The Narrative Essay:

What is a Narrative Essay?

• A narrative is a story
• A narrative essay is a story that has a
specific point
– A narrative essay is aimed to teach a lesson
or
– A narrative essay is aimed to make a specific
point
– A narrative essay is not a diary entry – the
story is linked to the purpose of the essay
What Should Be Included in a
Narrative Essay?
• Often written in 1st person – I or we – because it
is based on a personal story
• Can also be written in 3rd person
• Can never be written in 2nd person
• Has specific sensory details to get the reader
hooked on the story
• Is developed in chronological order
• Has verbs that help paint a picture and draw in
the reader
What Else Does the Narrative
Essay Need?
• Since this is a story, the narrative essay
needs everything a story needs (these are
known as the story elements):
– Has a plot
– Has characters
– Has a problem
– Has a climax
– Often uses dialogue
Planning the Narrative Essay
• Write a thesis statement, just as with any other
essay
• Brainstorm for a personal story or observation
that illustrates or proves the thesis statement
• Outline or web the important parts of the story to
be told
• Write an introductory paragraph that includes
the thesis statement, and then write the story
• Because this is a story, use as many
paragraphs as necessary to tell the story
• Write the conclusion that reflects on the thesis
statement
INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH
An introductory paragraph has three jobs:
To hook the reader
To provide a setting and introduce the
characters
What is the basic idea of the story?
Where is the story taking place?
When is the story taking place?
Who is in the story?
To give a purpose to the essay
INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH
Another way to look at an introductory paragraph:

Hook

Who
What
When
Where

Thesis (the purpose of your essay)

 WHAT IS YOUR HOOK?

The hook is the FIRST sentence of the introductory paragraph.

The purpose of a hook:

To pull the reader
Grab the reader’s curiosity

Your hook should transition smoothly into the rest of your

introductory paragraph.
 WHAT IS A THESIS?

Your thesis does the same job as the topic sentence in a narrative
paragraph.
It has a main idea and a claim.

It is the PURPOSE of your essay. If you don’t have a thesis, you

don’t have a purpose and your essay will be very confusing for the
reader.

Your entire essay will develop to support your thesis.

Your thesis is ONLY ONE sentence.
Your thesis is the LAST sentence of your introductory
paragraph.
 THE BODY PARAGRAPHS
The body paragraphs look similar to the body of a narrative
paragraph. They develop the story.

Climax: the event

Rising Action:
leading up the
event Falling Action:
what happens
afterwards

The story is told in chronological order.

 THINKING ABOUT
TRANSITIONS
Transitions will help signal the end of one paragraph and the
beginning of the next.

They provide a link between ideas and paragraphs.

They will give your essay a feeling of unity and allow the reader to
follow the story easily.
COMMON TIME TRANSITIONS

Before Second Later Meanwhile

After Then At last Since
During Finally Last Now
First While Eventually Soon

Remember to use a comma after a transition.

 CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH

The concluding paragraph has the same function in a narrative

essay as in a narrative paragraph. It must synthesize your main
idea and claim as well as provide your reflection.

It can:

Make a prediction or revelation about future actions that will

happen as a result of the story

It can challenge the reader’s thoughts and beliefs about the
main idea

It can tell what the writer has learned from her experiences.
CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH
Another way to look at the concluding paragraph:

Synthesizing the main idea

and claim

Reflecting on your
event

Finishing Sentence
“Clincher Sentence”
___ The roar of racecar engines ripped through
the blazing heat of the day.
___ It was freezing on that sad December day.
___ After my brother’s accident, I sat alone in
the hospital waiting room.
___ My friend and I shouldn’t have been
walking home alone so late on that dark
winter night.
___ Whales are by far the largest marine
mammals.
 ___ She gave her friend a birthday gift.
___ The gleaming snow lay over the
treacherous mountain like a soft white
blanket, making the terrain seem safe
instead of deadly.
___ The Russian dictionary that we use in our
language class has 500 pages.
___ Sandra never expected to hear the deadly
sound of a rattlesnake in her kitchen garden.
___ A shot rang out in the silence of the night.
 1) The Introduction
The Thesis
＊ It introduces the action that begins in the first
paragraph of the essay.

e.g. a.) I wanted my mother to watch me race down the

steep hill, so I called out her name and then nudged
my bike forward.

b.) Because his pride wouldn’t allow him to apologize,

Ken now had to fight the bully, and he was pretty sure
that he wouldn’t win.
 2) The Body
This part contains most of the plot – the
supporting information.

The action in the plot can be organized in

many different ways. One way is
chronological, or time, order.
 2) The Body
Transitional Sentences
In a chronological organization, each
paragraph ends with a transitional sentence

