo by Jeffrey Tayler
The following essay contains descriptive language that helps to paint a vivid picture for the reader of an encounter with a man.
“As
I passed through the gates I heard a squeaky voice. A diminutive
middle-aged man came out from behind the trees — the caretaker. He
worked a toothbrush-sized stick around in his mouth, digging into the
crevices between algae'd stubs of teeth. He was barefoot; he wore a blue
batik shirt known as a buba, baggy purple trousers, and an embroidered
skullcap. I asked him if he would show me around the shrine. Motioning
me to follow, he spat out the results of his stick work and set off down
the trail.”
Playground Memory
The first excerpt from, “
Playground Memory”, has very good sensory details.
“Looking
back on a childhood filled with events and memories, I find it rather
difficult to pick on that leaves me with the fabled “warm and fuzzy
feelings.” As the daughter of an Air Force Major, I had the pleasure of
traveling across America in many moving trips. I have visited the
monstrous trees of the Sequoia National Forest, stood on the edge of the
Grande Canyon and have jumped on the beds at Caesar’s Palace in Lake
Tahoe. However, I have discovered that when reflecting on my childhood,
it is not the trips that come to mind, instead there are details from
everyday doings; a deck of cards, a silver bank or an ice cream flavor.
One memory that comes to mind belongs to a day of no particular
importance. It was late in the fall in Merced, California on the
playground of my old elementary school; an overcast day with the wind
blowing strong. I stood on the blacktop, pulling my hoodie over my ears.
The wind was causing miniature tornados; we called them “dirt devils”,
to swarm around me.”
Christmas Cookies
The second of the two narrative essay examples is an excerpt from “
Christmas Cookies.”
“Although
I have grown up to be entirely inept at the art of cooking, as to make
even the most wretched chef ridicule my sad baking attempts, my
childhood would have indicated otherwise; I was always on the countertop
next to my mother’s cooking bowl, adding and mixing ingredients that
would doubtlessly create a delicious food. When I was younger, cooking
came intrinsically with the holiday season, which made that time of year
the prime occasion for me to unite with ounces and ounces of satin dark
chocolate, various other messy and gooey ingredients, numerous cooking
utensils, and the assistance of my mother to cook what would soon be an
edible masterpiece. The most memorable of the holiday works of art were
our Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, which my mother and I first made when I
was about six and are now made annually.”
Tips on Writing a Narrative Essay
When writing a narrative essay, remember that you are sharing sensory and emotional details with the reader.
- Your words need to be vivid and colorful to help the reader feel the same feelings that you felt.
- Elements
of the story need to support the point you are making and you need to
remember to make reference to that point in the first sentence.
- You should make use of conflict and sequence like in any story.
- You may use flashbacks and flash forwards to help the story build to a climax.
- It is usually written in the first person, but third person may also be used.
Remember, a well-written narrative essay tells a story and makes a point.
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