Have you been assigned to write a personal narrative assignment but do not know how to proceed? Do you suck in writing essays and fear that you will fail in your personal narrative essay? Worry no more; we have compiled a helpful guide never seen before on the internet. We understand your pain point and have tried to cover literary every little detail you need to know as you set out on a journey to write.
The good thing is that our refined essay writers, who themselves are masters of crafting personal narratives have developed this guide. We sought their input as well as did research on the best practices when writing this type of assignment. As a custom paper writing service, we are so impressed by this guide that we use it in internal training for our new writers. We, therefore, believe that it is a valuable resource when writing your personal narrative essay.
This step-by-step guide to writing a personal narrative essay covers all the critical elements, with practical samples and elaborations as necessary. We are doing this so that you do not dread writing one or cringe when assigned personal narrative essays, as most students do.
A personal narrative is a story about you. Narrative, from the Latin narrare, means to narrate a tale or a story. The narrative you will write will be a "personal" narrative. Thus, the story will be written by you, about you, and in many ways, for you. What makes a personal narrative so interesting is that it's a story with a point or purpose. In other words, a personal narrative is detailed, descriptive, dialogue-driven, and determined to make a point.
A personal narrative can be a story that conveys your fears, ambitions, passion, sensitivity, humor, excitements, or what makes you sad, angry, or weak, written in prose form. It lets your audience connect with you. Like other stories, personal narratives have the beginning, middle/climax, the end, and characters.
Personal narratives are written by those in academics as well as other professions. In the realm of academia, a personal narrative essay tells a story that is personal, experiential, and personal. As an author, you aim to creatively express your thoughts, ideas, feelings, and opinions. Personal narrative essays are usually from 500 words onwards.
In the general life arena, personal narratives are a form of journalism or non-fiction works that are part of narrative journalism. Pioneer publications like New York Times, Guardian, and Time magazine have personal narrative sections.
A persona narrative covers any reflective and contemplative subject with a unique perspective and a strong voice. You can write it using personal pronouns such as "I" or "we." The story is usually about a memorable moment that is worth recounting.
When a teacher, lecturer, or professor assigns you a personal narrative, there are many things they are testing.
Like any form of academic writing, there needs to be a reason for writing the narrative and why the reader should read it.
The purpose of the personal narrative is to share a meaningful experience, and the lesson learned from the experience.
Specifically, this essay aims to share a story about a time you experienced gratitude.
From the perspective of a professor or lecturer, it is assigned to test your narrative writing skills. It is also meant to assess whether you grasp following instructions, using proper English, and expressing yourself.
So, a personal narrative is not a chance for the professor to fail you. Instead, it is to help you better yourself by honing your writing, creativity, and critical thinking skills, which are equally needed to survive in real-world settings.
In many ways, we write a personal narrative for ourselves to reflect upon an experience, to grow from an event.
However, we want you to imagine that your audience is you and someone else. Therefore, the writer needs to know who their audience is and how their needs will affect how the narrative is composed and presented.
For example, in addition to writing this story as an opportunity for personal reflection, you may also choose a family member or friend group as your real or imagined audience.
Selecting a real or imagined audience will help you develop your essay with the right tone. For example, the tone for a personal narrative can be formal or informal; it depends on your chosen audience.
Related: How to write a descriptive essay.
If you are assigned to write a personal narrative essay, or you are doing it for a contest, here are some eight must-follow steps to succeed:
After reading the personal narrative essay prompt, you must choose a good topic to write a story about. We have outlined how to choose a topic in this guide.
A good topic makes an essay look good and simplifies the writing process. In addition, the topic helps you define the theme you want to share with your audience. In most cases, the topic for a personal narrative refers to your experiences as the writer, so you do not have to use external sources when brainstorming.
Because your personal narrative reflects personal experiences, thoughts, and ideas, ensure that you choose an exciting topic. In addition, the topic should match the intended audience because the audience eventually defines the scope of your essay.
With the topic, you can create mind maps or notes brainstorming on presenting your ideas. Next, determine what befits your story's beginning, middle, and end. Now that you have all the best ideas, you must turn them into a plan.
The outline of your personal narrative is your blueprint or essay plan. It is an essential component in your preparation and writing phases. An outline helps organize the composition, maintaining flow, coherence, and clarity. You can visualize your audience and logically write a paper that meets their expectations with a good outline.
Now that we have the outline, write your essay with a good hook statement. A sound hook is a game-changer in every aspect. For example, a good hook sentence for a personal narrative essay will signal your reader to keep all their attention to the paper because there is better to come. You can use famous quotes, statistics, current issues or affairs, concepts, anecdotes, verses, or interesting facts. And once you have one, you have the currency to grab your readers' attention to read your essay entirely.
Develop your ideas in the first person or "I," but avoid overdoing it. A personal narrative allows you the freedom to use the first person since it is personal. Therefore, you should use "I" without switching the perspective to favor someone else when outlining the significance of ongoing events.
