WRITING

NARRATIVE WRITING
 Narrative Writing
 When many people hear
the word “narrative”,
they think of a made-up
story.

 It can be both fiction

and nonfiction.
 Narrative Writing
 Narrative writing is not telling a story.

 The purpose of a narrative essay is to use a story to help

explain and illustrate a thesis statement or main idea.

 Narrative essays present a series of events in order to inform

or entertain the audience.
 Narrative Writing

 Narrative essays will often incorporate the descriptive

mode (describing setting and characters) and the expository
mode (explain, state and describe background information
and ideas).
 Essay Development
1) Know your purpose

The purpose of your narrative should be clear to the reader.

Knowing your purpose will help you select the details, information and
language best suited to meet your readers’ needs.

Are you writing to entertain or to inform?

 Essay Development
2) Establish the context

Establish the context early in the essay. Follow these basic guidelines:

Who, What, Where, When

 Essay Development
3) Present a clear thesis statement

 To ensure that readers understand their purpose, many

writers first state a thesis statement followed by a narrative
that supports it.

 Sometimes, writers begin with their narrative and use their

concluding paragraph to state or sum up the point or
“lesson” of their story.
 Essay Development
4) Follow a logical time sequence

 Chronological order.

 Include flashback technique - which takes the readers back in time to

reveal an event that occurred before the present scene of the essay.

 Use correct tenses/ transitional phrases to signal the shifts in time/events to

avoid confusion.
 Essay Development
5) Write from the first person or third person point of view

 Most narrative essays are written in the first person (I) but they can also be
written in the third person (he, she, it).
 If you were part of the action, writing in the first person provides the best
perspective.
 If you are relating an event based on information from other sources, write in the
third person.
 Decide on the point of view and be CONSISTENT.
 Essay Development
6) Include the conventions for narratives
 Narratives should include: a plot, including setting and
characters; a climax; and an ending.

7) Create authentic characters.

 readers should be able to visualize the characters

(appearance, speech, actions)

 Essay Development

8) Use sensory details

 Include enough details for clarity.

 For example, if the setting plays an important role in your story, describe it in
concrete, vivid and specific terms so that your readers can imagine the scene
easily.

 Appeal to the readers’ 5 senses when describing the scene or characters in

your narrative essay.
 Essay Development
9) Use dialogues realistically.

 dialogues create emphasis and drama.

 By presenting conversations, writers show rather than tell, often creating

emphasis or a more dramatic effect.

 creates a feeling of closeness between reader and characters.

 Essay Development
10) Use figurative language

figurative language (simile, metaphors, imagery,

personification, hyperbole etc. ) is a common element in
narrative writing.
 Brainstorming

1) What are the important/ memorable events in my life?

2) What are the experiences that I would enjoy writing about?
3) Is there an event in life that other people would enjoy
reading about?
4) How do I feel about a particular event/ experience?
5) What effect(s) did a particular event/ experience have on
me?
6) Did anything change after a particular event/ experience?
 Drafting
Some angles to consider when describing an event or experience:

a) Setting
Where did it occur?
What did it look like?
What was the weather like?
Was there anything out of the ordinary about the setting?
 Drafting

b) Characters

Who was involved?

What are their relationships with you?
What do they look like?
Do they have any distinct/ special characteristics?
Was there any interesting or important dialogue?
 Drafting
c) Emotions/ Feelings

What are your/ the characters emotional responses to the

event?
What are the physical reactions?
Describe the changes in your/ the characters’ emotions and
feelings.
 Organising
 Narrative essays should begin with an introductory paragraph, which will set
up the background of the event, followed by THREE body paragraphs.

 Focus on describing and explaining ONE point throughout the essay.

 End the essay with a strong and memorable concluding paragraph.

