Personal narratives are so common that we don’t even realize how much we are used to them. In fact, your parent must have read personal narratives for children whenever they were trying to put you to sleep. From bedtime stories to memoirs, autobiographies, and long-form personal narrative articles, narrative essays are all around us.
Narrative essays are a great way to express your thought process, feelings, and perspective to your readers. In fact, science says that they are a great way to feel, process, and release painful emotions. Most writers from Top-Essay-Writing report that they get the highest requests for narrative essays. This is because students struggle to express themselves in formal writing as it can be hard to find the balance. So let’s go ahead and explore what you need to do to write a great narrative essay. Ready? Let’s begin!
Choose a Nice Topic
Narrative essays offer you a wide range of topics to choose from, so try to research and explore them first. If you are given something specific to write about, it will reduce your work of searching for an essay topic. You might also come across open-ended prompts, these are great as you have a sense of direction yet you can improvise the journey.
One of the best tricks is to write about something that takes a surprising turn. Teachers have to go through tons of assignments and you won’t be leaving a great impression if your essay is cliché. This is understandable on their part because they want to see you get creative instead of following patterns blindly. Plus, it holds their attention when they read something out of the box amongst all those essays.
Format and Structure
Pay attention to the format and structure of your essay because that will help you come up with an outline. Just like any other essay, your narrative essay should have an introduction and a thesis, a body, and a conclusion. The introduction and thesis statement help you give the reader an overview of your entire narrative essay. The main body should introduce the character and location and develop the story and the conclusion should summarize it.
Make sure that you give a clear and brief introduction and make the paragraphs of the body organized. Since the body can feel boring to the reader because of its length, you need to work on grabbing their attention every now and then. One of the best ways to do this is to start your paragraphs with a hook. Finally, leave the moral of the story for the conclusion as it gives closure to the reader.
Start With an Outline
Outlines are important because they can save you from going off-track and getting lost in between writing pointers. The most important thing to remember when creating an outline is that you should have a clear and defined purpose. This part can be hard because a lot of us don’t really think about our purpose in life.
Regardless, take your time to establish your perspective and the key takeaway for your essay. Establishing a focus and purpose beforehand can help you decide which parts to include in your essay. In this way, your story would seem more aligned and you wouldn’t lose direction while writing.
Pay Attention to the Thesis Statement
Although this is barely going to be a one or two-liner this is going to act as icing on the cake. Thesis statements are important because readers depend on them to decide how the essay will be. Of course, you can’t blame them because that is what thesis statements are supposed to do. Treat the thesis statement as a thumbnail to your vlog, and rewrite it until it sounds perfect.
The thesis statement comes at the end of the introduction or right under it with a separate heading. This isn’t some catchy one-liner, but rather the main theme around which your story or narrative will revolve. Select your topic before writing the thesis statement or simply write it at the end. In this way, you will be able to read the entire story and turn it into a sentence for your readers.
Paint a Vivid Picture
Since this is a narrative essay, it’s better to show than tell. Write your essay as If you are describing a picture you can already see. Although dark, many experts suggest students imagine they are trying to make someone with blindness see through their words.
If you can, try to imagine yourself as the main character while explaining the story. Your perspective is going to affect your story so pay attention to that. However try to avoid explaining unnecessary details, your reader wants action, not wordiness.
The Tenses and Pronouns Matter
Since you are telling a story in your essay, there is a high chance that it has already happened. Hence, most of the authors of such essays stick to past tense and so should you. However, if you start talking about something that is still happening or might happen in the future, change your tenses accordingly. Doing this will help the reader understand the timeline and separate your past voice from the present and future.
It’s true that you’re the author and probably the main character too, so you will be writing in the first pronoun. However, avoid overusing the word ‘I’ as it might make you sound too repetitive or self-centered. In the end, this essay isn’t for you but for the reader, so maintain a healthy balance.
Conclusion
We hope these tips have helped you understand how to write your next, upcoming narrative essay. No essay is hard as long as you know the right techniques and methods. Hence, at this point, you must be prepared to nail your essay and get an A+ grade. In not, don’t worry, there is help for you out there and it’s called British essay writers. These experts have years of experience in helping students with such tasks and getting them the best grades. So now that you officially have surefire ways to nail your essay, sit back and wipe off that sweat!
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