Narrative Essay Writing Tips for Undergraduate Students

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(Newswire.net — May 29, 2020) — Writing narrative essays is a skill that all undergraduate students should be familiar with. It requires the writer to give a real-life story or an imaginative one that is thrilling and interesting to the reader.

A good story is loved by everyone because it captures memories and brings out emotions of joy, happiness depending on what type of story it is.

In this article, we shall be evaluating various tips that students can use to come up with good narrative stories that will capture the interest of readers.

1. Getting Started

Since we tell stories every day, a student should come up with a story that he or she would like to write about with a clear message of what they would want to put across. It should be the most exciting topic which can be written naturally while enjoying the process.

Once you have identified the story, talk to a friend about the story that you are planning to write about. There is a likelihood that the interlocutor may have a different idea from yours and may recommend some changes. You should take notes from the conversation so that you work on the proposed changes when you start putting together the essay.

2. Pre-write the Narrative Essay

Once you have your ideas put together, write down several possible headings of the story and the possible flow. You should think about life experiences in the story’s context and the message that readers will gain from reading the story. Take into account all small incidences that are of significance to you and how it can touch the emotions of readers.

After choosing the topic, write down all the details you recall about it and everything you would like to include in the essay. This will help you in creating a good narrative flow of the story when you start writing it down. 

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3. Draft the Narrative Essay

The most natural narrative essays are written in the first person narrative because this gives the reader a high level of engagement when they start reading the story. Keep in mind that the readers are not privy to the story and therefore bring out all the details that they need so that they have the full picture of what you are trying to say.

Ensure that you use illustrative words and clear descriptions of events because the end goal is to have the reader involved in the story as much as possible. It is more about the writer’s personal experiences than simply giving information about the event.

4. Revise the Narrative Essay

At this stage, students should modify and have the work reorganized with the aim to make the story as interesting as it can be. The work should be read through again to ensure good sentence structure, give explanatory messages where they are required, and put a structure to the work.

The writer should check the transition points and whether they make sense to the reader and correct any anomalies that he may find. Also, he should check his choices of words to ensure that they are correctly put and in the right places to ensure that the essay conveys the writer’s message adequately.

5. Editing the Narrative Essay

This is the stage where the writer should proofread the essay noting down grammatical errors, sentence structures, tense inconsistencies, and correcting them. At this point, the writer can invite a friend to do a review of the work and give constructive criticism as well as spotting other errors that may not have been spotted earlier.

This is a critical stage and it is important to ensure that all mistakes and general comments are addressed at this stage. The writer should divide the task into different stages and allocate an equal amount of time to each stage. He should also take as much time as possible so that he is able to spot any mistakes.

6. Publishing a Narrative Essay

Narrative essays are very personal and many students are shy and uncomfortable sharing their personal stories to the whole class or to friends for fear of being seen differently. Some of the stories have never been told to friends before and they might bring out uncomfortable memories.

The beauty of this is that even accomplished writers have fears about their work. They often worry if they have produced the best work possible. Therefore, you should use this as a learning point whose experience you can build on to become a more prolific writer in the future.