Guide on How to Write a Narrative Essay

Updated: June 19, 2023
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When it comes to writing a narrative essay, you need to know exactly what you want to write about. Writing a narrative essay involves a lot, and you need to make sure you have impeccable writing skills to pull off a good paper. Just like any other essay, you need to be aware of the format to use for this essay to make sure you are on the right track. You need to be certain of the story you are writing about and have clear facts of what exactly you are writing to help the reader picture everything you are writing in their mind.

What is a Narrative Essay?

A narrative essay definition varies in different schools. What this type of essay is all about is that its objective is to tell a story and allows you to share an experience in a more inspirational way.

The good thing about such papers is that they attract readers since people enjoy reading a good story. You need to make sure your story has a good structure, it should also be compelling, and intrigue the reader to get them hooked till the end.

Narratives are special, and you don’t need to use complex language. You just need to make sure the story flows smoothly and efficiently for the reader.

How to Start a Narrative Essay

Foremost, to start such an essay, you must be aware of the topic you want to write about. Consider the topic before you begin, and have a draft of the whole idea for your essay. Planning out well for your essay will save you time and effort as you start, as you won’t have to strain not knowing what to write about. Planning is always the key to making sure you craft an outstanding paper. The beginning is always the most important thing, and having the right plan will help you deliver an exceptional paper that may land you good points.

Essential Tips for Writing a Narrative Essay

When looking to write a narrative essay, it can be difficult trying to figure out how to approach the whole process. Here, we’ll share some narrative essay tips to help you out while in the process.

  • Provide clarity – Two things to avoid and make sure your essay has clarity are syntax and complex words. Distribute ideas in your sentences and paragraphs very clearly to help the reader understand more.
  • Avoid giving too much detail – When writing makes sure you avoid describing everything in the story.
  • If you are writing about something you experienced, make the reader feel it.
  • Make sure you avoid using passive sentence construction and try to be as simple as possible.
  • Make sure you limit the number of references.

Read more: 75 Narrative Essay Topic Ideas


How to Structure a Narrative Essay

There are various ways you can structure your narrative essay. It all depends on what you are writing about. Writing about your personal experience will make you write the essay differently, you wouldn’t if you were writing on another subject. The structure will solely depend on the instructions your tutor gave you. Whatever the case, you just need to make sure you stay on point, keep your readers intrigued and write smoothly.

How to End a Narrative Essay

The end of every essay is very important. This is where you finalize everything you’ve been talking about in your whole paper, and now you won’t have that “killer” section that will leave your readers either happy or curious for some more information. Whatever the case, you need to ensure that your ending is not boring and that it actually resonates with everything you’ve presented in your whole essay. This will help make your paper stand out and rewarded with good marks. There’s literally no other way to emphasize this. We’ll talk more about the ending later on.

Narrative Essay Outline

An essay outline is essential to make sure you know what you are doing. An outline is like a plan for the whole work.

Planning is important in everything that you do, and in this case, having an outline not only helps to make things easier but also knows the way forward once you start writing your essay.

An outline is highly recommended if you want to turn in a paper that showcases the skill and prowess of a good writer. This doesn’t mean that writing skills are not much needed, but it just shows that you had everything planned out before you began the whole work. So, have an essay outline.

Narrative Essay Structure

The structure of an essay is very important. Every type of essay has its specific structure which you need to follow to make sure it adheres to the rules. There are five basic elements of a narrative essay structure. They include the setting, the plot, and the theme. To make up the five elements, the plot must have an exposition which is the beginning, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and finally the resolution. These are the fundamental elements that make up a good narrative essay structure.

Narrative Essay Introduction

A good introduction needs to be well-thought-out. The introduction section is the dealbreaker of your story. It is the section that determines whether a reader will stay hooked on the story until the end, or if they will get bored and stop reading the story. Therefore, you need to make sure it stands out. It is intriguing and captures a bit of what you’re planning to talk about in your essay. Make your introduction as interesting as possible to arouse the curiosity of the reader.

Narrative Essay Body

The body of a narrative essay is very important, as it makes up almost 80% of the entire essay. Therefore, you need to make sure every detail you include in your body is relevant and essential. Every sentence you write in the body should add value and have a strong meaning to what the whole story is about. Also, your paragraphs need to be excellent and well arranged. Keep your work as neat as possible to make it look more appealing in the eyes of the reader.

Narrative Essay Conclusion

A narrative is also very important. As we mentioned earlier, how you end your essay is crucial, as it determines whether you will have satisfied your readers’ curiosity or not. Your conclusion must be brief and to the point. This is not a section to come up with new points. It should touch on every main point you’ve stated in your essay and echo the introduction.

Are you looking for assistance in writing a good narrative essay? We’ve got you covered. We have expert academic essay writers who have years of writing experience, and they have an excellent track record of producing only quality work. As you can see through our narrative essay examples and guidelines, we know what is needed in such an essay, and we are very much ready to help you out.

George Lynch
George Lynch
Literature, Psychology, Religion
Experience: 3+ years
I’ve been enjoying academic writing since day one in college. Today, having a full-time job, I’m still looking forward to writing essays and research papers online for others.
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