Intro To The Narrative Essay

Writer’s Prompt: After years of leading a normal life, you discover you have a special ability. Afraid to share this information with anyone, you confide only in your closest friend. To your surprise, your friend shares some information with you—he also has a super power

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The Narrative Essay

What is a Narrative Essay? ► ► ► ► ► ► ►

It’s a story – it can be real or imagined It connects us to other people It can raise a question. It can provide an insight. It can offer a moral. It can offer a challenge. It can provide a mirror for our own lives

William Blake 1757 - 1827

► One

of the first writers of the "Romantic Period” in England. ► Writings from the Romantic period were based on emotion, adventure and imagination. ► Blake was not always a poet. ► In fact, his only formal training was in art. ► At the age of ten, he entered a drawing school. He later studied at the Royal

The Chimney Sweep ► What

do you know about the boy who narrates this poem? ► What was Tom’s dream? ► What is the effect of the repetition of “weep” in line 3? ► What is the moral of this poem?

Listen to this story starring detective “Guy Noir”

Pay close attention to the elements of the essay.

Identify some of the narrative elements of “Guy Noir”

► Setting

► Characters ► Plot ► Apex ► Moral? ► Point

of view?

Read the essay “Small Town Terror” and be prepared to explain the different elements which make this a narrative essay.

Describe the narrative elements of “Small-Town Terror” ► Story? ► Fiction

of fact? ► Does it have a point of view? ► Moral? Insight? Question? Challenge?

Now, tell me a story. ► Tell

the story about the first time you went to the movies without your parents ► Tell the story about the first time you drove a car. ► Tell the one about the worst trouble you ever got into. ► Tell the one about your first day of ninth grade (“That was me in grade 9”)

What elements did it have? ► Story? ► Fiction

of fact? ► Does it have a point of view? ► Moral? Insight? Question? Challenge?

Pause

Writing the Narrative Essay

What specific types of narrative reports might you write in your life/career?

As a witness to an accident, a crime, or some other incident, you might report what took place. Whenever readers need to understand what happened, narrative reporting is essential.

Narration is a piece of writing that tells a story of an event or experience.

The Process Find a story worth telling ► Use your “Big Eye” ► Look at life from a different perspective – find the stories in everyday life. ► Keep a notebook of your story ideas ►

The Process ► You

need a thesis or a main idea sentence ► Use descriptive language ► Make a timeline ► Use transitions ► Use dialogue to advance the story – make it real

Kinds of Narratives The Narrative Summary ► Covers large segment of time ► Writers of history, memoirs, biography use this ► Raymond Carver used it in “My Father’s Life” ►

The Narrative Moment ► Covers

a limited time frame ► All details are explored for an intense, comprehensive view of a flash of time

Time Order ► Most

narratives are written chronologically – this happened, then this, then this… ► Can be written “medias res” – in the midst of things – where readers find themselves in the heat of an event ► Flashbacks are used by skillful writers – may confuse the reader

Audience ► Who

is your audience? ► Newspaper readers? ► Fiction readers? ► Doctors? Firemen? ► Write to them

The events you include and the way you describe them create a story that is based on your point of view.

What is a Narrative Essay? ►A

narrative is a story ► A narrative essay is a story that has a specific point  A narrative essay strives to teach a lesson or  A narrative essay strives to make a specific point  A narrative essay is not a diary entry – the story is linked to the purpose of the essay

What Should Be Included in a Narrative Essay? ► Often

written in 1st person – I or we – because it is based on a personal story ► Can also be written in 3rd person ► Can ► Has

never be written in 2nd person

specific sensory details to get the reader hooked on the story ► Is developed in chronological order ► Has verbs that help paint a picture and draw in the reader

What Else Does the Narrative Essay Need? ► Since

this is a story, the narrative essay needs everything a story needs (these are known as the story elements):     

Has a plot Has characters Has a problem Has a climax Often uses dialogue

Planning the Narrative Essay ► Write

a thesis statement, just as with any other essay ► Brainstorm for a personal story or observation that illustrates or proves the thesis statement ► Outline or web the important parts of the story to be told ► Write an introductory paragraph that includes the thesis statement, and then write the story ► Because this is a story, use as many paragraphs as necessary to tell the story ► Write the conclusion that reflects on the thesis statement

Start With a Thesis Statement ► The

thesis will depend upon the story to be proven. ► The thesis can be something general in the case of a narrative essay. For example, you may write, “Oftentimes people do not follow simple directions. However, these campers learned just how important following directions can be.”

What Would You Expect From This Thesis? ► As

the reader, you will expect to learn why following directions is important. ► As the reader, you will expect to read a story about camping. ► As the reader, you will expect there to be a twist in the action.