Also, when writing, describe the places and characters. Giving a vivid description adorns your story as it makes the plot clear. This is specifically big for the people affected by the outcome or those who matter in your story. When mentioning places, ensure you use spatial relations to create the picture in the reader's mind. Having such information helps shape the perspectives of your readers. It also helps change the characters' attitudes and helps them understand your central idea.
When writing, spice up the essay by turning things around to make your readers entertained even more. To do this, you can introduce a dramatic or antagonistic character that interferes with the status quo: your purposes. Having such an unpredictable twist can help break the monotony of your audience.
With your first draft ready, you must revise it thoroughly to make it presentable, flowing, and worth grading. To edit well, follow these suggestions (our top-rated essay writers do this, and their essays always turn out perfect):
A well-edited personal narrative essay is a direct ticket to the best grade.
Editing is not proofreading and vice versa. Editing focuses on the content, structure, and style, while proofreading concerns grammar, syntax, and spelling errors. When proofreading:
Having someone re-read your essay helps you correct otherwise unnoticeable mistakes. If the personal narrative is for a common APP or college application, use a credible editing company like Gradecrest.
Finally, with everything in its rightful place, it is time to polish up the essay and ensure the title page is well written. Input your name, professor's name, submission date, class name, and code as per the recommended style. Once you have everything labeled as it should, including the filename, you can hit the submit button in your email or on Canvas and wait for the best grades.
Related: Tricks and tips for good narrative writing.
Ensure that these six personal narrative features are addressed when writing your personal narrative essay. The features include:
Like any other story, the Personal Narrative is organized with a clear beginning, middle, and end. It should read like a story: with an exposition, a rise action, a climax, falling action, and a resolution or denouement. While the Personal Narrative is less formal than other academic essays, the point or moral of the story (i.e., the thesis) should be obvious to the reader.
It is vital to develop the characters in the story so that the reader understands the people in the story: even if the one person is YOU. Mainly, doing this helps your reader learn about the characters by what they say and do.
An excellent personal narrative utilizes paragraph breaks and transitional words and phrases that help the audience (or reader) flow in and around the story.
You can include external or internal dialogue when writing a personal narrative to connect your characters and help propel the story forward. Dialog is instrumental in showing rather than telling the story to the reader.
As you write the essay, develop some sense of imagery within your story. You can achieve this by using sensory-driven details. You must create a vivid story by helping your reader/audience perceive, see, hear, taste, touch, and feel as the characters in your story do. The sensory details invite the readers into your world so much that they resonate and own the story. In addition, it helps the audience experience the story you are sharing with them in the most intended way.
Like all essays you will ever write, a personal narrative has a thesis, the central idea, or the message that drives the story. Thus, it is a thesis-driven storytelling approach where you share with others a story about you.
A thesis helps to show the significance of themes, events, lessons, or morals from the events. When the purpose of your story is structured as a thesis statement, you convince your readers.
When writing other academic essays, the thesis appears in the last sentences of the first paragraph. However, when writing your personal narrative, you have the freedom and flexibility to determine where your story's main point appears.
This means that as long as your point of the story is clear, the location of the thesis can vary depending on how to develop the story. If anything, underline the thesis statement before submitting your personal narrative for grading.
When you are typing your personal narrative essay, you need to do it in:
In terms of flow, a personal narrative is written in prose form. It is a piece of writing assignment that uses the story format. This is to say that it has a beginning, middle, and end.
Ensure a clear introduction paragraph with a hook, background story, and thesis when writing it. Next, the body of the story develops as body paragraphs. Last, your personal narrative has to have a concluding paragraph.
Although personal narratives are less formal than traditional academic writing, your story must have a thesis statement to allow your readers to understand the focal point in your story.
When doing any piece of writing, having an outline makes work easier. It enables you to determine the flow of ideas and plan the organization of your content.
A personal narrative essay follows the five-paragraph essay structure. That means that it has: an introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph.
In a personal narrative essay, the introduction is as essential a paragraph as with conventional essays. It is the first impression on your reader, which can be used to judge if the essay is worth their time. It further defines the quality and scope of your essay. Therefore, it has to beckon your readers by grabbing their attention-stealing them off their feet.
Begin the introduction with a hook that catches the reader's attention and sets the scene.
After your hook, present some background of the story or the setup of your story. Finally, round up the essay by stating the thesis: What did you learn, or how did the event become significant in your life?
Your essay can have three significant moments from the event's beginning, middle, and end. As you write the body paragraphs, show and don't tell. Use spatial relationships, sensory details, and transition words to mark the passage of time.
Each body paragraph should have an outstanding topic sentence, a detailed explanation, and a concluding sentence.
Ensure that every paragraph focuses on a specific encounter chronologically. Also, place your characters in an excellent position to tell your story for a better flow.
In your personal narrative conclusion, provide the story's climax. Wrap up the entire story and do not introduce new ideas or points.
In your conclusion, analyze and reflect on the story's action, including telling the reader what the event taught you or how it is important/significant to you.
Your conclusion should be satisfying enough so your readers find your personal narrative unforgettable, relatable, and exciting. Ensure that you reiterate the climax of your story to make it more interesting.
