narrative essay
darkheaven
narative_essay.docxNARATIVE WRITING
Time structures all narratives. As the writer, you get to decide at what point your story starts and where it ends. Also, it does not even matter most of the time whether or not the event actually occurred. What matters is whether or not it COULD have happened just as you described! First, choose your point of view. Will this be a first or third person narrative? The first essay you write for this course will use the first person point of view, since this essay focuses on personal experience. Next, decide whether you are telling the event or showing it. Telling summarizes an event. Showing is like a drama - it includes a scene with dialogue. Last, ending a narrative can be tricky. Most people assume that the narrative ends where the story does. However, every piece of writing needs a conclusion. In narration, the conclusion should reflect upon the reason or the purpose for telling the story. It can call attention to the significance of this particular event in your life. Maybe it was a life changing moment. It can also reflect what you may have wanted the reader to learn or to take away from the story.
Regardless, your conclusion should leave the reader with a lasting impression. It's like watching a great movie only to have the ending ruin everything that preceded it.
NARATIVE ESSAYTop of Form
Required Pages: 1-3 pages of text; double-spaced
(8 – 10 sentences /paragraph)
Format: MLA style heading and page numbering
Choose ONE of the following topics:
1. First Impressions – Write about a time when your first impression of a person, place, or thing turned out to be incorrect.
2. Things I Was Told – Write about something you believed but now, looking back, know it isn’t true.
3. Pride – Write a narrative about a time when you were proud of yourself or others were proud of you. Incorporate parents’ or friends’ reactions.
4. Childhood Event – Choose a vivid time from your childhood -- You might think of the first time that you rode a school bus, of a time when you went to the principal's office, the first A you earned on a test or paper, earning money to buy something that you really wanted, and so on. Narrate the events related to the childhood memory that you've chosen so that your readers will understand why the event was important and memorable.
5. The Good and the Bad – Think about an event in your life that seemed bad but turned out to be good. Maybe you got injured and while you were waiting for your broken leg to heal, you learned how to use a computer. What makes the event change from bad to good may be something that you learned as a result, something that you did differently as a result, or something that happened that wouldn't have occurred otherwise. Tell the story of the event that you experienced and help your readers understand how an event that seemed negative turned out to have valuable consequences.
6. Awkward – Write a narrative about an incident in which you said or did something that turned out to be quite hurtful, insulting, or offensive…awkward!
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