Outline the Parts of the Story and Write Out the Story An Informal Outline of the Story: ► Two campers go camping and ignore rules ► They leave out food ► An animal finds the food ► One of the campers tries to scare off the animal ► Campers learn to follow the rules

Let’s Read the Essay – The Introduction It was a wonderful week to camp in the great outdoors, even if some of their friends thought it was a strange way to honeymoon. Trudy and Jeff were looking forward to their week at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. Little did they know what a learning experience this trip would be. Oftentimes people do not follow simple directions. However, these campers learned just how important following directions can be.

Setting the Scene of the Story After a scenic drive through the glorious mountains, Trudy and Jeff arrived at the camping area. A ranger at the booth handed them a map and asked, “Have you ever camped with us before?” “A better question would be if we ever camped before,” Jerry answered wryly. “You’ll be fine. Just remember, this isn’t a hotel. We do have bears and other animals in the area, so lock your food up in the car,” said the ranger as he handed them a lists of Do’s and Don’ts.

Developing the Plot Exhausted from their first attempt at setting up a campsite, Trudy and Jeff crawled inside the tent that evening, giggling and whispering to each other. They doused the light inside the tent and ignored the world outside the canvas. The ranger’s list was left laying on the tent floor.

Continuing the Action – Vivid Word Choices Just before sunrise, Jerry was awakened by the sounds of metal ripping. He quietly slipped out of the tent. A fully grown black bear was sitting on their picnic table busily prying the lid off the cooler they neglected to store in the car the night before. Finding the pound of bacon he prized, the bear leaned back on his hind haunches and began to devour the bacon. Jerry started screaming at the bear, “Get out of here! What do you think you’re doing?”

Reaching the Climax By this point, most of the other campers had exited their own tents and watched the scene unfold. The bear was not amused by Jerry’s threatening, especially with the remainder of the bacon at stake. The black bear stood on top of the picnic table to his full height. While the bear actually stood only four feet tall, the extra height of the table caused him to loom over Jerry’s head. The bear suddenly fell forward, striking the table with his full weight and snarled. The table moaned in response.

The Climax Continues Much more quickly than anyone anticipated, the bear reached out his huge, menacing paw towards Jerry. Fear leapt into Jerry’s eyes as he turned and ran back into his tent. Zip! closed the zipper. Now, one can only imagine how much time passed before Jerry and Trudy realized the futility of his preventive actions. How was a flimsy flap of canvas going to stop a full-sized, angry bear?

Finding the Solution Fortunately, the bear was much more interested in the left-over bacon than in Jerry and Trudy. The bear cautiously turned around, climbed back on top of the table, and continued to eat his early breakfast. He carefully examined the remaining contents of the cooler. Finding nothing else as delectable as the bacon, the bear jumped off the picnic table, grunted, licked his paws and mouth, and then lumbered off into the deeper woods that surrounded the campground.

The Concluding Paragraph The audience that had gathered applauded spontaneously, then slowly returned to their own campsites, shaking their heads in disbelief. Meanwhile, inside the thin canvas tent, Trudy and Jeff had lit their lantern and were carefully studying the items listed on the Do’s and Don’ts list. The rest of their trip was blissfully peaceful as they made sure to follow all the rules at the campsite.

Additional Ideas for Your Thesis ►

Without a thesis, or a point, you are not really writing a narrative essay but a narrative – make sure to have a point. You can get help finding a point when you:  Think about sayings or quotes that teach a lesson  Think about lessons learned from Aesop’s fables  Think about a time when you learned something valuable  Read quotations to spawn ideas  Read your own journals for a time something happened worth telling others about

A good Narration ► Reveals

something of importance to you (your main point) ► Includes all of the major events of the story. ► Uses details to bring the story to life ► Presents the events in a clear order, usually according to when it happened.

Common time transitions ► Before

► Later

► After

► At

► During ► First ► Next ► Second ► Then ► Finally ► while

last ► Last ► Eventually ► Meanwhile ► Since ► Now ► Soon ► when

Guidelines of a Narrative Paragraph ► Write

out the topic sentence and circle the point of view. ► List any background information ► Briefly summarize the incident (write several sentences telling what happened in your own words) ► Do all of these sentences support your point of view? ► Are the events in the story in chronological order?

Read the following paragraph.

My twelfth birthday was originally a disappointment that turned into my best birthday ever. For five or six months preceding the big day, I begged my parents for a certain new bicycle. I had seen one in a medium price range that I figured my folks could afford. I hinted and even pleaded outright, promising to do extra chores if I got it. Pointing out that the only bike I had ever had was a hand-me-down from my older brother. I showed them how rusted the frame was. Meanwhile, my brother was begging for a set of tires for the car he had bought. When my birthday finally came, my hopes were so high. Instead of the bicycle, though, I got a new shirt, a pair of sneakers, and an envelope. At first, I thought it was just a card, but it turned out to have enough money for the bike in it. It also contained five “contracts” for extra work around the house that I could do to earn enough money for a much nicer bicycle. My parents gave me the gift of

1. What is the topic sentence? 2. Which sentence is not in unity with the rest of the paragraph? 3. What do you think is the writer’s reason for writing this paragraph?

