ad Narration means you're telling a story from a certain viewpoint, and there is

usually a reason for the telling. All narrative essays have characters, setting, a
climax, and most importantly, a plot.

The plot is the focus of the story and is usually revealed chronologically, but
there are sometimes flash-forwards and flashbacks. If you're looking to write a
personal narrative essay, here are some tips to get you started.

When writing a narrative essay, remember to:

Include sensory and emotional details, so the reader will experience the story, not
just read about it.

Allow the story to support the point you're making, and make reference to that
point in the first sentence.

Write in the first or third person.

Examples of Narrative Essays

Ready for a little storytelling? Here are four excerpts to light your creative
fire.

"Looking back on a childhood filled with events and memories, I find it rather
difficult to pick one 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 Grand Canyon and have jumped on the beds at
Caesar's Palace in Lake Tahoe."

"The day I picked my dog up from the pound was one of the happiest days of both of
our lives. I had gone to the pound just a week earlier with the idea that I would
just "look" at a puppy. Of course, you can no more just look at those squiggling
little faces so filled with hope and joy than you can stop the sun from setting in
the evening. I knew within minutes of walking in the door that I would get a puppy�
but it wasn't until I saw him that I knew I had found my puppy."

"Looking for houses was supposed to be a fun and exciting process. Unfortunately,
none of the ones that we saw seemed to match the specifications that we had
established. They were too small, too impersonal, too close to the neighbors. After
days of finding nothing even close, we began to wonder: was there really a perfect
house out there for us?"

The following is an example of a famous narrative written by John Updike, Hub Fans
Bid Kid Adieu.

"The afternoon grew so glowering that in the sixth inning the arc lights were
turned on--always a wan sight in the daytime, like the burning headlights of a
funeral procession. Aided by the gloom, Fisher was slicing through the Sox rookies,
and Williams did not come to bat in the seventh. He was second up in the eighth.
This was almost certainly his last time to come to the plate in Fenway Park, and
instead of merely cheering, as we had at his three previous appearances, we stood,
all of us, and applauded."

Descriptive Essays
Descriptive essays describe the traits and characteristics of people, objects,
events, and feelings in intricate detail. What's being described will be thoroughly
examined. For example, if you were describing roses, you might want to detail:

Their origin
Their appearance

Their color

Their fragrance

When you write a descriptive essay, you want to involve the reader's senses and
emotions. For example, you could say, "I got sleepy." Or, you could write, "While I
waited for Santa, my eyelids grew heavy, the lights on the tree began to blur, and
my head began to droop." The second excerpt provides vivid detail, allowing readers
to feel like they're there.

Examples of Descriptive Essays

Ready to dive into the details? Here are three excerpts rife with detail.

"Like his twisted feathers, his many scars, the reliable old owl chose the gnarled,
weather-beaten, but solid branch often - it being a companion to the wise alone
with the night and the last branch to creak in the heaviest wind. He often came to
survey the fields and the clouds before his hunt, to listen to the steady sound of
the stream passing through reeds under the bridge, while combing his feathers for
the unwanteds - whatever they might be."

A student at Roane State Community College managed to spice up a first visit to