Personal narrative essay, Telling the Story of Yourself: A Step-by-Step Guide to Personal Narratives
had a clear narrative arc with a conflict and a main character who changed in some way. They artfully balanced the action of the story with reflection on what it meant to the writer. They took risks, like including dialogue or playing with punctuation, sentence structure and word choice to develop a strong voice. And, perhaps most important, they focused on a specific moment or theme – a conversation, a trip to the mall, a speech tournament, a hospital visit – instead of trying to sum up the writer’s life in 600 words.
Personal narrative essay
Personal Narrative Essay – Easy Guide & Examples
Essay writing is something that a student can never avoid by any means. Every student must have to write essays at different stages of academic life.
When it comes to writing a personal narrative essay, students love to do it. It is one of the easiest types of essays. This essay does not confine you to a boundary, in fact, it allows you to openly use your thoughts.
Also, in a personal narrative essay, you can write a personal life experience. Even something fictional that you think would entertain the readers.
In a personal narrative essay, you are basically telling the readers about your story. You need vivid language to make things easily understandable for the reader.
Here in this blog, you will find everything that you need to know about a personal narrative essay.
Personal Narrative Essay Definition
A personal narrative essay is also referred to as short storytelling. It depends on the writer what type of story they want to tell to the readers. Moreover, this type of essay can be composed of the personal experience of the writer.
A personal narrative essay is usually written in the first person participle. It helps to depict a clear narrative that’s focused on a specific moment.
High school students are usually assigned to write such essays. This essay type helps them to enhance creative writing skills. Also, they help to provide insight into a student’s personal life.
To write a personal narrative essay, the writer specifies a plot around which the entire essay revolves. It also discusses the characters that have played some part in the story.
Sample Personal Narrative Essay (PDF)
How to Write a Personal Narrative Essay
A personal narrative essay is considered very good when it is expressive, and the reader enjoys your personal narrative. The key to writing an amazing personal narrative is to use sensory details as much as possible. An excellent narrative essay doesn’t tell what happened. Instead, it shows what happened precisely and how you have felt at that moment.
Here is how you can write a personal narrative essay:
A good topic can not just make your essay look good, but also it will make the writing process much easier. Since personal narrative essays are written on personal experiences and thoughts, make sure that you choose your most interesting experience.
Keep in mind that the topic you choose matches the intended audience. It is the reader who decides the scope and success of your essay.
Once you have your topic, it is time that you create an outline for your essay. The essay outline is an essential element of an essay. It keeps the whole composition in an organized order.
Also, it helps the reader through the essay. With the help of an outline, a writer can provide logic for the essay.
For any type of essay, a hook statement can be the game-changer. But, particularly for a personal narrative essay, hook sentences are very important.
Usually, the introduction of the essay starts with this sentence. You may use a famous quotation, verse, or an interesting fact for this purpose. This sentence helps to attain the reader’s attention and persuade the reader to read the entire essay.
For a narrative essay, it is a must to be vivid enough to let the reader imagine the whole scene. This is why it is necessary that the reader uses as much descriptive language as possible.
You must wonder which element is not required for the personal narrative essay? For your information, the element not required for such an essay is the research. Since it is a personal essay and you do not need any reference from any source. And since you do not need references, you do not need to conduct research.
For any essay, be it an argumentative essay, descriptive, or a personal narrative essay. It is very important to have some transition sentences and words. These transition words help to make a logical connection in all parts of the essay.
In other words, the transition words help to make links between the storyline. You may use transition words like this, however, whereas, therefore, moreover, etc.
The purpose of a personal narrative essay is to show the reader what and how you have felt. Hence don’t forget to add the emotions, as you have to make the reader know about the feelings. Describe all of the emotions and feelings using very descriptive words.
Consistency is the key to writing an essay in a professional way. Make sure that you don’t get distracted by any irrelevant details. Stay focused on one single point, and add details related to that specific idea of yours.
Make sure that you inter-link all the events of the story in a regular manner. This will help the reader to relate all the events. Also, use first-person impressions as you are writing a personal narrative.
You also want to show the reader that you are telling your own story. Make sure that you follow the same participle in the entire essay.
You know that behind every event, there is a reason. Similarly, let your readers know the reason behind your essay and its significance. Also, mention that the story you just told it was so important to share.
As it is a personal narrative, you don’t have to provide evidence to prove the significance of your story. Rather, you have to convey a broader message through your story.
Once you are done with writing your personal narrative essay. It’s time that you put a little effort into making it error-free. Proofread the essay more than once and look for minor spelling mistakes and other grammatical mistakes.
This will ensure that you have written an essay like a pro. You can do this yourself or you may ask a friend to do it for you.
Personal Narrative Essay Outline
Being a student, you must know how important an outline is for an essay. It provides an organization with the whole content.
To create an outline for a personal narrative essay, you need to follow the following traditional method.