Write the lessons learned or takeaways from your story without forcing them on your readers. Instead, show and don't tell. For example, instead of telling your readers what you learned, tell them how different you are now or how the encounter contributed to who you are today. Doing this helps build the moral of your story without forcing issues.
INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPH
Hook.
Setting the scene.
Thesis
BODY PARAGRAPHS
Body Paragraph #1
Topic sentence.
Detail 1
Detail 2.
Detail 3.
Closing sentence.
Body Paragraph #2
Topic sentence.
Detail 1
Detail 2.
Detail 3.
Closing sentence.
Body Paragraph #3
Topic sentence.
Detail 1
Detail 2.
Detail 3.
Closing sentence.
CLOSING PARAGRAPH, aka. CONCLUSION.
State your thesis differently.
Close with an interesting parting shot.
To choose a great personal narrative topic, you need to brainstorm and then evaluate the personal narrative topic you've chosen.
Brainstorming means walking through your life, encounters, and experiences and choosing one that you want to share with your readers. Here are some questions to help you:
When brainstorming, you can list such topics; you will surely come up with vivid and outstanding topics. You can equally select personal narrative topics from the class's personal narrative essay prompts. Furthermore, if our list of 50-plus personal narrative topics does not resonate with a personal narrative you want to write, you can use an essay writer who will brainstorm and develop a great topic.
When brainstorming, use divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking helps generate as many ideas as possible, whereas convergent thinking helps you narrow down to the best ideas.
Having chosen a topic, evaluate if it is the best you can tell your story through. If a story is boring to you, it will most likely be boring to your audience. This is enough of a signal to change the personal narrative topic.
With the topic, write an outline with the story's beginning, middle, and end. You must critically and deeply analyze the personal narrative ideas developed when brainstorming to help you write a great essay.
We have compiled some personal narrative essay prompts we came across as we researched and interacted with the content and from works that our writers have completed. Here are some examples:
1. Experiencing Gratitude
For this assignment, you will write a personal narrative: a story: illustrating an event, moment (or series of moments), or experience exemplifying gratitude. Share a story about a moment, experience, or event where you experienced gratitude either during the experience itself or after the experience took place.
2. A Favorite School Memory
Write a story about your favorite school memory. Who was there? Where was it? How did it happen? How does it end? Focus on one single event. For example, if you played the violin in school, you could tell a story about playing the violin in a concert. Or, if you played on a soccer team, you could tell the story of your tryout.
3. Unresolved personal experience
Describe something that happened to you but where there's no resolution. What was the experience, and how did it occur? What don't you understand or know about the experience? Then, instead of having a resolution to the story, convey how you feel about not knowing what happened.
4. Family Story
Write a personal narrative about something that happened within your family. What occurred, who was there, and what did you do? Is there an important, funny, sad, or happy event in your family? Did you do something important or special with your family? Some examples of this topic are the birth of someone in your family, the death of a loved one, or something fun you did with your parents, siblings, grandparents, etc.
5. The Memorable Journey
Write a story of the best, strangest, or worst thing that happened to you on a vacation or trip to another place. Focus on one event or experience. When assigned such, you can focus on a robbery encounter when in a new town, an encounter with pickpocketers, getting lost in a place, experiencing a new culture in a place, getting to demystify your personal beliefs while on a journey, meeting new people while on transit, being left by a plane, or being stuck on the roads in a forest, etc.
6. An International or National Event or Incident
Write a personal story describing how you acted, witnessed, or responded to a significant national or international event or incident. For example, did you play in the Olympics or join a protest? Did you survive a natural disaster? What was your role in this circumstance? What did you do? For example, if you were in a hurricane, describe what happened, who you were with, and how you survived.
7. Meaningful Life Experience
Write a powerful short story about a meaningful life experience. This prompt was used in the September 2020 New York Times Personal narrative essay contest. Look at how glittery, composed, organized, and well-thought-out the winning personal narrative essays were and hone your skills. The best ones, including the honorary mentions, were sieved from over 8000 entries sourced globally.
8. Accident
Write a story about an accident you caused or that happened to you. This could be negative, as in a car accident, or maybe it's an accident of good fortune. Describe the accident, who was involved, and how it ended. For example, was it a bicycle accident? How did it happen? Did someone get hurt?
Below is an image of a color-coded personal narrative example that explains the different parts covered in an essay.
You can also access more personal narrative essay examples through these websites:
You can also rummage through websites such as GoodReads to access some read-worthy personal narrative books to inspire you. Here are a few picks:
Many worthy personal narrative books can inspire you to write an unforgettable story you want your audience to enjoy, appreciate, and forever think about.
Here is an excellent step-by-step checklist that can help you craft a terrific personal narrative essay.
You can attest that writing a personal narrative essay is not as complicated as you thought. It is a writing assignment you will most likely encounter in college, high school, or university. You are involving your person in the body of this paper, which makes it a bit confusing. But our guide has clarified everything you need to know. You can now turn your thought, ideas, imaginations, and experiences into a brilliant piece.
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