Narrative Essay Writing | Types, Characteristics, Components and Outline

Narrative Essay Writing: A narrative essay is a typical kind of essay, which comprised of essays on personal experience which leads to storytelling. There will be a central character to it who’ll narrate his or her experiences, the story will initially revolve around that particular character.

Narrative essays writings can be similar to any general essay writings except they have a character, dialogues, incidents etc. The main objective of telling the stories is for better learning of one’s experience and not just to use it as amusement.

For example, as from the point of the reader, I should be able to get an adequate amount of relevance to the story I’m reading. Surprising factors of narrative essay topics are that they should be crisp and limited within a framework like a short narrative essay.

Narrative Essay Writing in English

What are the types of narrative essay writing?

  • Descriptive Narrative essay: it is the type of essay that involves a particular person to interpret something. For example, emotions, feelings, situations, place etc. This means the writer has complete independence in things that he or she wants to write about. The writer has an artistic ability to express and address his/her ideas.

In this type of writing, we enhance people’s mindset and broaden their views instead of constructive criticism or judging for their past lives.

  • Viewpoint narrative: to understand the writing from one’s feelings, desires point of view. We often refer to this as ‘POV’ which means (point of view). This narrative has a strength that we can’t challenge anyone’s narrative from ours because theirs is much stronger than us.

A person’s personal feelings have the strongest urge when in comparison to others. For example, the book named God of small things by Arundhati Roy where she interprets her view or Azadi via different essays.

Or the books like Why I am an atheist by Bhagat Singh where he dealt with the non-existence of God for poor people from his own eyes.

  • Historical narratives: it is referred to as autobiographies or biographies of different personalities which is quite famous and catches people’s attention to grow more audience. We generally write historical writings of famous personalities.

For example, autobiographies of Mahatma Gandhi or the Obama family home where they are represented as famous personalities.

  • Linear narrative: this is one of the writings which has a time frame or a chronological order to submerge. It is always written in the sequential form to understand the time frame of happening.

For example, a person is telling an incident that happened to him about one hour ago. This same person has already experienced the things that he’s telling right now. Thus, it comes under a timeframe.

Characteristics of narrative essay?

  • Informal: stories are written in the first person. For example, I am the first person and I’m storytelling. There’s no indulgence of any second or third person through my stories. These are my writings and if I take anyone else’s view that should be called plagiarism.
  • Defined: it is illustrative in a defined statement of the whole structure of the story with a proper chronological segment. In which the reader should not feel left out from an incident that happened. He or she shouldn’t feel that this line or this paragraph should hold more information or these lines are not being touched.
  • Non-fictional: tells us about the actual incident that happened over time. It’s not fictional. It’s personal with real stories. If it’s fictional then it can never be called narrative essay writing because it has imagination or scientific imagination to it. It should contain proper realism in it.
  • Documentaries: apart from autobiographies, documentaries can help with narrative essays. Documentaries are full of real stories even before we were born.

So, first person telling the whole narration would help to conglomerate with the situation. For example, documentaries of wars and hostile situations people have been through. When they are penned together, they are jotted as narrative essays.

Purpose behind narrative essay writing?

A lot of psychologists says that writing about yourself gives you an overall view of who you are. It reminds you to be a better person day by day seeing out past mistakes. Narrative essays may also influence the reader to think from others’ points of view. It is a life-changing experience for many unexplainable issues. It works both ways-

  • To entertain the audience
  • To work within ourselves.

Sometimes it also provokes the reader to empathize within the context.

Components of narrative essay writing?

  • Plot: Plot refers to an event happening in the story. For example, if the protagonist is reading then he or she should mention what or how it impacts his or her life. Or what did you learn today? What extra did it teach you? Or how it made your mood vibrant or depressing?
  • Setting: setting refers to a place of happening in the situation. Where exactly the event is happening? For example, you went to an Oxford bookstore to read books about this and that author. The time frame and place behind it makes the location impactful.
  • Characters: a dimension of character is so powerful to conduct any story successfully. A protagonist should always retain their position in such a way that it attracts the audience to his side.

And he or she should also add more side characters to enhance the story. For example, when the main character goes to oxford library to read books, he finds his friends to cheer him up. They read books together. This is how a story goes in line.

  • Obstacles: obstacles or conflict gives new tributaries of writing a story. It gives a new objective of amusement. The story reaches its peak of thrill and gets down to a new level.

For example, the protagonist has faced a lot of difficulties reaching his destination. He was lost in the middle of pathways. He had no support. These sorts of portrayals or narratives amuse people to think more, a space of thrill to be specified.

  • Elucidation: starting of the story should always consist of the background of the protagonist. The story should start by describing the main characters. Going straight onto the story makes it bland and incomplete. For example, describing a girl named “Lana” with all her features.
  • Way of writing: the way you write your story reflects how maturely you’ve been thinking about the whole dimension. Writing, words, sentences make a reader read with great interest. The selection of words that’s why so important in any form of writing. The writer should use more mature words to catch.

But it’s not always necessary to write hard words in other to make other people understand or impress. The writer should use lucid words too so that will help readers to connect more with the context. Powerful nouns, verbs and adjectives help grip the reader’s attention.

Outline of narrative writing?

  • Introductory paragraph: an introduction to any simple content is the foremost important thing to be done wisely. A good introduction leads to a good grip of a starting point. A brief explanation about the outline of the whole narrative deals with the whole story systematically.

Supporting point to the sentence must be added to the statement of the thesis.

  • Once the writer has done grabbing the attention of the reader. Now he can move forward into the truthfulness of the story explaining each point accordingly. Explanation of the incidents makes the reader clear about what the story is unfolding.

The writer should use logical patterns and reasoning in his writings for grabbing the audience.

  • Conclusions: are a must when it comes to any narrative or non-narrative essay writings. Anything which has a conclusion makes the writing more subtle and convenient.

Starting from the introduction and coming down towards the end, the reader has this animosity of what’s going to be at the end. And if that is not up to the mark, the whole essay loses its charm. So, it’s good to have a proper ending that attracts the audience.

  • Drafting the essay: once you complete your whole essay writing you can see through your mistakes by reading it again. You can then undermine the flaws in which you lack.
  • You can rectify your mistakes because re-reading the facts helps your brain calculates what’s not being written or what better should have been added.

How to start narrative essay writing?

Starting narrative writings can be so fun. We can add quotes from any famous personalities to give it an enchanting look. Making it meaningful. Within which we can add funny segments to spice it up or a moving anecdote.

We can also add mystery arguments in between to give it another look. And then the road goes on to asking for questions and not solving answers so that readers may have recognition to thinking within themselves about what should be the answer.

To get readers onto their thinking traps of imagination to make it more acceptable and private. To give more shocking statements to make them more curious.

So these are some components, structure, nature, perspectives of narrative essay writing we can use for our writings. It starts from our personal experience and combines with the emotions of the reader which makes it more acceptable for the readers to read the essay thoroughly.

Maybe these readers who’ll read such essays relate to the writings of their daily social life. If narrative writings are helping people become better people day by day, if they are seeing onto themselves or if they are getting knowledge from this source then narrative essay writings are sources to enjoy life in a better way.

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