1. Prewriting the Narrative Essay

2. Topic Selection: generating a list
Chronological (first memory, etc.)
Importance in shaping personality
Relational (favorite sibling, etc.)
Emotional (funniest, most tragic, etc.)

3. Topic selection: narrowing choices
Was a lesson learned?
Are there a plethora of sensory details?
Did it change you as a person?
Did you “go against the crowd”?
(If it doesn’t fit at least one of these criteria, eliminate it)

4. So, you’ve selected a topic…
Brainstorming details through sense imagery
Visual
Aural
Tactile
Gustatory
Olfactory
Listing events in chronological order
Listing emotional impressions

5. Approaches to Narrative
Chronological
Most common
Straightforward structure
Thematic
Prioritizes the “why” instead of the “when”
Historical event parallels
Didactic
Usually involves flashbacks/jumps in time

6. Examples: Chronological
“Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Richard Rodriguez
“How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Zora Neal Hurston
“Now We Are Five” by David Sedaris (Triggering)

7. Examples: Thematic “The Crack-Up” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
“In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens” by Alice Walker
“The Search for Marvin Gardens” by John McPhee

8. Examples: Didactic “Notes of a Native Son” by Richard Wright
“A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf
“The Ethics of Living Jim Crow” by Richard Wright (Triggering)