T HE N ARRATIVE E SSAY A SSIGNMENT C REATIVE W RITING VS. A CADEMIC W RITING Creative writing: Strives for beauty, art Tries to capture interest Uses.

THE NARRATIVE ESSAY ASSIGNMENT

CREATIVE WRITING VS. ACADEMIC WRITINGCreative writing:

Strives for beauty, art

Tries to capture interest

Uses flowing/creative language

Judged by literary standards

Read for personal enjoyment

BUT . . .

Academic writing: Has a goal (to persuade, inform, recommend, etc.)

Places emphasis on information, not beauty

Audience reads for information

This course focuses on academic writing (essay writing).

However, the narrative essay mixes creative writing features and academic writing features.

Note: Love creative writing? Consider a creative writing class at BC!

IS A NARRATIVE ESSAY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER ESSAYS?

A narrative is like other essays: Still uses “hamburger form”

An introduction Examples A conclusion

Still needs a thesis statement

A narrative is different from other essays:

Tells a story Has characters, setting, conflict May have dialogue Is about YOU

The narrative is still an essay, but it is the most creative assignment we will discuss in this course.

TO HAVE A NARRATIVE, YOU MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

1 - A CONFLICT/ACTION

If there isn’t conflict or action, you don’t have a story that will keep your reader’s attention.

Note: When you look at the student sample narrative essay, see if you can find the central conflict/point of action.

POTENTIAL CONFLICTS/ACTION

First driving experience

A car wreck First day of school Evacuating from a

storm Losing/Finding

something Meeting someone A “first” experience

Skydiving experience

A bad vacation A bad experience

with a pet A surfing lesson that

went poorly A good day fishing A bad date Losing a loved one

2 – NARROWED CONFLICT (IS ONE SPECIFIC MOMENT IN TIME)

As with any topic, make sure your focus is very narrow. For example, you can’t write an essay about your entire freshman year of high school or a week-long vacation.

Like an idea but it’s too large?Cut it!

3 – CHARACTERS, SETTINGMake your story come alive! Add

characters and lots of description so your reader connects with your narrative. You might even add dialogue.

4 – IS FOCUSED ON YOU

I always have students who ask if they can write their narrative about someone else. Please write about yourself.

NARRATIVE EXAMPLES

Ready to see a few narrative essay examples?

Reread the student essay “Skydive!”

Read “Momma the Dentist and Me” in

your Resourceful Reader.

Read the student essay “A Second

Date is out of the Question”

RECAP

A narrative essay needs:- Conflict/Point of action- Conflict/action that only covers 1

moment in time (narrowed topic)- Includes characters, setting- Focus on you