The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.
A narrative essay is a way of testing your ability to tell a story in a clear and interesting way. You’re expected to think about where your story begins and ends, and how to convey it with eye-catching language and a satisfying pace.
When you are prompted to tell a story about your own life or experiences, a narrative essay is usually the right response.
A narrative essay tells a story. In most cases, this is a story about a personal experience you had. This type of essay, along with the descriptive essay, allows you to get personal and creative, unlike most academic writing.
Choosing a topic
When assigned a narrative essay, you might find yourself wondering: Why does my teacher want to hear this story? Topics for narrative essays can range from the important to the trivial. Usually the point is not so much the story itself, but the way you tell it.
Narrative essays test your ability to express your experiences in a creative and compelling way, and to follow an appropriate narrative structure. They are often assigned in high school or in composition classes at university. You can also use these techniques when writing a personal statement for an application.
If you’re not given much guidance on what your narrative essay should be about, consider the context and scope of the assignment. What kind of story is relevant, interesting, and possible to tell within the word count?
The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to reflect on a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.
There you have it. For those students bothered with questions such as “what is a narrative essay” or “what is narrative writing” the information provided above will assist you to know what a narrative essay, as well as descriptive essay, is and what is involved in writing it. You are supposed to narrate a story that has a specific point to be made. Your audience has to get a vivid idea or learn a lesson from your paper. Also, make use of emotional language.
While writing your essay, you need to be driven by passion and utilize concrete details. Narrative writing offers students a great opportunity to score highly by telling a good story with passion, without having to concentrate on areas like persuasive writing and literary analysis.
- A Memorable Journey
- A Significant Misunderstanding
- An Embarrassing Event
- Your First Day At Work
- An Unexpected Encounter
- An Encounter With Someone You Were Afraid Of
The format of a narrative essay is almost similar to a general essay format:
Seven Steps for Writing Successful Narrative Essay Examples
One important thing to remember is that you should pay more attention to the plot
- You begin from the introduction, which is supposed to be captivating to capture the reader’s attention.
- Next, you outline your plot in the body.
- Finally, you come up with a conclusion, explaining the lessons learned from that experience and how it can be useful to others.
During the process of narrative writing, it’s essential to list any sounds, feelings, tastes that the writer experienced in the story. The writer ought to draw the reader while refraining from making the narrative story sound like another summary. Make use of transitional words in order to make the flow and easy to perceive.
In this section, the writer presents his or her thoughts and analysis of the situation and also highlighting the reason why these experiences are important to the readers.
For any type of essay, a hook statement can be the game-changer. But, particularly for a personal narrative essay, hook sentences are very important.
The purpose of a personal narrative essay is to show the reader what and how you have felt. Hence don't forget to add the emotions, as you have to make the reader know about the feelings. Describe all of the emotions and feelings using very descriptive words.
As it is a personal narrative, you don't have to provide evidence to prove the significance of your story. Rather, you have to convey a broader message through your story.
Usually, the introduction of the essay starts with this sentence. You may use a famous quotation, verse, or an interesting fact for this purpose. This sentence helps to attain the reader’s attention and persuade the reader to read the entire essay.
Be Consistent
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Essay writing is something that a student can never avoid by any means. Every student must have to write essays at different stages of academic life.
The thesis statement is mentioned somewhere before the last sentence of the introduction.
A personal narrative essay is considered very good when it is expressive and the reader enjoys your personal narrative. The key to writing an amazing personal narrative is to use sensory details as much as possible. An excellent narrative essay doesn't tell what happened. Instead, it shows what happened precisely and how you have felt at that moment.
In descriptive narrative essays, the writer explains everything with vivid details. This could be something visual also, like a photo or a painting and the writer narrates it.
The villagers had lost a few goats and poultry to a mystery. The mystery of the missing farm animals spread like a wildfire in the village. Many speculated there were thieves in the village while others suggested a wild beast was on the run. Despite several speculations, the mystery of the disappearances remained unsolved. The whole village was in a state of dismay when the tiger appeared and launched another attack on the village.
The prey was not any farm animal this time, it was a young child playing by the barn. The villagers had had enough, they had to put a stop to it once and for all. They organized a group of the bravest men from the village, armed them with shotguns and knives, and planned to attack the tiger. They also took a goat to lure to the tiger in our trap.
The mission was accomplished. We had killed the wild beast and had emerged successful. It was an amazing hunting trip. One that would always remain in my memory for all time to come.
Literacy Narrative Essay Example
It is always a better option to have some sense of direction before you start anything. Below, you can find important details and a bunch of narrative essay examples. These examples will also help you build your content according to the format.
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Personal narrative essay samples given below will help you make a difference between the third and first-person accounts.
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- Think of your past experiences and memories, try to find something truly exciting.
- Think of what bothers you and what stories you’d want to share with others.
- Take a walk to refresh and generate some good ideas.
- Use the Internet to your benefit – social media, online magazines, blogs, and other resources can help you discover what stories your peers have shared, what they are interested in, and what they discuss. This can also help you find a few ideas.
- Try freewriting – this is a very handy technique that can help you get your story flowing. To give it a try, all you need is to get a pen and paper and to start writing your thoughts down.
The opening clause of your story has to accomplish 3 goals:
The biggest challenge in writing a narrative essay is that it is always limited in length. Thus, your task is to take a complex story and narrow it down to incorporate its key points to fit into a short essay, while at the same time providing enough detail to keep readers engaged.
To make the writing process less stressful, keep the following do’s and don’ts in mind:
Narrative Format and Structure
- Keep It Clear. Your narrative writing should be easy to read and understand. Thus, try to avoid phrasing and syntax that is too complex. Keep your language clear and simple.
- Don’t Overuse Details. A narrative essay should tell a story in vivid detail. However, it is important not to overuse details as well. As was already mentioned, your word count is going to be limited and you still need to have enough space to let your story unfold fully. Thus, don’t describe literally everything and focus on things that matter and add value.
- Use the First-Person Narrative. As a rule, narrative writing aims to describe real events and experiences that happened in the author’s life. That’s why you should avoid writing in the second-person perspective.
- Use Dynamic Words. A narrative story should be engaging and dynamic. Avoid making it too monotonous and don’t overuse passive voice.
- Limit References. Most papers written in MLA format have to include in-text citations and thus, lots of references. This is, however, not a good practice for a narrative essay. By its essence, this type of assignment is much more personal, so it would be great if you can use your own thoughts and feelings to write it. If you still used some other helpful resources while writing, cite them on a “Works Cited” page.
Writing a narrative essay should be a positive experience. It does not restrict you to a linear format with no allowance for variation. This is one of the most free-spirited and original essays to write. That doesn’t mean that rebelling against all rules and writing something absurd is appropriate though.
Here are some narrative essay ideas to help you brainstorm: