Narrative Essay
introduction

Narration is essentially story-telling, an accounting of actions and events as they happened. It is perhaps the easiest essay type, for the writer has nothing else to do but answer the question "What happened (with me)?" If the essay follows exactly the events it describes, then the story will work. The narrator can be the writer or someone who watches the events from the outside.

It is a bit different, however, if the narrative is a piece of fiction. In that case the author has to be very careful not to contradict one statement by another, not to jump back and forth in time or space. The plot (a sequence of events) has to be planned. The person of the narrator has to be selected carefully. Also, the point of view (a vantage point from which the story is told) has to be selected. If the narrator speaks from the first-person point of view, it is possible to share more inside feelings. If, however, the narrator is in third-person, s/he can state only assumptions not inside feelings of the main character.

Writing a narrative essay is in one way similar to operating a TV camera. You have to move the camera slowly to show everything you want -- otherwise the film won't be enjoyable.

Read carefully the selections on these pages and observe how the authors captured the sequence of events. Answer the questions:

• Do they follow the events chronologically and/or spatially?

• Did they include enough details?

• Did they eliminate all unnecessary details?

• What point of view did they select?

• Are the essays effective?

Then write a narrative essay yourself. Remember, you may need to revise the essay a couple of times before the final piece is ready.

© 1998 Ervin Nemeth. All rights reserved.