Features of Narrative Essay Writing Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

As a mode of expository writing, the narrative approach, more than any other, offers writers a chance to think and write about themselves. We all have experiences lodged in our memories, which are worthy of sharing with readers. Yet sometimes they are so fused with other memories that a lot of the time spent in writing narrative is in the prewriting stage. Narrative essays are told from a defined point of view, often the author's, so there is feeling as well as specific and often sensory details provided to get the reader involved in the elements and sequence of the story. The narrative essay makes a point and that point is often defined in the opening sentence, but can also be found as the last sentence in the opening paragraph. Since a narrative relies on personal experiences, it often is in the form of a story.

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When the writer uses this technique, he or she must be sure to include all the conventions of storytelling: plot, character, setting, climax, and ending. It is usually filled with details that are carefully selected to explain, support, or embellish the story. to summarize, the narrative essay is told from a particular point of view makes and supports a point is filled with precise detail uses vivid verbs and modifiers uses conflict and sequence as does any story may use dialogue the purpose of a narrative report is to describe something. Many students write narrative reports thinking that these are college essays or papers.

While the information in these reports is basic to other forms of writing, narrative reports lack the higher order thinking that essays require. Thus narrative reports do not, as a rule, yield high grades for many college courses. A basic example of a narrative report is a book report that outlines a book it includes the characters, their actions, possibly the plot, and, perhaps, some scenes. What is left out is what the book or article is about the underlying concepts, assumptions, arguments, or point of view that the book or article expresses.

A narrative report leaves aside a discussion that puts the events of the text into the context of what the text is about. Is the text about love? life in the fast lane? society? wealth and power? poverty? in other words, narrative reports often overlook the authors purpose or point of view expressed through the book or article. It is much more interesting to actually recreate an incident for readers than to simply tell about it. This is the only way the writer's personal experience will take on meaning for readers.

This generalization does not have to encompass humanity as a whole it can concern the writer, men, women, or children of various ages and backgrounds. Remember that although the main component of a narrative is the story, details must be carefully selected to support, explain, and enhance the story.

conventions of narrative essays

in writing your narrative essay, keep the following conventions in mind. Narratives, as stories, should include these story conventions: a plot, including setting and characters a climax and an ending. The essay topic you choose should be interesting and important to you, because the best essays are written on the topics that really matter to the writer. The purpose of the narrative essay is to share a personal experience that a reader can identify with or learn from. The characteristics of a narrative essay are use of characters and setting, literary techniques, chronology and a moral to the story.

Characters and setting are storytelling elements that give life to the narrative essay. It is important to choose the characters who are most important to the story development. Characters' personalities should follow the showing not telling rule and demonstrate the qualities of each character.