Narrative Essay

A narrative essay recounts a personal experience—not just any personal experience, but usually one that taught an important life lesson. Narrative essays are a staple of high school writing, and they’re often also found in university writing.

Many narrative essays are about the author’s own experiences, and these are called personal narrative essays. Another type of narrative essay is the historical narrative essay, which is third-party writing about a historical figure.

The structure for a narrative essay is usually straightforward—typically the essay is presented in a series of chronological paragraphs. In the introduction, the thesis might be implied, although its reaffirmation in the conclusion may be more explicit, especially if the writer wants to stress the life lesson they learned through the experience described.

Techniques

1. Use a casual voice. Unlike many other essay styles, the narrative essay need not be academic. Be flexible with the grammar and vocabulary, and if the essay is personal, using the word "I" is generally acceptable.

2. Tell the story first. This will become the body. After that's done, read it, and see what you want to emphasize in the introduction and conclusion.

3. Read it aloud. Typically, your story should sound like something you would write or say. Read it out loud to yourself and see if it does, and what parts are unnatural.

4. Consider the audience. If you're a high school student writing about your own experiences, sound like it. There should be something in your essay—either the style or content—that you wouldn't or couldn't have written five years ago.

5. Use fiction techniques. Many of these ideas might work well.

More Narrative Essays

These personal narrative essays are presumably still under copyright, so they aren’t hosted on this website.

• Sherman Alexie – Superman and Me (1998)

• Amy Tan – Fish Cheeks (1987)

References

• Anderson, J. (1865). A Freedman Writes His Former Master.

• Narrative Essay. (2023). Excelsior Online Writing Lab, Excelsior University. Retrieved 2024. CC BY-SA 4.0. Some of the above content was copy/pasted from here.

• Narrative Essays. (2024). Purdue Online Writing Lab. Retrieved 2025.

• Sexton J. and Soles D. (2019). The Narrative Essay. B.C. Open Textbook Collection. CC BY 4.0. Some of the above content was copy/pasted from here.