Transitional sentences have two purposes:

a.) to signal the end of action in one
paragraph;
b.) to provide a link to the action of the next
paragraph.
 3) The Conclusion
In the concluding paragraph, you finish
describing the action in the essay.
The final sentence can have 2 functions:
a.) It can deliver the moral for the story, or tell the
reader what the character(s) learned from the
experience.
b.) It can make a prediction or a revelation
(disclosure of something that was not known
before) about future actions that will happen as
a result of the events in the story.
 3) The Conclusion
Look at these examples:
Moral:
The little boy had finally learned that telling
the truth was the most important thing to
do.
Prediction/Revelation:
Every Christmas Eve, my wife and I return
to that magical spot and remember the
selfless act that saved our lives.
Start With a Thesis Statement
• The thesis will depend upon the story to
be proven.
• The thesis can be something general in
the case of a narrative essay. For
example, you may write, “Oftentimes
people do not follow simple directions.
However, these campers learned just how
important following directions can be.”
What Would You Expect From This
Thesis?
• As the reader, you will expect to learn why
following directions is important.
• As the reader, you will expect to read a
story about camping.
• As the reader, you will expect there to be a
twist in the action.
Outline the Parts of the Story and
Write Out the Story
An Informal Outline of the Story:
• Two campers go camping and ignore rules
• They leave out food
• An animal finds the food
• One of the campers tries to scare off the
animal
• Campers learn to follow the rules
Let’s Read the Essay – The
Introduction
It was a wonderful week to camp in the great
outdoors, even if some of their friends thought it
was a strange way to honeymoon. Trudy and
Jeff were looking forward to their week at Great
Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee.
Little did they know what a learning experience
this trip would be. Oftentimes people do not
follow simple directions. However, these
campers learned just how important following
directions can be.
Setting the Scene of the Story
After a scenic drive through the glorious
mountains, Trudy and Jeff arrived at the
camping area. A ranger at the booth handed
them a map and asked, “Have you ever camped
with us before?”
“A better question would be if we ever
camped before,” Jerry answered wryly.
“You’ll be fine. Just remember, this isn’t a
hotel. We do have bears and other animals in
the area, so lock your food up in the car,” said
the ranger as he handed them a lists of Do’s and
Don’ts.
Developing the Plot
Exhausted from their first attempt at
setting up a campsite, Trudy and Jeff
crawled inside the tent that evening,
giggling and whispering to each other.
They doused the light inside the tent and
ignored the world outside the canvas. The
ranger’s list was left laying on the tent
floor.
Continuing the Action – Vivid Word
Choices
Just before sunrise, Jerry was awakened by
the sounds of metal ripping. He quietly slipped
out of the tent. A fully grown black bear was
sitting on their picnic table busily prying the lid
off the cooler they neglected to store in the car
the night before. Finding the pound of bacon he
prized, the bear leaned back on his hind
haunches and began to devour the bacon. Jerry
started screaming at the bear, “Get out of here!
What do you think you’re doing?”
Reaching the Climax
By this point, most of the other campers had
exited their own tents and watched the scene
unfold. The bear was not amused by Jerry’s
threatening, especially with the remainder of the
bacon at stake. The black bear stood on top of
the picnic table to his full height. While the bear
actually stood only four feet tall, the extra height
of the table caused him to loom over Jerry’s
head. The bear suddenly fell forward, striking
the table with his full weight and snarled. The
table moaned in response.
The Climax Continues
Much more quickly than anyone anticipated,
the bear reached out his huge, menacing paw
towards Jerry. Fear leapt into Jerry’s eyes as he
turned and ran back into his tent. Zip! closed the
zipper.
Now, one can only imagine how much time
passed before Jerry and Trudy realized the
futility of his preventive actions. How was a
flimsy flap of canvas going to stop a full-sized,
angry bear?
Finding the Solution
Fortunately, the bear was much more interested
in the left-over bacon than in Jerry and Trudy.
The bear cautiously turned around, climbed
back on top of the table, and continued to eat his
early breakfast. He carefully examined the
remaining contents of the cooler. Finding
nothing else as delectable as the bacon, the
bear jumped off the picnic table, grunted, licked
his paws and mouth, and then lumbered off into
the deeper woods that surrounded the
campground.
The Concluding Paragraph
The audience that had gathered
applauded spontaneously, then slowly
returned to their own campsites, shaking
their heads in disbelief. Meanwhile, inside
the thin canvas tent, Trudy and Jeff had lit
their lantern and were carefully studying
the items listed on the Do’s and Don’ts list.
The rest of their trip was blissfully peaceful
as they made sure to follow all the rules at
the campsite.
Additional Ideas for Your Thesis
• Without a thesis, or a point, you are not really
writing a narrative essay but a narrative – make
sure to have a point. You can get help finding a
point when you:
– Think about sayings or quotes that teach a lesson
– Think about lessons learned from fables
– Think about a time when you learned something
valuable
– Read quotations to deliver your ideas
– Read your own journals for a time something
happened worth telling others about
 SOME FINAL NOTES:
1. Choose details to move your essay forward and bring your
experience to life for the reader by appealing to her 5 senses.

2. Choose details that are specific enough to show clearly what

happened.

3. Control your tenses and transitions. Remember a narrative

essay shares an event from the past, so you should write in the
past tense.
1. A field trip that your class took.
2. Something funny that happened to one of your family members or friends.
3. A big storm (rain, snow or even a tornado!).
4. A time when you got lost somewhere.
5. Your most exciting moment performing in a play, singing, playing music or
dancing.
6. A time that you experienced rejection.
7. Your first time away from home for the night (or longer).
8. A time when you experienced a historic event.
9. A time when you rebelled against your parents or teacher.
10.A misunderstanding between yourself and someone else.
11.The beginning of a friendship or relationship.
12.A time when you judged someone first and then realized that you were
wrong about the person.
13.An experience that you think has only ever happened to you.