When writing a narrative essay, one might think of it as telling a story.

These essays are often anecdotal,

experiential, and personal—allowing students to express themselves in a creative and, quite often,
moving ways. Here are some guidelines for writing a narrative essay

If written as a story, the essay should include all the parts of a story. This means that you must include
an introduction, plot, characters, setting, climax, and conclusion.

When would a narrative essay not be written as a story?

A good example of this is when an instructor asks a student to write a book report. Obviously, this would
not necessarily follow the pattern of a story and would focus on providing an informative narrative for
the reader.

The essay should have a purpose.

Make a point! Think of this as the thesis of your story. If there is no point to what you are narrating, why
narrate it at all?

The essay should be written from a clear point of view.

It is quite common for narrative essays to be written from the standpoint of the author; however, this is
not the sole perspective to be considered. Creativity in narrative essays oftentimes manifests itself in the
form of authorial perspective.

Use clear and concise language throughout the essay.

Much like the descriptive essay, narrative essays are effective when the language is carefully,
particularly, and artfully chosen. Use specific language to evoke specific emotions and senses in the
reader.

The use of the first person pronoun ‘I’ is welcomed.

Do not abuse this guideline! Though it is welcomed it is not necessary—nor should it be overused for
lack of clearer diction.

As always, be organized!
Have a clear introduction that sets the tone for the remainder of the essay. Do not leave the reader
guessing about the purpose of your narrative. Remember, you are in control of the essay, so guide it
where you desire (just make sure your audience can follow your lead).

1) Setting : the location where the action in a story happens.

2) Theme: the basic idea of the story. Very often the theme will deal with a topic that is common in life
or human nature, such as greed, envy, love, independence, and so on.

3) Mode: the feeling or atmosphere that the writer creates for the story. It could be happy, hopeful,
suspenseful, or scary. Both the setting and descriptive vocabulary create the mood in a narrative.

4) Characters: the people in the story. They are affected by the mood, and they react to the events in
which they are involved.

5) Plot: what happens in the story, that is, the sequence of events. The plot often includes a climax or
turning point at which the characters or events change.

An effective narrative essay includes these elements:

a thesis that sets up the action in the introduction

transition sentences that connect events and help the reader to follow the story

a conclusion that ends the story action and provide a moral, prediction, or revelation

The Introduction: The introduction is the paragraph that begins your story. This is where you describe
the setting, introduce the characters, and prepare the reader for the action to come. Of course, the
introduction should have a hook and a thesis.  The Narrative Hook: Usually the first sentence or two-
that grabs readers’ attention. Hooks are especially important in narrative essays because they help “ set
the stage” for the story. The hook makes readers start guessing about what will happen next.

The thesis: Usually the thesis states the main idea of the essay and tells what the organization of the
information will be. However, in a narrative essay the thesis introduces the action that begins in the first
paragraph of the essay.

The Body: The body of your narrative essay contains most of the plot- the supporting information. The
action in the plot can be organized in many ways.

The conclusion: Like academic essays, narrative essays need to have concluding ideas. In the concluding
paragraph, you finish describing the action in the essay. The final sentence can have two functions:

1) It can deliver the moral for the story, or tell the reader what the characters learned from the
experience.

2) It can make a prediction or a revelation ( disclosure of something that was not known before) about
future actions that will happen as a result of the events in the story.
Effective narrative essays ( writer’s note) There are three elements in an effective narrative essay:

1. A thesis that sets up the action in the introduction

2. Transition sentences that connect events and help the reader follow the story.

3. A conclusion that ends the story action and provides a moral or revelation.

Example #1: New Directions (by Maya Angelou)

“Annie, over six feet tall, big-boned, decided that she would not go to work as a domestic and leave her
“precious babes” to anyone else’s care. There was no possibility of being hired at the town’s cotton gin
or lumber mill, but maybe there was a way to make the two factories work for her. In her words, “I
looked up the road I was going and back the way I come, and since I wasn’t satisfied, I decided to step
off the road and cut me a new path.” She told herself that she wasn’t a fancy cook but that she could
“mix groceries well enough to scare hungry away and keep from starving a man.”

This paragraph is an example from a narrative essay of Maya Angelou. She has described how a girl
looks, and how she behaves. She has also written direct dialogues to show that it is a narrative.