Narrative Essay Writing
The purpose of a narrative essay is to provide readers with some unique, real-life story. It is not a secret that most people love fascinating stories. They also like the stories that are based on real-life events. However, it is not enough to have something to tell your readers. What is important for a good narrative essay is placing it in a larger context and using rich literary devices to keep readers interested. Moreover, as you are writing your narrative essay, you want to communicate some deeper meanings, and you hope that your readers will understand them.
Five Steps to Write a Narrative Essay
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1. Prewriting
At the stage of prewriting, your principal task is to think of the story you want to tell and define a broader context for your narrative work. For instance, if you want to tell your readers how you nearly avoided a deathly airplane collision, then you may also tell them that life is short and every moment matters. The best thing you can do here is remembering some small event that turned out to be a significant change in your life or the lives of people you know. This way, you will be able to build an effective argument and keep your readers glued to your story.
When you have finally selected a topic, you will have to dig deeper into your memories and remember the slightest details of the event you are going to describe. Think of the people who were present at that moment. Think of the weather on that day or the circumstances you might have encountered on your way to the place where everything happened. Develop an outline and systematize the knowledge you wish to share with the public.
2. Writing a Narrative Essay Draft
While working on your narrative essay draft, you will need to follow the outline you have developed at the stage of prewriting. Here, use the following techniques to improve the quality of your writing:
- The best narrative essays are presented in the first person. Thus, make sure that you tell the story from an "I" perspective.
- Do not ignore the importance of details. They are of great value, when it comes to writing narrative stories. Even a single detail can improve readers' understanding of the event you are describing.
- Make sure that you incorporate rich stylistic and literary devices to make your description more vivid. Narrative essays should fascinate readers. They should not be limited to some dry information or statistical facts. Be descriptive. Use illustrations and imagination. Allegories, comparisons, and hyperboles can help.
- In most cases, narrative essays are presented as non-fiction stories, but that does not mean that you cannot use the elements of fiction. Build a strong plot and convey sophisticated meanings in a simple and easy to understand language!
3. Narrative Essay Revisions
As you are revising your narrative essay, you will have to revisit, modify, and systematize the draft in ways that make it comprehensible and readable. Please, consider the following:
- Have you presented a logical sequence of events that are easy to understand? Are transitions present throughout the paper?
- Have you described your experiences in ways that engage the reader? Have you provided enough detail to make the paper sound interesting?
- Have you been informative or literary, descriptive, and imaginative in your essay?
- Have you successfully communicated the broader message behind your story? Have you made explicit connections between what you had experienced and what had changed your life?
Structure is one of the key considerations in narrative essay writing. However, it provides enough freedom for writers, as they seek to explain the significance of their experiences. You could use the introductory paragraph to provide some background information and, at the same time, identify the key message of your story. At the same time, you could focus on your immediate experiences and leave their significance until the end of the story.
4. Narrative Essay Editing
At this stage of writing, your task will be to proofread and edit the paper. You will have to check the paper for grammar errors and misspellings. You could ask someone else to read your paper aloud, as this is how you can note inconsistencies and logic fallacies in your narrative.
5. Narrative Essay Publishing
A narrative essay is a personal, even intimate, piece of writing. This is why it is natural for students to feel anxious about presenting their works in class. No matter how nervous or excited you are, your presentation will give you a sense of confidence, while allowing you to use these presentation experiences in future works.