An Informative Guide on Narrative Essay

A narrative essay is one such kind of essay that you might have written in your school or college level. Writing a narrative essay does not require immense writing talent but you must have a creative mind to share your personal experiences or sensory details in an expressive way to gain the interest of the readers.

These essays are termed as ‘narrative’ because it is written in a way that looks like you are narrating a story. It has probably all the elements of storytelling. To know more about narrative essays, its elements, structure, and other details, go through this post.

What is a Narrative Essay?

Though there is no universal definition of narrative essay because of its all-encompassing and broad genre of writing, yet different universities and academic experts define it in their own way. Narrative essays come with a more creative approach as here the writers need to think and write about their memories, experiences, and events.

A narrative essay is not itself a story, but a mere representation of your story where you can arrange the sequence of events in your own way and provide specific details to influence your readers. 

These essays are commonly being confused with the descriptive essays, but the distinction lies between these pieces of writings. Narrative essays always have a vivid plot, whereas the plot of descriptive essays is quite vague.

Characteristics of Narrative Essays:

A narrative essay possesses all the elements of a story, but its quite different from that of a story writing. Writing a narrative essay is quite dissimilar in comparison to writing a fictional short story.

For a better understanding, we have discussed some essential characteristics of a narrative essay:

• It follows the structure of an essay though possess all the elements of a story
• Usually written in an informal tone, i.e., in the first person
• It is non-fictional writing as it narrates the actual experiences
• Describe an event or a scene in chronological order.
• Written with a purpose to narrate and inform, not open to arguments.

How to Write the Structure of a Narrative Essay?

As per the rules of academic writing, the narrative essay structure, in general, can be written by following a standard essay format of 5 paragraphs. These are as follows

• Introduction (the Exposition): In the narrative essay introduction paragraph, don’t forget to add a hook as it will set the tone for your essay. Then in the remaining part of the introduction, description of the topic and end it with a strong thesis statement.


• Body of the Essay (the Rising Action, Climax, and Falling Action): The body part is one of the most significant sections of the narrative essay. Each paragraph of the body highlights the main idea of the narrative and they are closely connected to one another.
  
  Here you can discuss the settings, characters, events, results, etc, in an interesting way so that it seems appealing to the readers. In addition to this, you can also add some unexpected moments or twist to spice up your essay.


• Conclusion (the Resolution): In the narrative essay conclusion, you can summarize the overall events of an essay. Also, end it by suggesting one final thought to the readers that can be a reflection of your perspective on the essay. 

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A Short Description of the Format of Narrative Essay:

A well-written narrative essay follows the format of Gustav Freytag’s narrative arc pyramid. Thus, the plot should be constructed chronologically by following its five components:

• Exposition: It is the introduction part where you need to provide the background information on the setting and main characters of the plot.
• Rising Action: At this moment, the conflict occurs. From here, the situation progresses towards the main part of the essay. Thus, by going through this part, the readers get an idea of what the essay is all about. 
• Climax: It is the principal event of the essay where emotion is at its highest position. Here the protagonist faces complexity and needs to make a choice.
• Falling Action: It is the moment of conflict resolution, which describes the result of the choice being made by the protagonist in the climax.
• Resolution: It is the conclusion part, where you can share your point of view. Often it also states the moral of the story.

Our team of experts at EduHelpHub makes sure that the essays are written in their respective format, following all its components.

What Sort of Language Should be Used in Narrative Essays?

As narrative essays are all about description of some personal thoughts and experiences, it needs to be expressive so that the readers find interest in it and believe your writing. Thus, in narrative writing, language patterns, the tone of writing, and the potential of drawing images through words matter the most. The sentence structures should be formed such that when the readers go through the lines, they can imagine themselves in the given situation.

Here is how you can draw the attention of the readers through your language and words:

• Try to Use Descriptive Language: It is advised not to repeat the same word in each sentence, instead use synonyms. Also, you can use modifiers in your sentences to describe the events, but don’t use an excess of it. Try to avoid dangling modifiers in your texts.
• Make Use of Sensory Words: Sensory words are basically powerful modifiers with the help of which the readers will be able to feel the events occurring in the narrative essay. Appropriate use of these words works like magic for your writing.
• Try to Use Power Words: Sometimes, a strong verb or noun expresses your feelings in the best way, rather than any vague modifiers. Try to avoid the usage of weak adverbs and passive voice.

In order to influence readability in your narrative essay, try to use both simple and complex sentences. This will also get the readers emotionally involved in the essay. If you don’t know how to write an essay, then it’s better to ask a professional help from us. At EduHelpHub, we have experts who are skilled and knowledgeable enough to use language in the essay that suits the best. They are well aware of using proper tone and sensory words in the essay.

How to Choose Topics for Narrative Essay?

For writing an outstanding narrative essay, it is essential for you to pick a good narrative essay topic. If the topic that you choose is close to your personal experience, then you could relate to it and express it in an astonishing manner. Make sure that the topic should fit your own interest as well as the interest of your audience.

A well-chosen topic for a narrative essay is one about which you rarely find any information on the internet. This is because your narrative essay will then be 100% original and unique. Thus, the readers will find your essay to be appealing as well as interesting. Before writing any topic, it is better if you create a general essay outline, it will help you in overall process of writing.

Here we have also provided some topics for narrative essay to make the process of essay topic choosing easier for you.

• A memorable day of my life
• A friendship breakup that cost me a year of life
• The hardest decision I have ever taken in my life
• A personality who is an inspiration for me
• The most embarrassing moment of my life
• The most life-threatening moment I have experienced
• What if I were a politician
• The movie character I associate myself with
• The only thing that I miss from my childhood
• Most regretful moment of my life
• The best place for an outing with family.

Some Final Considerations Before Writing a Narrative Essay:

Here we are summarizing some of the key points that you should keep in mind while writing a narrative essay.

• These essays are in general written in the first person, but sometimes it can be even written in the third person.
• It completely relies upon sensory details to prove their point and to create a dominant impression on readers.
• The essay should adhere to the standard narrative arc, i.e., it works as a foundation for your narrative essay.
• The formal elements of the narrative should be carefully considered and properly handled.
• It should always be written from an authorial perspective.
• Use specific languages throughout the essay in order to evoke specific emotions in the reader
• Use excellent vocabulary ( words and modifiers) and part of speech
• You can follow some additional resources that are topic-specific. 

Hope that this write-up has provided you with an idea of what a narrative essay is all about and how to come up with one such.

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