What Is a Narrative Essay?
A Perfect narrative essay is a piece of writing that entails the writer constructing and communicating a story from their point of view. The reader must give a report containing the character, conflict, and settings in a narrative essay. As the word “narrate” suggests, this type of essay entails telling a story more so about an experience you had.
A narrative essay’s purpose is to examine a person’s capability to express their experiences in a fascinating, creative, and original way and still ensure they use the correct structure. The unique primary purpose of a narrative essay is to inform and guide the reader, do not try to persuade, give arguments or criticize. As a writer, you narrate the story and let the reader make their conclusions. This characteristic makes a narrative essay different from the other types of essays.

Characteristics of a Perfect narrative essay
- As a writer, do not give a non-fiction story because this can make your work challenging and uninteresting. Ensure that you write about an experience that genuinely happened.
- Use the author’s point of view, which is the 1st person. Avoid using the second person’s point of view.
- Ensure you give the story and the information in chronological order.
- A narrative essay ensures to inform readers and not argue.
- Use precise language for easy reading and understanding.
A STRUCTURE OF A PERFECT NARRATIVE ESSAY

- Elements of a story
An accurate narrative essay entails telling a story. Therefore, the writer of a narrative should involve the necessary elements for it to be called a story. The elements include;
- Plotting: This involves showing the events that happened in the story.
- Setting: The writer explains when and where the events in the story happened. The author gives details of the place and the time.
- Character: A character can be termed as the hero in the story. For example, the hero can be you, the writer, or any other person depending on the level you are narrating. The hero in the story is the person who took the challenge and, in the end, conquered it.
- Conflict: The conflict in the story is a challenge that the hero needs to conquer.
- Theme: This refers to the lesson learned from the story. It is the message you took home after the experience and the lesson for the reader.
The above elements should be considered to achieve a perfect narrative essay.
- Format
Your essay should take a narrative arc format to show the story’s series of events. It comprises five components. The components include;
- Exposition: This is the introduction part of the story. It should contain the background of the characters.
- Rising action: This is the tense moment in the story due to the challenge. Such a moment helps the reader understand what the story is about.
- Climax: The climax entails the main event in your story. It is where the character is faced with a decision they need to make. At this point, there may be a height of tension
- Falling action: This is where the result of choice made is portrayed. It is the stage where the conflict is resolved.
- Resolution: This is where you give a conclusion of your story. You explain the moral lesson in your account or the points of view you intended to share with the reader.
As a writer, if your aim is for your narrative to be counted among the good ones, you should ensure you use the above five components.
- Form the narrative essay outline
A narrative essay outline entails the introduction, body, and conclusion.
The introduction
An introduction is vital to a perfect narrative essay since it can capture the reader’s attention. This section should contain an introductory phrase that is catchy. The term can be a quote, joke, or point the reader had not predicted that could be used.
The introduction should also contain a thesis statement. A thesis statement in a narrative essay does not have to be formal, as in other types of essays, but it is vital to have it included. As an author, ensure that there are other supporting sentences in the introduction. In a narrative essay, the opening can also give a glimpse or a hint to the reader of what to expect in the body.
The body
The body paragraph is where your whole story will be. Ensure you give one idea in every section. The information provided in a paragraph should be enough but ensure it does not look a lot. There should also be a flow of how events took place to ensure the reader does not wander. Using chronological order is considered the easiest way. As a writer, you should also decide on the writing style, for example, ironic, romantic, or sarcastic.
The conclusion
The conclusion is essential to a perfect narrative essay, just like the introduction. In this section, you can emphasize the crucial points in the body using a few words. You can also give suggestions as you summarize. In a narrative essay, how you end depends on the writing style used. You could opt to use a rhetoric question to complete the report, which is still correct. You can also remind the reader of the point you wanted to share from your story or the lesson to learn from it.
- Proofread your essay
Proofreading is an underrated step by most authors, even though it is essential for achieving a perfect narrative essay. The reader should proofread the work to detect mistakes like grammar, misspelled words, and punctuation. This will ensure that your work is clean therefore avoiding minor mistakes.
To summarize, a perfect narrative essay is a product of many combined steps and efforts. The above guidelines are essential to follow for your narrative to be considered a perfect one. However, the writer is not limited to them because there are still other things to consider, such as the topic to choose and the use of power words. Remember, your primary purpose is to help the reader visualize the events that occurred because they were not there. Therefore the words you use should not only tell the story but also show it.
