Structuring a personal narrative

What is a narative? A narrative is a personal story about something that has happened to you. You will tell a personal experience about a real event that happened to you Like fiction, it also has characters, a setting (place where it happened), and action (people doing things/conflict).

The central point of a narrative When choosing a topic on which to write, choose carefully. Not everything that has happened to you is worth writing about. The event you choose must have RELEVANCE to an audience. That is to say that the audience will be able to identify a lesson or moral to your story.

Principles of a narrative essay Show, don’t tell. It is much more interesting to actually recreate the incident for your reader. Don’t just tell the reader what happened, show the reader through use of description and vivid words. You don’t need to give every detail of the event, but choose the details carefully so they support the point you are trying to make.

Principles of a narrative essay Use a generalization to state the relevance of your story. For example: Showing kindness to a stranger can make a big difference in both his life and also yours. (generalizations underlined) BUT, use specific details and descriptions to tell your story. Describe the setting in detail (what does it look, smell like?); the characters in detail (what do they look like?); the action in detail (what are people specifically doing?) More info on handout.

Conventions of narrative essays Viewpoint: 1st person (me, I, we, us) Use 3rd person when referring to others Describe things in concrete detail: show, don’t tell. See handout for more info. Tell the story in chronological order. If you are a very confident writer you can move out of time order and use things like flashbacks.

Conventions of narrative essays Have a clear plot, setting and characters Plot should tell the story in a logical order Setting should clearly indicate where and when the event is taking place. It is also a good idea to describe aspects of setting so the reader can picture where and when it is happening. And don’t forget to use people – characters – in your narrative. Describe how people sound, what they look like, how they dress, gestures they make – anything relevant to telling your story.

Conventions of narrative essays Climax Every narrative needs a climax – the peak experience where the lesson is actually learned, where the moral of the story is told. Your reader must clearly understand the lesson or moral of your story, so it is a good idea to state it directly near the end of your essay. The climax must go in the second to last paragraph

Conventions of narrative essays Ending An ending explains how the problem was resolved and how everything turned out. This will be the final paragraph It is different from the climax and comes after the climax. Remember that the climax (which states the relevance) must be in your second to last paragraph

How to Begin a Narrative Student Samples How to Begin a Narrative

What is an “opener”? An opener is not the complete introductory paragraph An opener is the first part of the introduction that is intended to grab the reader’s attention, suggest the topic of the essay and draw the reader in to the story Often called an “attention-getter”

A Basic Opener The writer “tells” the reader about the topic.

A Basic Opener Again, the writer is telling rather than showing.

A Basic Opener The two previous examples are technically correct, but they lack the ability to capture the interest of a reader. These are called summary leads. These types of introductions present the main idea in summary form in the first paragraph. They are not very interesting.

Great Openers But if you want to best capture the attention of your audience, put them in the middle of the action. Don’t tell the reader: show the reader by describing an event in detail. Anecdote: a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.

A Great Opener This puts the reader right in the middle of an action taking place.

A Great Opener Notice the use of description to create interest.

A Great Opener Here the writer uses dialogue and specific concrete detail to draw the reader in to a specific moment in time.

A Great Opener Here the writer uses dialogue alone to draw the reader into a specific moment in time.

An Interesting Opener So next time you begin writing, think about putting the reader right in the middle of the action. You can use description or dialogue or, better yet, both.