NARRATIVE ESSAY



NARRATIVE ◙ ESSAY ◙ ASSIGNMENT

Assignment

Your assignment is to write a Narrative Essay based on a story told by someone in your family. In doing your research, you may hear several stories; choose a story that reveals something about your family member and/or your family. Find a story that tells something important.

Your Narrative Essay must be written according to MLA rules, including heading, spacing, and Works Cited. It should be typed, double spaced. It should contain 500-750 words, or be roughly two to two-and-a-half pages long, plus the Works Cited page.

You must submit 1) Interview Notes 2) Plot Diagram 3) Rough Draft 4) Revised Draft.

Some Characteristics of Narrative Essays

• Offers writers a chance to think and write about themselves

• Shares memories with readers

• Relies heavily on the prewriting stage

• Tells a story

• Includes specific details and sensory details to get the reader involved in the story

• Uses vivid and precise verbs

• Makes a point that is often defined in the opening sentence, but can also be found as the last sentence in the opening paragraph

• Told from a defined point of view

• Relies on personal experiences

• Includes all the conventions of storytelling: plot, character, setting, conflict, climax, and ending

• Filled with details carefully selected to explain, support, or enhance the story

• All details relate to the main point the writer is attempting to make

Once an idea is chosen, the writer should keep these principles in mind:

• Remember to involve readers in the story. It is much more interesting to recreate an incident for readers than to simply tell about it.

• Find a generalization (theme or idea) that the story supports. This is the only way the writing will take on meaning for readers. This generalization does not have to encompass humanity as a whole; it should concern the members of your family

• Remember that although the main component of a narrative is the story, details must be carefully selected to support, explain, and enhance the story.

• Conclude your narrative with a point that shows its significance or meaning.

Some Conventions of Narrative Essays

• Keep the following conventions (customs) in mind.

• Narratives are generally written in the first person however, third person can also be used.

• Narratives rely on specific, actual, sensory details to convey their point.

• Details should create a unified, forceful effect, and a dominant impression.

• Narratives, as stories, should include normal story elements such as plot, setting, characters, climax, and an ending.

The topic you choose should be interesting and important to you; the best essays are written on topics that really matter to the writer.

SOURCE: © 2003-2010

NARRATIVE ◙ ESSAY HINTS ◙ AND TIPS

We tell stories almost every day. Sometimes we share brief stories to keep others in touch with our lives or illustrate a larger point. Sometimes we write stories in letters or e-mails. And how many of our phone conversations begin something like this: “You’ll never guess what happened . . .” (the promise of a story) or “Hi, _________, what are you doing?” (a request for one)?

Prewriting

Conflict, suspense, and climax in a narrative make the difference between an interesting story and a boring one.

After you have chosen a story to tell, you can use several prewriting methods, such as clustering and listing.

As you prewrite, focusing on these points will help give you good material for your story:

• Setting: Give your reader enough details to see the story happening.

• Characters: (people): Give enough details about the characters so that the reader can place them in the story.

• Dialogue: Use dialogue unless there is a good reason not to.

• Action: Show yourself and others doing something.

• Thoughts and feelings: Tell and/or show some of both.

• Significance: A story with a point is both memorable and meaningful. Reward your reader at the end.

When you have a good start on your prewriting and have thought your story through, tell your story to another member of the family. This may help you decide to change your focus, add or cut material, or just keep moving ahead.

Review your prewriting. Does your story have a point yet? Does the story reveal something about your interview subject and/or your family? In one or two sentences, explain the meaning of your story.

The following skills will help you create more interesting personal narratives:

●Find significance or meaning. ●Use effective dialogue.

●Show. Avoid just telling. ●Use time and space transitions

Find Significance or Meaning

Stories that stick with us usually have a point. They make us pause for a moment and think, “Yes, that makes sense.” Or maybe, “I see how that could apply to me.” Although the meaning or significance of a story may not be clear to us when we begin to write, if we are interested in telling the story and wonder why we remember it so vividly, we can usually identify why it matters.

