How Do You Right a Narrative Essay Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

Home rsaquo articles rsaquo how to write a narrative essay bookrags articles how to write a narrative essay how to write a narrative essay narratives are stories. They are essays that tell a story mdash hopefully in an interesting way mdash that also convey themes. Often, if you are asked to write a narrative essay, you will not be asked to research a theory or topic. You may need to research for this narrative essay nonetheless, the writing of it may come more easily to you for you do not need to quote specific words from primary sources.

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    decide on a topic discuss the topic with your teacher/professor and peers either in class or in a group discussion or private tutorial brainstorm several different ways the narrative can go see spider diagram below start writing do not stop writing. Let your writing flow onward in a stream of consciousness type of way. reread the essay. edit for grammar and the technical rules of writing. let someone else edit/read over your essay for content and grammar.
before you begin writing your narrative essay, it helps to brainstorm ideas for where you want your narrative to go. Because you are able to invent plot, you can write anything your imagination invents. Let each spoke continue outward farther and farther, until you have a spider looking diagram with many thoughts.

Ultimately, you will have written a narrative story that reads more pleasurably than academically. Because of the nature of the narrative essay, you will usually be assigned to write one only in creative writing or literature seminars. Often in composition and freshman writing courses, people also are assigned narrative essays to write. If you are given this assignment, it is important to remember that a narrative essay is still an essay. It is a self contained essay with a theme or thesis still at the focus of the writing. And even though it is more creative than academic, grammar and syntax are still vital to the success of the essay.

First, you need to know if your teacher wants you to write the essay in a narrative format or in a question answer format. Both essay formats need a strong introduction, an organized body and a solid conclusion. The difference is that the question and answer essay will use direct quotes with your questions. The narrative essay can have paraphrased information from the interview mixed in with direct quotes.

how do i begin writing my interview essay? hopefully, you took copious many notes during your interview and hopefully you were allowed to record the interview to catch any information that you missed in your notes. Now, you need to organize your information into a logical outline probably the easiest way to organize all the information is to read through your notes and to listen to the recording of the interview. You need to think about what the reader would like to know about the person you interviewed. Once you have wrapped your brain around the three main things you are going to talk about in your essay, you need to write out an outline. Ive seen plenty of comments and recommendations about narrative tense and a lot of the debate is contentious.

Although some readers and writers might have no true preference, most are firmly in one camp or the other. Either they insist using the simple past is the only way to tell a story or they say present tense has much to offer and is as equally valid as past tense. I dont intend to start a debate, but i do want to let you know that you have options. And that you face the expectations of readers, readers who include agents and acquisitions editors. _ what were talking about is the manner in which you present the actions of your story world. Do narrator and viewpoint characters see actions and events as happening in the past or do they act as if the events are happening right now? do they say marlboro raced through the forest.

Present what about these tilly, aching for one sight of her lover, waited at the abandoned cottage and watched for riders on the old north road. Tilly, aching for one sight of her lover, waits at the abandoned cottage and watches for riders on the old north road. _ most stories are told using the simple past was, walked, drank, hoped. Stories using the past tense are written the same way stories have been told for yearsonce upon a time, sometime before the present time, these marvelous characters existed and lived out a fantastic adventure.

They did these things, these events are over, and someone cant resist telling you all about these happenings and adventures. Its common to readers, its common to writers, and its been the prevalent format for storytelling for years and years and years. Its so common that readers dont notice it they simply jump into the storys adventure. Yet in comparison to the number of novels that use the simple past, present tense novels are few in number. From what i can tell from a quick survey of internet articles, readers notice when stories are told using the present tense. Im not saying, nor are those readers, that theres anything wrong with the use of present tense. The present tense is often associated with literary fiction, short stories, students in writing programs and workshops, and first novels.

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pros and cons familiarity since the past tense is familiar to readers, readers dont have to adjust when they begin a story written using past tense. Stories told using present tense narration can be enticing because theyre different. Readers may also end up paying closer attention since the format is one unfamiliar to them. Some writers and readers believe that use of the present tense makes story action and events more immediate. On the other hand, proponents of the past tense may find that verbs used in the past tense make story events seem more immediate.

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