The Narrative Essay

The Purpose of Narrative Writing

A narrative is a story that shares events, characters, and themes. It is a creative style of writing that allows writers to share their imagination with their readers. Nearly all narratives utilize a traditional plot structure that follow the typical plot pyramid structure: Exposition (setting the scene), Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution.

Narrative Essay Characteristics

Choose a topic
- Your instructor might ask you to choose a personal experience or event that impacted you
- You might be asked to write a narrative about a fictional character or a narrative from the perspective of a fictional character
Organize ideas using the plot pyramid
- Exposition (setting the scene), Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution
- Narrative essays still require an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion
Features to include:
- Descriptive and figurative language
- First or Third person
- Dialogue
- Conflict to grab reader
- Strong theme
View the following Narrative Essay writing elements
- Examine the writing elements associated with a Narrative Essay and a printout of these elements.

Let's look at an example paragraph in narrative writing. Notice the incorporation of figurative language to make the images come alive for the reader. Unlike the example below (which is just an excerpt), make sure to include dialogue in your narrative writings.

Narrative Writing Example:

Sample essay highlighting the clear topic sentence

RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.