The Narrative Essay

1. Introduction

  In narration, the writer tells a story about a series of events. That may

sound easy, but storytelling isn’t as easy as it sounds. First, the writer has

to tell the story clearly enough for the reader to follow what happened

when. Second, the writer has to tell the story dramatically enough to keep

the reader’s attention and interest. One way to keep a reader’s attention is

by describing the people and places in the story vividly.

      Generally, narratives are told chronologically, and they answer the six

basic journalistic questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?

Narration often uses the first person (I, we) because the writer is recounting

personal experience. 

2. Definition

A narrative essay is the one that tells a story. It talks about a particular event or a series of events and describes the kind of experience that the writer (or protagonist) got from it. In other words, you have to write about what happened to you and how it influenced you. Most essays that you come across in books are narrative ones. Furthermore, most movies and YouTube videos that you watch are also essentially examples of a narrative essay, only realized through the video medium. That’s why writing narrative essay examples for college is arguably the easiest assignment there is.

3. Structure

Of course, your essay will be unique, as it's detailing an event that happened in your life. However, following a basic structure will make it easier to read and follow.

• Introduction: Introduce the topic, and the incident that you're going to describe. Explainwhyit's important to you.

• Thesis statement: Quickly sum up what you learned as a result of the incident you're describing.

• Main body: You'll now talk about the incident involved. As you do so, make sure you're including all the important points. Who was involved? Where did it happen? Why did it happen? Describe exactly what happened, including your thoughts and feelings on the matter.
• Conclusion: Refer to your thesis again, and how your experiences impacted your understanding of the topic at hand.

4. Conclusion

Narrative essays are much more creative. If you are passionate of an event that happened to you and you feel the need to recount it involving your feelings and sensations, then you will succeed to write a good narrative essay that everyone will enjoy reading.