How to Write a Narrative Essay?

A narrative essay is detail-oriented writing that tells a personal or inspiratory story. Narrative essays receive much attention among readers. Almost everyone likes stories.

Writing a winning narrative essay could keep one awake all night—writing a lot of things on different sheets of papers, and throwing them into the trash bin in their turns. 

Many students and professional journalists hit the wall when it comes to writing a compelling narrative essay or story. However, writing a narrative essay is a simple task that can be learned like any other skill with constant practice. 

This article will give you a comprehensive guide on how to master the storytelling art of writing a narrative essay. Let’s get started!

1. Review Any Related Guideline

The need to write a narrative essay usually arises for different reasons. It could be part of college coursework, an entry for an essay competition, or directly online, magazine or newspaper article.

In any case, there could be rules governing how you write, format, and submit your narrative essay, and these rules vary from place to place, and from purpose to purpose. 

You must check out if governments are guiding how you write your narrative essay, and keep to it.

Read More: Tips for Writing College Essay Introduction

2. Get Familiar with Narrative Essays

The cliché, “Unfamiliarity breeds struggle,” is true with trying to write a narrative essay. Many people struggle with writing a narrative essay because they have never read one, or when they did, they never knew it was one.

 Those who read a lot of stories write better narrative essays, and with more ease than those who don’t. Therefore, pick and read a few narrative essays or storybooks before you begin to write your narrative essay.

Read More: How to Write an Effective Essay Introduction Paragraph?

3. Choose a Topic You Are Passionate About

Choosing the wrong topic is one of the main reasons why many persons struggle with writing an excellent narrative essay. 

A narrative essay is often a personal experience or a particular inspiration. Many people confuse narrative essays and descriptive essays because they look alike. However, they differ markedly. A narrative essay is born out of one’s personal experience or thought. 

Read More: How to Write an Essay about Yourself?

The best narrative essays are written out of passion—the writer’s enthusiasm for the topic. Choose an item that you are excited about. You should be highly enthusiastic about the topic of your narrative essay.

It is better and more comfortable to write a narrative essay about an experience you excitedly talk about than an experience you rarely want to remember. 

Choose a topic that will awaken your vibrancy, memories, and enthusiasm for your narrative essay.

4. Write Chronological Draft of Your Story

Nobody gets it all right at first. This is the basic principle behind writing a draft, and sometimes many selections, before writing your first essay. It is important to note that the blueprint for a narrative essay is quite different from other pieces. 

A narrative essay is a story. Therefore, a draft for a narrative essay should be chronological. To do this, you need to spend some time to gather your thoughts and memories together and write them on paper. 

Read More: What Is A Thesis In An Essay?

The next thing to do is to arrange everything in the order in which they happened. This will give you a good writing plot when you start writing your first essay.

5. Write Your Story

Writing your narrative story is the main thing you have been looking forward to. There are a few things to keep in mind when writing your narrative essay.

• Stick to Your Story Plot: Your story plot should be a manageable one, and this depends on the topic of your essay. It is advisable to pick a story and frame a subject that will help your writing go in the direction of a funnel—from a wide opening to a narrow ending and conclusion.
• Use The First Pronoun “I”: As much as possible, ensure that your writing is highly personalized. You can use other pronouns when the need arises. However, ensure that in any sentence where you will appear, you begin with yourself. 

For example, instead of using this sentence: we travelled to London, it is better to use: Paul and I went to London. Use Vibrant Details: It is crucial to recollect that a narrative essay is a personalized descriptive essay. A narrative essay is supposed to bring the reader into the scene of events. Therefore, use vibrant and engaging details of the main events in your story.

Read More: How to Write an Argumentative Essay?

Describe the setting, and the characters involved, and give the reader a clear picture of what happened on that day.

 For example: “My grandmother stood at the door, and screamed my name. She was wearing a blue kitchen apron, and she held an ancient whip. Her face was terrifying, and I was already shivering in panic at the tone of her cracked voice.” As much as possible, describe the setting and the character involved in your story. 

• Make Your Essay Evidence-based: Don’t fall into the temptation of trying to convince your readers with fictional facts. They will blur the originality of your essay. Don’t oversell anything. Keep every sentence clear and short.

6. Edit and Proofread Your Essay

Proofreading and editing your essay is very important. It will help you compare your essay with your chronological draft, and identify missing events or characters. It also helps you to highlight both typo and grammatical errors in your text.

It is recommended that you do this many hours after writing your essay, and where you have more time; you can do this the next day. This allows you to see more, reason more, and make better tweaks to your overall writing. 

Read More: How Long Should A College Essay Be?

7. Use a “Third Person” Review

It is essential to expose your essay before a closed group of peer reviewers before you make your submission. These persons could be a friend, classmate, or even your professors. They are likely to give you objective feedback and insight on what you should be expecting from your real readers. 

Writing a narrative essay isn’t something you can’t do. Remember, practice makes perfect.