Narrative Essay Notes:

Always make a plan!
Think about this—the character who tells a story is called a narrator, right? Sound
familiar?
Narratives tell stories! So, it makes sense that you should look for the following
keywords: Tell about a time when, write about a time when, tell a story, write a story….

Narratives DO NOT follow the standard 5 paragraph rules! A narrative
contains 3 sections.
A. Before—tells what happened before your big moment!
--Always begin your narrative with someone, in a
place, doing something!
--A good idea is to open your story with dialogue (a
character talking)
B. During—contains the “Big Moment”
--use the “second-hole” rule. (your Big Moment should
not happen until after the second hole of your paper)
C. After—make sure you don’t “chop-off” your ending! Leave
adequate time and space to have an actual resolution.

Remember to use Dialogue!
--Speakers’ exact words are always surrounded by quotation marks!
--Commas and periods go INSIDE quotation marks!
--Indent each time the speaker changes!

Limit the time frame that your story covers! Which of the following situations
could yield a more descriptive two-page story? One that covers the next 5 minutes of
my life or the next 5 weeks? The next five minutes of course—you’d be able to add
many more details and descriptions during those two pages without leaving out things
and skipping time gaps! Keep this in mind as you create your story!

Use time transition words to keep your story flowing! Essay graders will look for
time-markers in your paper. Use transitions such as suddenly, after, before, during, at
that moment, seconds later, yesterday, today, etc.

Push your paper’s grade over the edge with colorful vocabulary! Get your 4 !