The Narrative Essay is a story that may be fact or fiction, but to give it a more sophisticated form, it will be written in third person. This means that even if the story you choose to tell actually happened to you, you will create another person (persona) to tell it. Your main character should have a name, but not yours. You should not use the terms "I, me, us, we."

The Narrative has many elements in common with the exposition including having a thesis that is called the foreshadowing statement. It will appear at the bottom of the first paragraph, and it anticipates the action of the story. Please highlight it in color. For example, you might have a foreshadowing statement like, "It was going to be the most awful and unforgettable night of Matt's life." The paragraphs (of the body) will then state what happens in chronological order. As well as introducing the main character and the conflict he is trying to resolve, the introduction typically shows the time and place of the story.

The plot is the action of the story. It can be summarized as a plot line (pictured in Say It With Style) in which the rising action (complication) comprises most of the story. It is the part where the main character tries to overcome the conflict that drives the story. When the conflict is resolved, this is the climax of the story and then it quickly ends. For example, in Alien the climax is when Ripley blows up the ship and then blasts the alien into outer space. After that, the story quickly ends. Your story should use the past tense: "Ripley opened the door and looked for the alien."

Limit your narrative to five paragraphs like the sample essays in Collegiate Reader. Say It With Style pp. 198-199 itemizes the narrative elements that you may choose to put in your narrative including dialog. Required elements are:

characters, plot, setting (date and place), time sequence. You should use the past tense, third person and make sure that the story is original with you and not the retelling of someone's biography.