- Introduction
- Body
- Conclusion
These three major elements of a narrative essay are further elaborated down below.
Introduction
The introduction is the most important part of essay writing. It is the first impression on the reader and by reading this part, the reader decides the quality of the essay. This part should be the most attention-grabbing part.
Another thing that makes it a significant element in an essay is the thesis statement. The thesis statement is the essence of an essay. It is a sentence or two that explains the whole idea of your essay.
The thesis statement is mentioned somewhere before the last sentence of the introduction.
You should also know that the introduction should always end with a transition sentence. This will make a logical connection with the rest of the essay.
Body Paragraphs
After the introduction, the body paragraphs are written. These paragraphs help you to explain the key elements of your personal narrative essay.
In a standard personal narrative essay, there are usually three body paragraphs. These paragraphs help the writer to describe the subject of the essay in all possible aspects.
With the help of these paragraphs, the writer describes their point of view to the readers. To support the essay, the time and place of the event happening are also mentioned. Moreover, these paragraphs have all the information about the characters.
Keep in mind that a body starts with a topic sentence. This sentence is a kind of introductory sentence for that particular paragraph.
Another important thing that you need to keep in mind is the order in which you will be presenting the details. Make sure that you use chronological order for this purpose.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you need to provide the climax of the story. In this section of a personal narrative essay, you should wrap up the whole story. Do it in such a way that you provide a summary of the entire essay.
Make sure that you do not add any new points in this part. It will not give the reader a sense of accomplishment and will leave them in confusion.
Personal Narrative Essay Examples
Examples help you to understand things better; here are a few well-written narrative essay examples. Read them thoroughly and use them as a guide to writing a good essay yourself.
Personal Narrative Essay 750 words
Personal narrative essays can be long or short. It depends on the writer how they want to elaborate things.
750 Words Personal Narrative Essay (PDF)
Personal Narrative Essay Examples for High school Students
Personal narrative essays are often assigned to high school students. If you are a high school student and looking for some good examples, you are exactly where you should be.
Telling the Story of Yourself: A Step-by-Step Guide to Personal Narratives
We’re more accustomed to personal narratives than we realise. When we were little, our parents read children’s personal narratives to us. In high school and college, students had to write personal narrative essays, particularly when asked to express opinions on a situation, thing, or individual.
As readers, we’re fascinated by memoirs, autobiographies, and long-form personal narrative articles, as they provide a glimpse into the authors’ thought processes, ideas, and feelings. According to Psychology Today, personal narratives allow authors to feel and release pains, while savouring moments of strength and resilience. Such emotions provide an avenue for both authors and readers to connect while supporting healing in the process.
In this article, we’ll discuss what a personal narrative essay is, how to write one, and look at some examples of great personal narratives.
Defining Personal Narratives
Personal narratives are written inside and outside of academia. They can range from personal responses to books or events written by students to bestselling memoirs.
Personal narratives focus on personal growth, reflections, and lessons. They are popular due to their easy-to-digest format and because humans are empathising creatures.
We can better understand how others feel and think when we were told stories that allow us to see the world from their perspectives. The author’s «I think» and «I feel» instantaneously become ours, as the brain doesn’t know whether what we read is real or imaginary.
In her best-selling book Wired for Story, Lisa Cron explains that the human brain craves tales as it’s hard-wired through evolution to learn what happens next. Since the brain doesn’t know whether what you are reading is actual or not, we can register the moral of the story cognitively and affectively.
In academia, a narrative essay tells a story which is experiential, anecdotal, or personal. It allows the author to creatively express their thoughts, feelings, ideas, and opinions. Its length can be anywhere from a few paragraphs to hundreds of pages.
Outside of academia, personal narratives are known as a form of journalism or non-fiction works called «narrative journalism.» Even highly prestigious publications like the New York Times and Time magazine have sections dedicated to personal narratives. The New Yorker is a magazine dedicated solely to this genre.
The New York Times holds personal narrative essay contests. The winners are selected because they:
had a clear narrative arc with a conflict and a main character who changed in some way. They artfully balanced the action of the story with reflection on what it meant to the writer. They took risks, like including dialogue or playing with punctuation, sentence structure and word choice to develop a strong voice. And, perhaps most important, they focused on a specific moment or theme – a conversation, a trip to the mall, a speech tournament, a hospital visit – instead of trying to sum up the writer’s life in 600 words.
In a nutshell, a personal narrative can cover any reflective and contemplative subject with a strong voice and a unique perspective, including uncommon private values. It’s written in first person and the story encompasses a specific moment in time worthy of a discussion.
6 Guidelines for Writing Personal Narrative Essays
Writing a personal narrative essay involves both objectivity and subjectivity. You’ll need to be objective enough to recognise the importance of an event or a situation to explore and write about. On the other hand, buy an essay online you must be subjective enough to inject private thoughts and feelings to make your point.
