- 18 Mar, 2021
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narrative essay
Write a 500-750-word essay using narration as the chief method of development.
Choose one of the following topics:
• Your best or worst day at school
• An act of heroism
• A cherished family story
• An important learning experience
• A fairy tale the way you would like to hear it told
(If you would like to write about a different topic, send me a message describing this
other topic. I must approve the topic before you write about it because some topics
might not be good for this type of essay.)
Guidelines
When choosing a topic to narrate, choose an event that has a plot. In other words,
choose a topic where things actually happened instead of a topic that requires mostly
describing how people were feeling or what people were thinking.
Of course, you may need to discuss feelings or thoughts in the narration, but the
narration should primarily focus on describing events that happened and demonstrating
that these events have a larger meaning.
The purpose of a narrative is to tell a story, and in the telling of the story, to make a
point. In other words, the story should teach something, show that something is true, or
show how something was learned.
When creating a narrative essay:
1. Outline the key events of the story. Stories typically have a beginning, a climax,
and an end.
2. Identify the point of the story. What is being learned by telling the reader this
story?
3. Collect details about characters and events.
4. Choose a narrative strategy that best explains the story. Usually chronological
order works best for a narrative, but you may want to use flashbacks
and/or flashforwards if these help make your point in the story clearer.
5. Introduce characters and settings so the reader gets a clear idea of these things.
Resources
• The Narrative Essay
• The Narrative Essay: What Is the Narrative Essay?
• Interactive Story Mapping