LESSON 15

WRITING THE NARRATIVE

CONTINUED
 Descriptive
Writing Process Narrative Essay
Essay

Common
Exemplification
Personal Essay Writing
Essay
Mistakes
Writer’s Prompt:
 Tell the story of the first time…
 You rode your bike without training wheels
 You drove a car
 You went on a date
 You stayed away from your parents overnight
 You stayed awake all night
Assignment
 Narrative Essay
Assignment Review
Maya Angelou
 Dr. Maya Angelou is one of the most renowned and
influential voices of our time. Hailed as a global
renaissance woman, Dr. Angelou is a celebrated poet,
memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer,
actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist.
 Born on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, Dr.
Angelou was raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas.
In Stamps, Dr. Angelou experienced the brutality of
racial discrimination, but she also absorbed the
unshakable faith and values of traditional African-
American family, community, and culture.
“Graduation”
 “Graduation” by Maya Angelou, page 23 in Great
Writing
 Meaning and Idea questions #1 and #2 on page 132
Let’s Review - What is a Narrative Essay?
 A narrative is a story
 A narrative essay is a story that has a specific
point
 It strives to teach a lesson or make a specific point
 It is not a diary entry – the story is linked to the
purpose of the essay
And What Should Be Included in a
Narrative Essay?
 Often written in 1st person – I or we – because it is
based on a personal story
 Can also be written in 3rd person
 Can never be written in 2nd person (“You”)
 Has specific sensory details to get the reader hooked
on the story
 Is developed in chronological order
 Has verbs that help paint a picture and draw in the
reader
What Else Does the
Narrative Essay Need?
 It needs everything a story needs (these are
known as the story elements):
 Plot
 Setting
 Characters
 Dialogue
 Conflict
 Climax
“Living on one tough block”
 “Living on one tough block”
 What are some examples from this essay of the
narrative elements we’ve discussed so far?
 Narrative Elements from
Living on one tough block
 Personal experience; Told in first person “I, me, my,
we”
 Very descriptive
 Real characters
 Good use of dialogue to advance the story
 A moral
A Narrative Writing Exercise
Writers
Television shows wouldn’t exist without the writers
who write them. For example, these big names all
have a stable of writers supplying them with
witticisms:
 David Letterman
 Jay Leno
 Stephen Colbert
 Jon Stewart
 Regis and Kelly
 Ophra Winfrey
Your Assignment:
You are a Television Writer and a member of the writing team
for the new drama “Boy from Troy.”

 In writing the story, keep in mind the following:

 Characters
 Conflicts
 Dialogue
 Climax
 Resolution
 Work together as a writing team and put together a
winning narrative essay television pilot.
Robert McKee - Scriptwriter
Robert McKee on writing the Story
“Boy from Troy”
The Plot

As a life long “benchwarmer” for the mighty Troy

Buchanan Trojans, Pete Hacker’s
goal in life is to have just one shot at
becoming a football hero.
The Writers Meeting
 Setting
 What’s the setting of this narrative? Describe it using figurative
language, appealing to the five senses.
 Character
 Besides Pete, what characters are in this story? What are their names?
What are their histories? How do they dress, act, talk? Who’s the
protagonist? Who’s the antagonist?
 Conflict
 What is the conflict here? Whose at odds with who? Where’s the
tension? Man versus man? Man versus himself? Man versus
nature/God? What is Pete’s conflict?
 Dialogue
 How do the characters sound? What do they say? Write some typical
dialogue the protagonist might have with his antagonist
 Climax
 What is the peak of this story? What is Pete’s defining moment? How
does it happen? How is it played out? What is the moral of the
episode? What is the challenge?
 Resolution
The Big Read - Out