With personal narratives, you are both the muse and the creator – you have control over how your story is told. However, like any other type of writing, it comes with guidelines.
1. Write Your Personal Narrative as a Story
As a story, it must include an introduction, characters, plot, setting, climax, anti-climax (if any), and conclusion. Another way to approach it is by structuring it with an introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction should set the tone, while the body should focus on the key point(s) you want to get across. The conclusion can tell the reader what lessons you have learned from the story you’ve just told.
2. Give Your Personal Narrative a Clear Purpose
Your narrative essay should reflect your unique perspective on life. This is a lot harder than it sounds. You need to establish your perspective, the key things you want your reader to take away, and your tone of voice. It’s a good idea to have a set purpose in mind for the narrative before you start writing.
Let’s say you want to write about how you manage depression without taking any medicine. This could go in any number of ways, but isolating a purpose will help you focus your writing and choose which stories to tell. Are you advocating for a holistic approach, or do you want to describe your emotional experience for people thinking of trying it?
Having this focus will allow you to put your own unique take on what you did (and didn’t do, if applicable), what changed you, and the lessons learned along the way.
A grammar guru, style editor, and writing mentor in one package.
3. Show, Don’t Tell
It’s a narration, so the narrative should show readers what happened, instead of telling them. As well as being a storyteller, the author should take part as one of the characters. Keep this in mind when writing, as the way you shape your perspective can have a big impact on how your reader sees your overarching plot. Don’t slip into just explaining everything that happened because it happened to you. Show your reader with action.
You can check for instances of telling rather than showing with ProWritingAid. For example, instead of:
«You never let me do anything!» I cried disdainfully.
«You never let me do anything!»
To this day, my mother swears that the glare I levelled at her as I spat those words out could have soured milk.
Using ProWritingAid will help you find these instances in your manuscript and edit them without spending hours trawling through your work yourself.
4. Use «I,» But Don’t Overuse It
You, the author, take ownership of the story, so the first person pronoun «I» is used throughout. However, you shouldn’t overuse it, as it’d make it sound too self-centred and redundant.
ProWritingAid can also help you here – the Style Report will tell you if you’ve started too many sentences with «I», and show you how to introduce more variation in your writing.
5. Pay Attention to Tenses
Tense is key to understanding. Personal narratives mostly tell the story of events that happened in the past, so many authors choose to use the past tense. This helps separate out your current, narrating voice and your past self who you are narrating. If you’re writing in the present tense, make sure that you keep it consistent throughout.
6. Make Your Conclusion Satisfying
Satisfy your readers by giving them an unforgettable closing scene. The body of the narration should build up the plot to climax. This doesn’t have to be something incredible or shocking, just something that helps give an interesting take on your story.
The takeaways or the lessons learned should be written without lecturing. Whenever possible, continue to show rather than tell. Don’t say what you learned, narrate what you do differently now. This will help the moral of your story shine through without being too preachy.
Inspiring Personal Narratives
GoodReads is a great starting point for selecting read-worthy personal narrative books. Here are five of my favourites.
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen, the author of 386 books, wrote this poetic story about a daughter and her father who went owling. Instead of learning about owls, Yolen invites readers to contemplate the meaning of gentleness and hope.
Night by Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944. This Holocaust memoir has a strong message that such horrific events should never be repeated.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
This classic is a must-read by young and old alike. It’s a remarkable diary by a 13-year-old Jewish girl who hid inside a secret annexe of an old building during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in 1942.
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
This is a personal narrative written by a brave author renowned for her clarity, passion, and honesty. Didion shares how in December 2003, she lost her husband of 40 years to a massive heart attack and dealt with the acute illness of her only daughter. She speaks about grief, memories, illness, and hope.
Educated by Tara Westover
Author Tara Westover was raised by survivalist parents. She didn’t go to school until 17 years of age, which later took her to Harvard and Cambridge. It’s a story about the struggle for quest for knowledge and self-reinvention.
Examples of Personal Narrative Essays
Narrative and personal narrative journalism are gaining more popularity these days. You can find distinguished personal narratives all over the web.
Long Reads
Curating the best of the best of personal narratives and narrative essays from all over the web. Some are award-winning articles.
Narratively
Long-form writing to celebrate humanity through storytelling. It publishes personal narrative essays written to provoke, inspire, and reflect, touching lesser-known and overlooked subjects.
Narrative Magazine
It publishes non,fiction narratives, poetry, and fiction. Among its contributors is Frank Conroy, the author of Stop-Time, a memoir that has never been out of print since 1967.
Thought Catalog
Aimed at Generation Z, it publishes personal narrative essays on self-improvement, family, friendship, romance, and others.
Tell Your Story
Personal narratives will continue to be popular as our brains are wired for stories. We love reading about others and telling stories of ourselves, as they bring satisfaction and a better understanding of the world around us.
Personal narrative essay, Storytelling, personal narrative