Narrative essay assignments are quite flexible in the style of writing. This peculiar feature of a narrative has its own advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that you will get to experiment as much as you want using your creativity while handling a narrative assignment. The disadvantage is that, since you have been given the liberty to use your own creativity to frame the structural components of the narrative, the expectations will be high. The reader will be expecting an outstanding work, starting from the introduction of the essay.
A normal essay introduction usually has certain standard elements – the topic, the subject and the hypothesis. Relevant background information is also expected to be presented in the introduction. These facts are presented plainly in the usual assignments. But in a narrative essay, this will need to be presented in a more interesting manner. It is not necessary at all to present the topic in a clear and precise sentence.
For example, let us imagine that you are dealing with the topic of “an occasion when you realized that you have more foes than friends”. In a narrative essay, this topic can be started off without any direct mention of the topic at all. Some examples would be:
“I had never thought of what I would do if ever caught in a tough situation. With the kind of friends I had and their support, no situation could be too bad…..” Here you are mentioning ‘the friends’ but you are not openly revealing what the topic is. A narrative essay is the only assignment which will give you so much freedom with its frame.
“It was a sunny day as bright and as beautiful as anyone could hope for. When I started off to work that day, I didn’t even have the slightest inclination that my life, my trust and my outlook would all change within the next few hours…” Here you do not even mention your friends. But it is apparent from this line that there is something wrong. It clearly indicates that the story which is going to be narrated will not be a pleasant one.
Even though you can experiment as much as you want, nothing will stop you from putting it across in a plain way, with direct reference to the topic. “ I always used to believe that I have more friends than foes but one incident in my life proved that I was wrong” would be as welcome as any other.
Since there are no mandatory elements in a narrative essay introduction, you can try to be as elusive as you want. You can keep your audience in suspense till you wish to disclose the central theme. It all depends on your creativity. You can put across your thesis statement or the moral of the story in the introduction or if you want to talk of it only in the conclusion, you may do it that way as well.
Without good writing skills, you cannot prepare an outstanding narrative essay. And good writing skills cannot be developed overnight. You will need to read a lot and practice creative and effective writing to be able to perform well in your essay project. If you need any help with preparing your narrative assignment, our academic writers will be glad to assist you.