-IIGuidelines for a Narrative Essay 1. Set the scene immediately. Place readers right at the center of the action. If you open with some sort of background explanation, keep it short and sweet.

2. Convey your main point. If you simply report, then there is no main point. You need to have a main point to help you present or explain the major events of the story.

In a narrative essay, the Thesis introduces the action that begins in the first paragraph. Now, as I watched the bus driver set my luggage on the airport sidewalk, I realized that my frustration had only just begun.

These major events will become the topic sentences for the body paragraphs in your essay. The paragraphs in the body will develop the story.

3.Choose details that directly advance your story in your support and bring the experience to life for the reader.

4. Choose details that are concrete and specific enough to show clearly what happened.

5. Order details in a clear sequence. Chronological ordering often works best in a narrative because it enables readers to follow events as they occurred.

6. Control your tenses and transitions. Indicate a clear time frame for each event: present, past, past perfect, or even future. If you move from one time frame to another, be sure to keep the tense consistent within each frame.

Transitions will help signal the end of action in one paragraph, and provide a link to the action of the next paragraph. They give your story unity and allow the reader to follow the action easily.

7. Tell us what all this means and what we should remember about it

You finish describing the action in the essay in the concluding paragraph. The final sentence can have two functions:

1. It can deliver the moral of the story, or tell the reader what the characters or you learned from the experience. 2. It can make a prediction or a revelation about future actions that will happen as a result of the events in the story.

Moral: The little boy had finally learned that telling the truth was the most important thing to do.

Prediction/revelation: I can only hope that one day I will be able to do the same for another traveler who is suffering through a terrible journey. Every Christmas Eve, my wife and I return to that magical spot and remember the selfless act that saved our lives.

When you think of a topic for your narrative essay, try to remember something exciting, difficult, wonderful, or frightening that has happened to you. Can this event be developed into an interesting narrative essay?

Ask yourself questions: ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ►

When was an important time in my life? What has happened in my experience that I would enjoy writing about? Is there an event in my life that other people would enjoy hearing about? How did I feel about a particular experience? Who was involved? Why do I remember this event so strongly? What effect did it have on me? Did anything change because of this experience? What interesting experiences do I know of that happened to other people?

If you are answering some of these questions about a specific experience that you or someone else had, then you may have a topic for a narrative essay.

Write a narration paragraph or essay on one of the following topics.

1.Explain the most important or interesting event that has happened to you in college.

2.Tell about a recent experience or incident you witnessed that left a strong impression on you.

3. Write about an event when you were proud of someone in your family. or Write about an event when you were proud or ashamed of your behavior.

4. Think of a time when you had to do something against your wishes. Or Think of a memorable experience you have had – it could be frightening, sobering, or amusing.

5. Talk about an interesting, incredible story you heard on the news recently. 6. How did you meet your sweetheart?

After you have a suitable topic, brainstorm some ideas about your topic. Organize your ideas. Remember that it’s not necessary to tell every detail of the story. Include only the most important actions or events that move the story forward.

Introduction: What is the basic idea of the story? Where is the story taking place? When is the story taking place? Who is in the story? a) lead-in b) connecting information c) Thesis statement

Body: What feeling or atmosphere do you want to create in the story? What will happen in the plot? A) Paragraph 2 – Topic sentence 1. 2. 3. transition sentence

Conclusion: What will happen last in the story? How will you finish the plot? Will your narrative essay have a moral or make a prediction or a revelation? A) close of the action B) final sentence (moral, prediction or revelation

Steve Berry's 8 Rules of Writing September 05, 2008 1. There are no rules. You can do anything you want as long as it works.  2. Don't bore the reader. You can bore the reader in a sentence, in a paragraph, by misusing words, poorly choosing words, using the wrong length, etc.  3. Don't confuse the reader. Don't misuse point of view. Don't do too much at once. 4. Don't get caught writing. Don't let you, the author, enter the story. (E.g., "And he never would see Memphis again." How would anyone other than the author know that the character would never see Memphis again?)

8 rules for writing – cont’d. 5. Shorter is always better. Write tight. It makes you use the best words in the right way.  6. Don't lie to the reader. It's OK to mislead, but don't lie. If you say the character's motivation is A and it turns out to be B (and you haven't foreshadowed it at all), the reader will feel cheated.  7. Don't annoy the reader. Don't use names that are hard to pronounce or write choppy sentences throughout the entire book. It keeps people from getting close to your characters. 8. You must tell a good story. Bad writing can be forgiven with a good story. A bad story