1. Description, Narration, and Example

2. What is a Narrative Essay
A narrative essay is a story that has a specific point
A narrative teaches a lesson or
A narrative makes a specific point
What is the “moral” of the story?

3. What should be included?
Often written in 1st person – I or we – because it is based on a personal story
Can also be written in 3rd person (he, she, they)
Never written in 2nd person (you)
Has specific sensory details to get the reader hooked on the story
Usually developed in chronological order

4. What else?
The narrative essay needs everything a story needs (story elements):
A plot
Characters
A problem
A climax (the turning point—change for better or worse)
Often uses dialogue

5. Narrative Essay Writing Process
Decide on a topic, pre-write
You need an introductory paragraph that includes the thesis statement
The Body will have three or more paragraphs.
Write a conclusion that wraps up your essay. A good narrative essay has a “moral” of the story or some kind of observation.

6. The Thesis-What is Your Essay About?
The thesis will depend upon the story to be proven.
In a narrative essay, the thesis can be something general.
“My first date was a washout that dampened more than my confidence.”

7. What would you expect from this thesis?
As the reader, you will expect to read a story about my first date.
As the reader, you might expect a story about a bad date.

8. Make an Outline An Informal Outline of the Story:
Interesting intro and thesis statement
I knew I was making a mistake going out with this guy. Even my dog didn’t like him.
Fine dining experience?
How the date ends
Conclusion—listen to your dog

9. Rough Draft Introduction
When the young couple saw one another, warm excitement filled the room. He handed her a bouquet of fresh daisies, and she blushed with pleasure. This was her very first date, and he was ready to impress her with a steak dinner and then a walk along the lakeshore…or that’s how I imagined my first date would be. I was wrong. My first date was a washout that dampened more than my confidence.

10. The Body—Setting the Scene/Developing the Essay
I had my very first date when I was 16-years old. I really didn’t want to go out with Mark, even my dog didn’t like him (NEED MORE). But I was naively happy that someone had actually asked me out. Mark actually reminded me of a sort of greasy, sleazy, used-car salesman, except that he was unemployed.

11. Since Mark was unemployed, he didn’t have enough money for a steak dinner, so we went to McDonald’s. Sitting in his in car in McDonald’s parking lot, we ate our fine cuisine—French fries. He let me have most of the French fries—what a guy! After dinner, we drove around town listening to rock music on the radio. However, not surprisingly, the McDonalds’ coke began to work its way to my bladder.
(CLIMAX) I had to go the restroom, but I was too embarrassed to tell him. Finally, when I felt like a tsunami was churning in my bladder, I told him he had to find a bathroom. He slyly smiled and slowly, very slowly, drove to the nearest gas station. I raced into the ladies’ room, trying my best to look ladylike and not desperate.

12. Unfortunately, the bathroom was pitch black
Unfortunately, the bathroom was pitch black. The light bulb had burned out. Blindly, I held my hands in front of me and searched for the stall door, while at the same time trying to hold back the tsunami. Unfortunately, I did not find the toilet in time (NEED MORE?).
My first date was a washout. I should have listened to my dog and, most importantly, my own good judgment.

13. Giving Life to Your Writing
Mouth to
Giving Life to Your Writing

14. Descriptive Writing: Using the Senses
Can the reader see the person?
Can the reader hear the person?
Can the reader smell a special perfume or after-shave worn by the person?
Touch—chill of air conditioning
Taste—spicy tamale

15. USE DIALOGUE The bathroom was pitch black. I felt for a switch.
“The lights are out,” came a tired voice from the only toilet stall.
“Oh, my gosh, I don’t believe this,” I said.
“You’d think they’d fix the light,” she said.
In the blinding darkness, I could not see my hands in front of my face. I held my hands in front of me and felt along the wall until I came to the sink. I leaned there to keep from becoming more disoriented, waiting for the woman to finish. She was silent. What in the world is she doing in there, I thought. I bent over, trying to hold back the flood threatening to come from my bladder.

16. Use Binoculars What did they look like? What were they wearing?
What were they doing?
What did it smell like?
What was the air like?
What did it taste like?

17. Use Snapshots
Ma kissed them both, and tucked the covers in around them. They lay there awhile, looking at Ma’s smooth, parted hair and her hands busy with sewing in the lamplight. Her needle made little clicking sounds against her thimble and then the thread went softly, swish! through the pretty calico that Pa had traded furs for.
Little House in the Big Woods
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s

18. Use Thoughtshots
A thoughtshot is the reflections, thoughts, feelings, opinions of the author.
I stand on the warm diving board and stare down at the blue water, terrified…
When I was eight-years old, I stared at the water every day for an entire summer, too afraid to jump in and learn to swim. I finally did….

19. Steps to Plan the Essay:
Prewrite
Draft
Revise and Edit
Final Copy