The Narrative Essay
As this unit progresses, you are working towards the goal of writing your own personal narrative
essay.
How will you do this?
To write a narrative essay, you need to think about a moment worth sharing and to think
about finding the significant, salient point in that moment. To do this, we should think
about the new insights or awareness we gained for ourselves (insights that might be
relevant to others as well). Finally, writers incorporate details which will make the incident real
for readers.
Conventions of Narratives
When writing a narrative essay, remember that narratives (like all genres) have predictable
patterns.
1. Narratives are usually written from perspective of the writer him/herself (the first
person singular, i.e., I). However, writers do use third person pronouns (he, she, or
it) occasionally. Which "grammatical person" (as this is called technically) you use
most often is a function of whose perspective is being captured in the narrative. If it's
your story, use I; if it's a story about what happened to a friend or group of friends
(including yourself), use she or he or we, as appropriate. That's logical and simple.
However, most importantly, be consistent. If you begin your narrative in the first
person singular, say, use that throughout. In other words, don't switch your point of
view mid-essay.
2. Since narrative essays include a story, the essay should use the conventions found in
any story: a plot (telling your readers what is happening), with explanation of the
setting and the characters; a climax (telling your readers the important realization,
the peak experience related to your thesis); and an ending (explaining how the
incident resolved itself, also alluding to how the narrative's thesis comes to its full
realization).
3. Speaking of plot, remember that most stories follow a simple time line in laying out
the narrative. Chronological order is the rule. So feel free to break that rule, when
appropriate, if you can think of a way use a different time order to enhance your
story. For example, flashbacks are a wonderful device to merge the present and the
past all at once.
4. Speaking of characters, it is often true that the most memorable characters are those
who have flaws. So feel to use stories that reveal human weakness as well. Even
your weaknesses.
5. Narratives depend upon concrete, specific details to support their theses. These
details need to create a unified, dominant impression.
Principles of Narratives
Telling a story and writing a narrative essay are not the same thing at all.
1. Build your essay around a central point, a main idea that your story then supports
and explains. This is crucial, and perhaps the defining characteristic between a
narrative-as-story and a narrative-as-essay. This main idea will be the thesis of your
essay, will say something that the story itself then illuminates and shows to be true.
This generalization can be quite personal; it does not have to capture a truth
about humanity as a whole or about the essence of the human condition. It
simply needs to capture a truth about your life and use the story, the narrative
experience, to illustrate its importance to you. In this way, it then has meaning to the
readers as well.
Remember that ultimately you are writing an essay, not simply telling a story.
2. Remember to incorporate details of your story that not only illuminate your thesis,
but also engage your readers' imaginations and make the story "real" for them as
well.