A narrative’s point might show how the story did or does one of the following:

1. Changed the writer’s behavior, thinking, or feeling

2. Shows something important about who the subject was or has become

3. Affected other people at the time or affects them now

4. Helped the writer learn something about another person or the larger world

Showing and Telling

In telling stories, we try to bring them to life. However, if we only tell and never show the reader the action, our story is likely to fall flat. Here are two sentences, one that tells and one that shows. Which do you prefer?

1. I looked back and was terrified.

2. I looked back and saw a gigantic black bull galloping toward me, and for a moment I was petrified with terror.

Most people prefer sentence 2, as readers are attracted to a sentence that shows action, one that places them in the specific situation. When we tell, as in sentence 1, the reader must take our word for it; we tell the audience what to believe. When we show, however, we give readers enough details that they can decide how to respond; in sentence 2, readers can see, not just hear, that the writer was frightened stiff. Showing is a powerful way to improve a story, though it often takes more words. Good writers mix telling and showing, choosing which moments to sum up and which to spend time with.

You can show with specific words, sensory details, a person’s actions, and dialogue.

Using Effective Dialogue

Most stories use dialogue because readers are interested in hearing what characters have to say. Dialogue helps us get to know the writer and his or her characters. In your Narrative Essay you can use three types of “speech”.

• Direct dialogue uses quotation marks and reproduces what a person has said word for word. Direct dialogue, of course, has several purposes, including characterizing key actors.

• Indirect dialogue does not use quotation marks but reports or summarizes what someone has said. Indirect dialogue generally indicates speech that is less important than direct dialogue.

• Revealed thought often uses quotation marks to show what a person is thinking in the midst of action.

In example 1, notice both direct and indirect dialogue:

1. It was a hot summer day in the backwoods of Mississippi. My cousin Tommy and I asked my Uncle Jim if he wanted to ride down to the creek on the four-wheelers. Uncle Jim looked doubtful, saying, “I don’t know. You boys have a crazy streak. Your parents would kick my butt if anything happened to you.”

2. I began to thrash my arms in panic, thinking, “I’m going to die!”

In example 2, notice how the author reveals his thoughts.

Time and Space Transitions

After you have gathered your ideas and arranged them in chronological (time) order, write a topic sentence that tells what the story will be about. Here you can hint at the conflict without giving away the climax. Next, move right into the action of your story. Resist giving several sentences of background explanation. To keep your story interesting, use space carefully. Also, be sure to limit the time your story covers and keep the action in only one or two scenes. Don’t skip from place to place.

Drafting Narrative Paragraphs

As you move into your drafting, keep the following points in mind:

1. To make the story seem more immediate, close your eyes in a quiet place and try to visualize what happened. Think of specific things and people, sensory details, actions, and dialogue. Try to see the story as a movie.

2. If necessary, speak with your relative again to ask follow-up questions, or speak with other relatives to fill in gaps in your story.

3. Summarize the action to move readers quickly through some parts of your story.

4. Describe a scene in detail when you want the reader to slow down and pay attention, especially near the climax.

To help focus your draft, create a Plot Diagram that includes the major actions of your story as they occurred. Limit your main actions to around eight to ten.

After finishing your first rough draft, reread it and analyze why your story would be interesting to a reader outside your family. Where do you build suspense? Does the action reach a climax near the end? Do you wrap up the story soon after the climax?

Consider Some Options

• Consider writing the story from another point of view.

For example, think about how "The Wedding Dance" might have been told from the point of view of the wedding bouquet, or a waiter working at the reception. How would a change in perspective change the story? Would this improve the story or make it more confusing?

What is the best point of view to use in telling your story?

• Consider using pictures to help you write a story.

Decide if including photographs would add to your story.

• Who is in the picture?

• Who is not in the picture?

• Who probably took the picture?

• When was it taken?

• Where was it taken?

• Why was it taken?

• Why has it been saved?

