Lecture Essay writing & presentation skills - Lecture 10: Narrative Essay

The main contents of the chapter consist of the following: How to write a critical essay? steps for writing an critical essay, some critical styles, key points to consider, dos and don’ts, common mistakes, example.

Narrative Essay

Lecture 10

• How to Write a Critical Essay?

• Steps for Writing an Critical Essay

• Some Critical Styles

• Key Points to Consider

• Dos and Don’ts

• Common Mistakes

• Example

The narrative essay tells a story It can

also be called a "short story."

Examples: A narrative essay could tell of

* my brother's and my fishing trips;

* a boring trip to the grocery store;

* my near-death experience at the beach 3

Narrative Essay

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

• A well-written critical essay is one where

the writer has made a clear argument in flawless language

Well Written Narrative

Essay

How to Write a Narrative

Essay?

• A narrative essay is type of essay writing

that is built around a narration of a

certain event or situation

• Basically, a narrative essay is a concise

form of a narrative novel

• Its main objective is to tell a story, so that it is both engaging and interesting

for the reader

How to Write a Narrative

Essay?

• A narrative essay, more than any other

type of essay, allows you to be creative

as a writer Nevertheless, there are certain rules to follow and mistakes to avoid when writing a narrative essay

Steps for Writing a Narrative

Essay

Step # 1: Decide on a plot You should never

start writing your narrative essay before you come up with the plot for

it

Step # 2: Do a sketch of events you plan to

depict in chronological order

Step # 3: When starting on your

introduction, begin by setting the scene

for the situation you will narrate

Step # 4: As you go into the main body

paragraphs, narrate the story

Try to develop the plot gradually, starting from smaller events or

incidents that lead to the main scene

Steps for Writing a Narrative

Essay

Step # 5: Write the main body paragraphs

in accordance with the structure you

chose when making an outline –

Step # 6: Narrate the main scene of your

story Use as many details and emotional descriptions as you can to

portray the story in full Draw the reader into the events by evoking feelings and describing reactions of the characters of your story

Steps for Writing a Narrative

Essay

Step # 7: End your story Here you can

appeal to the senses, moods and feelings

of your characters, describing the

consequences of the narrated events

Step # 8: Lay your work aside for some

time and then do a thorough

proofreading.

Steps for Writing a Narrative

Essay

Topic Selection

• There are endless topic variations you can choose

from for your story

• With narrative being a very creative type of writing,

you have a unique opportunity to choose the ideal topic

to narrate about

• It should be something that you yourself find

interesting, otherwise it will be hard to make it

interesting for your readers.

Topic Selection

• Your story can be true or fiction

• It can be narrated in the first or the third person

• Your narrative essay can be based on your own

experience, be completely imaginary, or describe the

experience of somebody you know

• It can be realistic or completely made up

• only basic requirement for a good narrative essay topic is

that it should sound interesting to appeal to the reader,

starting from the very first words.

Topic Selection

Below are several examples of good topics for narrative essay However, keep in mind that the ideas to choose a good topic from are limitless:

– A mysterious book

– One sleepless night

– Our trip to the mountains

– An unexpected occasion

– Visiting the Castle of Dracula

– A summer to remember

– The most exciting moment of my life

– Lost in the forest

– A trip to never forget

– One lazy summer afternoon…

– An unexpected visitor

– A letter from the future

Key Points to Consider

• Genre of your writing:

Start your essay by deciding upon the genre of your writing Only after you make up your mind about how realistic your story should be (depending on whether you want, for instance, to write a fantastic science fiction essay, or a realistic life chronicle), you can move on to develop the actual plot

• If you find it hard to start your essay, or cannot seem to come up with the story you will convey, try to approach the process of

writing with a “Question-and-answer

method”

future story

questions as you develop the plot

For example:

• start with “Where did the event happen?”

“Who was involved in the situation?”

“What were the consequences of this event?”

“What were the reactions of people involved?”

Key Points to Consider

• With a narrative essay being a rather

informal type of essay writing, one thing

you should keep in mind is that even

though you are telling a story to your

readers, you are not exactly doing it the way you would say it in person

conversational and simplistic, it can hardly

be considered a successful one

story in an interesting informal manner

while keeping your writing stylistically beautiful.

Key Points to Consider

• To experiment with your writing style and make your narrative essay more unique, you can use a literary technique called

‘flashback narration’.

• You can start your story from a particular point in time (usually something extraordinary and exciting), and then move back to the events that lead to the described situation

Key Points to Consider

• Try to express yourself more creatively and figuratively

– Like, instead of just saying “a very old man

slowly entered the room”, you could say “a

grey-haired man with a thick beard opened the door, his hands slightly trembling from age, and heavily stepped inside”.

Key Points to Consider

• With the narrative essay giving you certain freedom to experiment with words, you

can use interesting and unusual word

combinations to make your writing more

creative

with inanimate objects, or ascribing animals, plants or natural phenomena certain human qualities.

