Definition of a Narrative Essay
By definition, a narrative essay is a story based on personal experiences. It is a story that you write about what happened to you or what you encountered. Writing this type of essay gives you a chance to write and think about yourself. Writing this type of paper entails telling a story, only that you are telling it from a defined point of view. To get the reader to be involved in the elements and sequences of the story being narrated, there are feelings as well as specific sensory details that are provided. You ought to have a defined narrative essay outline to achieve this.
With verbs being precise and vivid, the narrative essay makes a point that is often defined in the opening sentence but can alternatively be located in the last sentence of the opening paragraph. While writing a narrative, the writer must ensure that all the aspects of story-telling are included: the plot, setting, characters, the climax, and an ending. Details should be carefully selected to explain, support, and make the story beautiful.
Forms of Narrative Essays
- Descriptive Narrative Essay
Writing this essay gives you the opportunity of exploring the depths of your creativity. Descriptive narratives are aimed at vividly describing different experiences, situations, and memories. The vivid description only serves to embellish your essay as well as capture the reader’s attention.
To simplify complicated scenarios and for better understanding, a descriptive narrative essay has to be direct. A good writer should avoid exaggerating events and go with the natural flow.
- Autobiographical Narrative Essays
The autobiographical narrative is a story about self. Usually, the character is an important person or event in the writer’s childhood. This narrative essay involves narrating the memorable events that took place in one’s life (This should not be confused with an autobiography).
For one to come up with a good and compelling autobiographical narrative essay, emphasis must be put on the primary purpose rather than the details. Just like any other essay, begin with an outline.
How to write a Narrative Essay Outline
Like any other typical essay, the narrative comprises of the following parts:
- The introduction
- A thesis statement
- Body
- Conclusion
The Introduction of Narrative Essay Outline
This is the ‘face of the narrative.’ It is what the reader first sees and has to be as captivating as possible. Unfortunately, many students don’t understand how critical a good introduction is, and in the end, it costs them grades. An introduction is written to introduce the reader to the topic of discussion and to explain the relevance of your topic to the relevant field of study. The significance of the problem, methodology, the research, and the importance of the issue are all portrayed in this introduction.
However, the principal role of the introduction is to attract the reader’s attention to your work, and this should not be forgotten. Try as much as possible to make the reader see things from your point of view. This will not only advance the quality of your narrative essay but also makes you sound authentic.
An introduction should have the following aspects:
- The hook-This is what the reader will set sight on first on your narrative. The hook should have a personal appeal that should make the reader feel they are being addressed, individually. If the hook is dull, then there’s a possibility that the readers won’t be stimulated intellectually, and end up not reading the whole essay.
- The setting should give the reader some background on the subject. It also makes the reader contextualize the issue and visualize the starting point as well as the narrative’s bearing.
- A clear description of the topic
- The topic’s significance
Narrative Essay Outline Thesis
The thesis statement comes right after. Having written the hook of your narrative essay, mention the goal or the reason why you are writing the narrative. You could either be trying to justify a sequence of events or proving a point; your thesis should sum up what you have learned concerning the subject under discussion. In other words, the thesis is the main argument in the narrative.
Narrative Essay Outline Body
Having introduced your essay, what follows is the body. This is the key part of the essay where the most important and informative aspect of your essay lies. The characters of your essay are also introduced and contribute to the plot of the story. After analyzing the topic, this is the point where you get to inform the reader everything you’ve got regarding that topic. If you conducted your research on a specific matter or issue, present your arguments and counterarguments in a logical manner. Building up from the less important details and arguments, up to the most important details and facts. You should be in a position to gradually persuade the reader to side with you as you proceed
Every new idea must be started and built up in a new paragraph. This makes it easier to read and understand your narrative.
A good body should be divided into three paragraphs, depending on the length of the story you want to tell.
Essentially, the body of the essay should try to answer the following questions:
- Who is involved in the story?
- How did the events unfold?
- Why did things happen as they did?
- What are the objectives, views or opposing views of what happened?
Employ literary techniques such as suspense and foreshadowing to describe the events in your story. Also, make use of all the descriptive adjectives you can, and to break the monotony, use humor. Remember to make your narrative as enjoyable as possible. This is an essay, a personal narration of events, and not a research paper.
Remember, while writing your paragraphs, using a vivid and sequential flow of events is what will make it appealing to the readers.
The conclusion
This comes last in every essay. Whatever was being discussed in the main body gets to be summarized here. Always finish your essay strong, and this will be tested in the conclusion of the essay. The concluding part is as important as the introduction and the body, and you should end your narrative with a powerful conclusion. You should precisely be in a position to present the arguments in the entire essay in brief, precisely in a single paragraph.
By the end of the conclusion, the following issues should have been addressed:
- Re-state your thesis statement
- The lessons learned should be mentioned
- Viable call to action
- How to do it
Finally…
Narrative essays should not be mistaken for regular short stories, as they help you get some points across by telling a story. By following this outline, you should be in a position to write a high-quality narrative essay. All you need to do is start practicing today.
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