• How has it been stored/displayed?

• What did they hope to accomplish with this image?

You may decide to include and discuss a few photographs that relate to the story.

You may find it useful to have the photos present while you write, especially when you are writing descriptions.

• Choose and listen to a free podcast of This American Life at .

Is the story you heart interesting, and if so, why?

Do you think radio or podcast listeners would find your story interesting? How could you increase the chances?

Some Popular Narrative Essay Topics

• Academic achievements

• The Big Misunderstanding

• Career achievements

• The Civil Rights Movement

• Club Memberships

• Dancing

• The Depression

• A Difficult Decision

• Embarrassing Moments

• Failure

• Family recipes

• Family traditions

• Family Words/ Expressions

• Fears

• First Day at…

• First Meetings

• Hand-Me-Downs

• Hard Times

• Hopes

• Immigration

• Joys

• Loves

• A Major Change

• A Memorable Journey

• Military Service

• A Moment of Success

• National/Ethnic Background

• Pets

• Regrets

• Religious Traditions

• School Days

• Sorrows

• Strengths

• Success

• Wartime

• Watergate

• Weaknesses

• Wedding Proposals

• Words of Wisdom

Things to Remember

1. A narrative tells (and shows) about events and people.

2. Narratives involve conflict and suspense. They are arranged chronologically, lead to a climax, and have a point.

3. The setting is the backdrop for a story’s action.

4. Narratives reveal a character’s thoughts and feelings and use dialogue.

5. Well-organized narrative paragraphs require topic and concluding sentences.

6. Time and space transitions and other connectors are essential in storytelling.

7. Both showing and telling are used to develop stories thoroughly.

8. Specific words and sensory details are important for scene building.

9. Writing is not complete until it has been revised and carefully edited.

SOURCE:

SOME ◙ INTERVIEW ◙ GUIDELINES

A Few Do's

DO encourage the person to go into more depth. You can do this by asking if there is anything else about a particular event or things that he or she remembers. Ask follow-up questions. If the person says something that you think is interesting, ask more about it.

DO encourage the interviewee to tell stories in their own way, rather than asking for very specific answers they may not know. Try to ask questions that are easy to answer from memory.

DO look the person in the eye. If you act interested and excited, the person will be more willing to tell you more information.

DO allow for pauses. The person may need time to think. While the person is thinking, you can be writing down some notes or thinking of other questions you could ask based on what has been said.

DO make sure you have the person's name (spelled correctly), address, and telephone number.

DO offer to share the results of the assignment with your interviewee. If you are going to use the interview in any public way, be sure to get the permission of your subject in writing.

Do get more information than you think you will need.

A Few Don'ts

DON'T interrupt the person. Make a note if you have a question about something that was said and ask it when they stop talking.

DON'T tell the person they are wrong if you have heard or read something different from what you are being told. Honor their memories.

DON'T give the impression you know more than the interviewee. You are going to this person because he or she has a story to tell.

SOURCE:

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To be a person is to have a story to tell. -Isak Dinesen; Pseudonym of Baroness Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa

Cognitive psychology has shown that the mind best understands facts when they are woven into a conceptual fabric, such as a narrative, mental map, or intuitive theory. Disconnected facts in the mind are like unlinked pages on the Web: They might as well not exist.

-Steven Pinker

Scientist

“If a story is not about the hearer, he will not listen.

And here I make a rule—a great and interesting story is about everyone or it will not last.”

m>m?mwmym§mµm¶mØnÙnÚnpt[?]t t0tNtPtRtTtVtðìÜÏÀ°ìŸ›Ž~|j~ZHZD@ðhWk[pic]h|sü"h• -h|sü5?6?CJOJQJaJh• -h|sü5?CJOJQJaJ#h[h|sü5?CJOJ[?]QJ[?]^J[?]aJU[pic]h[h|sü5?CJOJQJaJh[5?CJOJQJaJhQi― John Steinbeck

Author-Of Mice and Men

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