What Is a Narrative Essay?
A narrative essay is a piece of writing that entails the writer constructing and communicating a story from their point of view. The reader must give a report containing character, conflict, and settings in a narrative essay. As the word “narrate” suggests, this type of essay entails telling a story more so about an experience you had.
A narrative essay’s purpose is to examine a person’s capability to express their experiences in a fascinating, creative, and original way and still ensure they use the correct structure. The unique primary purpose of a narrative essay is to inform and guide the reader, do not try to persuade, give arguments or criticize. As a writer, you narrate the story and let the reader make their conclusions. This characteristic makes a narrative essay different from the other types of essays.
Characteristics of a narrative essay
- As a writer, do not give a non-fiction story because this can make your work challenging and uninteresting. Ensure that you write about an experience that genuinely happened.
- Use the author’s point of view, which is the 1st person. Avoid using the second person’s point of view.
- Ensure you give the story and the information in chronological order.
- A narrative essay ensures to inform readers and not argue.
- Use precise language for easy reading and understanding.
A STRUCTURE OF A PERFECT NARRATIVE ESSAY
- Elements of a story
A narrative essay entails telling a story. Therefore, the writer of a narrative should involve the necessary elements for it to be called a story. The elements include;
- Plotting: This involves showing the events that happened in the story.
- Setting: The writer explains when and where the events in the story happened. The author gives details of the place and the time.
- Character: A character can be termed as the hero in the story. For example, the hero can be you, the writer, or any other person depending on the level you are narrating. The hero in the story is the person who took the challenge and, in the end, conquered it.
- Conflict: The conflict in the story is a challenge that the hero needs to conquer.
- Theme: This refers to the lesson learned from the story. It is the message you took home after the experience and the lesson for the reader.
The above elements should be considered to achieve a perfect narrative essay.
- Format
Your essay should take a narrative arc format to show the story’s series of events. It comprises five components. The components include;
- Exposition: This is the introduction part of the story. It should contain the background of the characters.
- Rising action: This is the tense moment in the story due to the challenge. Such a moment helps the reader understand what the story is about.
- Climax: The climax entails the main event in your story. It is where the character is faced with a decision they need to make. At this point, there may be a height of tension
- Falling action: This is where the result of choice made is portrayed. It is the stage where the conflict is resolved.
- Resolution: This is where you give a conclusion of your story. You explain the moral lesson in your account or the points of view you intended to share with the reader.
As a writer, if your aim is for your narrative to be counted among the good ones, you should ensure you use the above five components.
- Form the narrative essay outline
A narrative essay outline entails the introduction, body, and conclusion.
The introduction
An introduction is vital to a perfect narrative essay since it can capture the reader’s attention. This section should contain an introductory phrase that is catchy. The term can be a quote, joke, or point the reader had not predicted that could be used. The introduction should also contain a thesis statement. A thesis statement in a narrative essay does not have to be formal, as in other types of essays, but it is vital to have it included. As an author, ensure that there are other supporting sentences in the introduction. In a narrative essay, the opening can also give a glimpse or a hint to the reader of what to expect in the body.
The body
The body paragraph is where your whole story will be. Ensure you give one idea in every section. The information provided in a paragraph should be enough but ensure it does not look a lot. There should also be a flow of how events took place to ensure the reader does not wander. Using chronological order is considered the easiest way. As a writer, you should also decide on the writing style, for example, ironic, romantic, or sarcastic.
The conclusion
The conclusion is essential to a perfect narrative essay, just like the introduction. In this section, you can emphasize the crucial points in the body using a few words. You can also give suggestions as you summarize. In a narrative essay, how you end depends on the writing style used. You could opt to use a rhetoric question to complete the report, which is still correct. You can also remind the reader of the point you wanted to share from your story or the lesson to learn from it.
- Proofread your essay
Proofreading is an underrated step by most authors, even though it is essential for achieving a perfect narrative essay. The reader should proofread the work to detect mistakes like grammar, misspelled words, and punctuation. This will ensure that your work is clean therefore avoiding minor mistakes.
To summarize, a perfect narrative essay is a product of many combined steps and efforts. The above guidelines are essential to follow for your narrative to be considered a perfect one. However, the writer is not limited to them because there are still other things to consider, such as the topic to choose and the use of power words. Remember, your primary purpose is to help the reader visualize the events that occurred because they were not there. Therefore the words you use should not only tell the story but also show it.