 Organising

 The concluding paragraph can have two functions:

a) It can deliver the moral of the story, or tell the reader what the characters or you
learned from the experience.

b) It can make a prediction or a revelation about future actions that will happen
as a result of the events in the story.
 Guidelines
 Involve readers in the story by using concrete details and
descriptions
 It is much more interesting to actually recreate an incident for
readers than to simply tell about it.
 Although the main component of a narrative is the story, details
must be carefully selected to support, explain, and enhance the
story.

 Transitions will help signal the end of action in one paragraph, and
provide a link to the action of the next paragraph. They give your
story unity and allow the reader to follow the action easily.

 It’s not necessary to include all the details in your narration – only
include important details that moves your story forward.
 Problems to Avoid
1) Creating hypothetical stories.

Narratives should be written based on personal experience.

It is difficult to write about something you’ve never seen or

done or read about.

Example: You probably could not write a realistic account of

Christmas in Ne York unless you’d seen one or at least studied
the subject in great detail.
 Problems to Avoid
2) Selecting events or stories that would be too long or complex

 When you wish to use a narrative to illustrate a thesis statement,

do not select an event or series of actions whose retelling will be
too long or complex for your assignment.

 Select one episode that best explains the thesis statement

 Problems to Avoid

3) Lose focus/ lengthy and unnecessary explanation

 At some time you’ve probably listened to a storyteller who

became stuck on some insignificant details

 Do not get stuck, lost, or include too many unnecessary details

that may complicate the reading pace and general understanding
of the story.
 Problems to Avoid
 Dismiss all unessential information and focus your attention- and use of
detail- on the important events, people, and places.

 Skip the uneventful periods of time by using phrases such as:

“A week went by before Mr. Smith called…”
“Later that evening, Tara came over…”
 Problems to Avoid
 In short, keep the story moving quickly enough to hold the
readers’ attention and interest.

 Use transitional devices to move the readers from one action

to another; do not rely continuously on the “and then…and
then…” method.
 Example
 The introduction would introduce the author, the situation (a visit to KFC),
and the thesis:

I will never eat at KFC again.

 The thesis would be followed by a plan of development, listing the reasons

why the author does not want to go to KFC:
Too busy
Bad service
Bad food
 Example
 Since this is a narrative essay, and narratives are usually organized by time,
the three points should be arranged in chronological order, from the
beginning of the author’s visit to the restaurant to the end.
 Example – Body Paragraph 1
 Too busy:

I would describe going to the restaurant, seeing lines outside the door, having
to wait for 45 minutes for a table. I would try to describe as many
interesting or unusual things that happened as I could, in order to make the
story more interesting.
 Example – Body Paragraph 2
 Bad service:

I would then go on about the waitress spilling drinks on me, mixing up our
orders, insulting us, and so on. This paragraph, like the first, would be
centered around a topic sentence, and this topic sentence would connect the
point of this paragraph (bad service) to the paper’s thesis (I will never go
back to this restaurant).
 Example – Body Paragraph 3
 Bad food:

I would tell yet another part of the story, this one focusing on
the food itself (hair in it, undercooked, disgusting). I would
connect the topic sentence for this paragraph with the
essay’s thesis statement.
Example – Concluding Paragraph
 I would conclude the essay by concluding my story: leaving
the restaurant, convinced that I should never again return. I
would also restate the supporting points I used to make this
decision, thereby reinforcing the overall point of my paper.
 Example – Narrative Paragraph
“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.”  

(Excerpt taken from, http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=26156)

 Acknowledgement
The content for this lesson, have been taken (wholly/partly), and
adapted from

Wyrick, J. (2008). Steps to Writing Well with additional readings.

(7th ed.). New York: Thomson, Wadsworth

http://essayinfo.com/essays/narrative_essay.php

Thank you
 Exercise
 Use one of the following topics to suggest an essay that is developed by
narration. Remember that each essay must have a clear purpose.

 An unforgettable childhood experience.

 The day everything went wrong (or right).
 An event that led to an important decision.
 Your worst accident or brush with danger.
 A gain or lost of something or someone important.
 A habit that got you into (or out of) trouble.