• Do use dialogues to make your writing

more vivid and life-like

• Do use author’s lines in between the

replicates your characters to add action and help create a fuller picture of your characters’ personalities, reactions and behaviors

• Do give information in chronological

order Use time words:

to help link the events

• Do use senses and emotions to set the

scene for your story

• Do enhance your writing with colorful

stylistic literary techniques, like:

• Do include detailed descriptions of the

places, people and buildings that are part

of the story You should try to make it easier for your readers to picture everything you describe in their mind

• Don’t be afraid to be creative –

sometimes a story that sounds unrealistic is nevertheless benefitting from all the imaginary happenings

– As long as you do not lose yourself to the surrealism of the described events and keep your reader interested, the essay will be a success.

• Don’t switch from past tense to present

and vice versa; stick to one tense for the

entire story

• Don’t start writing your narrative essay before you decide on the ending for your story It is absolutely necessary to plan the entire story prior to developing the plot in detail

• Don’t change the sequence of events –

this will make it much harder for the reader

to follow the plot

• Don’t be afraid to include elements of descriptive writing in your narrative

essay Your work will only benefit from bright details and specific descriptions

• Switching from first person to the third

as you narrate

characters of your story

combine these techniques,

• for example, narrate the same story from different characters’ perspectives in rotation without confusing the reader.

Common Mistakes

• Slang words in Direct and Indirect speech:

Using slang words is an acceptable

stylistic technique when you integrate it into the words of your characters (in case it goes

in line with the picture you want to create), but it is never a good idea for the indirect speech

• Author’s words need to be literary correct and neutral

Common Mistakes

• Overloading your sentences with verbs,

so that you focus too much on the action

and fail to construct the full picture

verbs with bright adjectives and adverbs to balance your writing.

Common Mistakes

Example of Narrative Essay

The Biggest Nightmare?

Introduction Paragraph

It was a hot summer’s day Everything around me was slowly starting to melt: the trees, the houses, the sky and the pathway to

my garage It seemed that I was about to melt down myself, so there would only be a small puddle of glue-like substance left on the ground I was walking very slowly My head felt huge and heavy, and every muscle in my body was sore My arms and legs were barely responding to the signals that my brain was sending to them It felt like a slow-motion horror movie, only it was happening live I finally reached the front door and touched the handle The path that took only a second for

my eyes to see, took about twenty minutes for

my body to accomplish But, I was finally at

my goal

my eyes for a second, took a deep breath, opened them, and pushed the door knob

as hard as I could, at the time It gave way reluctantly If it wasn’t for the helpless shadow of a man that I was at that moment, I would definitely have screamed in happiness for finally winning, over this stubborn door knob But, all I could settle for right then was a weak smile, and a deep sigh of relief.

2 Supporting Details

I went inside, and had to wait for a minute before I could make out anything It was too dark, still very hot and, somehow, very lonely inside By the time my eyes adapted to the darkness inside, I could tell

no one was around What time was it? And where was everyone? The house was completely and scarily quiet The silence was unnatural There was no sound coming from the working fridge, or ticking clock; nothing I went to the kitchen to get some water, opened the tap and put an empty glass under it But there was no water, not even a drop! The glass remained empty This seemed like a complete nightmare I must be dreaming! I felt like the world had died out, everything had stopped and, somehow, I was forgotten here all alone, left to die from thirst and heat.

I was having a panic attack With the anger and strength that came out of nowhere, I ran from one room to another, looking for anyone Mom, Josh, dad, Charlie – no one was to be seen The dogs were gone too What is wrong with the place? Again, for the third or fourth time, I caught myself thinking this was just a bad dream But, my body still felt very much sore, and I could vividly feel the pain Having no clue of what else, except the pain, could help me distinguish between dreaming and reality,

I had to accept the fact that I was living this nightmare for real Suddenly,

I heard a sound coming from downstairs It was a very slight, faint sound that repeated in a second, only louder I ran downstairs, feeling a little scared, and, at the same time, hoping that it was someone, or something, that could explain to me what was going on.

3 Supporting Details

The living room was empty The sound was coming from outside the back porch, and it was increasing in loudness with every new cycle It reminded me of when dad and

I went rowing, and every time dad turned over the oars, they made the same whistling sound, cleaving the air I ran outside the back door, and was almost brought down to the ground by the strength of the wind It was a helicopter, right above me, coming onto me I lay on the ground, screaming, but

I couldn’t hear my own voice through the noise of the implacable vanes getting closer, and freezing me to the ground…

4 Supporting Details

… “Jason, honey, wake up! It’s just a dream, babe You look so pale Are you okay?” My mom was standing next to my bed, trying to calm me down, as I was still screaming and flapping my arms The air was on, and the fan above my bed was making that particular whistling sound with each turn

• How to Write a Narrative Essay?

• Well Written Narrative Essay

• Steps for Writing a Narrative Essay

• Topic Selection

• Dos and Don’ts

• Common Mistakes

• Example

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