5 TIPS FOR WRITING A GOOD NARRATIVE ESSAY by Sean Craydim Writing a narrative essay is an essential talent for field

research. Rather than summing things up for your reader, it presents your experience and allows them to draw their own conclusions. The narrative essay makes it point by subtly guiding the reader, rather than battering them the way a rhetorical essay would. By observing these basic ideas, you can improve your narrative essay. 1. Clarity. Complex words and syntax are a hindrance to clarity and should be avoided. Ideas should be clearly distributed between sentences and paragraphs. Example: Although I have never been to the races before, I was very excited to behold them, yet also somewhat nervous, because of the type of people who go there. Improved: I'd never been to a horse race. I was excited to go, but also a little nervous, since I wasn't sure about the people at the track. 2. Don't describe each and every one of your own movements. Example: As I went in the door, I turned and saw a TV. I looked around and saw posters on the wall. As I went further in I noticed everyone was watching M*A*S*H. Improved: I immediately noticed the posters on the wall, though everyone else's eyes were focused on a TV playing M*A*S*H. 3. Avoid the second-person narrative. An important part of the narrative essay is the fact that the writer experienced the events described. Example: As you go in the door, you will turn and see a TV. You look around and see posters on the wall. As you go further in you notice everyone is watching M*A*S*H. Writing in the present tense is okay, however.

4. To interest the reader, dynamic word choice is key. Avoid sounding too clinical. Use the same slang, idiom, and turns of phrase you would use in speech. Avoid passive constructions. Example: I am presented an array of unpleasant photos in which many casualties are shown after automobile accidents. Improved: They showed me a book stuffed with gruesome pictures of people who'd been in car wrecks. 5. Limit reference. MLA format recommends including citations in the text, but in a narrative essay this is disruptive. If a work was helpful, cite it in a 'Works Consulted' list after the essay. Explain yourself as you go along, rather than trying to refer your reader back to a previous statement. Example: When I first saw the comic book fans jumping up and down, I thought as they would, "Lord, what fools these mortals be" (Gaiman 1989.) I later learned why they do this. Improved: The fans jump up and down. When I first saw this, I wondered what they were doing and my mind conjured a quote from Shakespeare that Neil Gaiman used in his "Sandman": "Lord, what fools these mortals be." However, I watched a bit longer and realized the company spokesmodels were throwing free merchandise. The fans wanted to get the most from their day at the convention. The narrative essay is a keen rhetorical tool because it allows the readers to draw their own conclusions, but falling into the traps above deprive it of its effectiveness. By avoiding these errors, you can subtly guide your reader in your desired direction.

Narrative essays Let us begin with the narrative essay. Narrative essays are a favourite among students as they are easier to handle. This type of essay enables the writer to use and share experiences with the reader. Guidelines to remember when writing a narrative essay You have to decide whether to write your essay from your own perspective or someone elses. The first person or third person singular is the most popular voice. If you choose to write from your own perspective, then use the first person singular, that is, I. If you choose to write from someone elses perspective, use third person pronouns (he, she, it). Be consistent in your choice of pronouns. Do not switch perspectives mid-way through the essay. Engage your reader. Make the story real for him. Get him involved in your experience. Bring your characters to life. Make them real. Make them memorable. It is always more interesting to read about flawed characters Have a simple plot. You will be better off using chronological order. Flashbacks are a wonderful device but you should only engage in this if you can carry it off. Use the simple past tense if you cannot handle the past perfect tense. Use verbs and adjectives to enable your reader to visualise things in his minds eye. You may use dialogue but use it sparingly and effectively. Remember, you are writing a narrative, not a script. Avoid using informal language. Avoid clichs.

Sample essay Write a story ending with, I never saw her again after that. The gaunt figure that inched its way slowly towards the medicine counter looked old and haggard. Her dreary-looking outfit did nothing to conceal her bleak and depressing demeanour. Anyone who looked at her would have thought she carried the worlds burdens on her shoulders. Quietly, she sat on one of the chairs and waited patiently, like the rest of us, for her number to be flashed on the digital screen. I was rattled. I knew I had seen her somewhere before a young, happy version. There was no way I could be wrong. Like an arrow released from its bow, the buried and forgotten memories pierced my heart with an unknown intensity. It had to be Mary Anne, my best friend in secondary school. Then again, this person looked old, much too old to be 29. Anyway, I summoned

Enough courage and went towards her. Hearing to my footsteps, she looked up slowly. The flash of recognition in her eyes told me I was not wrong. It is you, Mary Anne Danker, is it not? She nodded her head silently as if embarrassed. Hello, John? You are looking good. Her remarks reminded me of how beautiful she had been once. Mary Anne had been the school beauty. Everyone had admired her for her looks, her brains and her beautiful character. Many had said, rather enviously, that God had worked overtime with her making her one of his masterpieces. One day, Mary Anne had stopped coming to school. Devastated, I had gone to her house, only to find it all locked up. Checks with neighbours proved futile. No one knew where the danker family had gone and why they had left so suddenly. Taking a seat next to her, I wondered what had happened to the ravishing beauty I had once known. Why did you leave so suddenly, Mary Anne? Why?She looked at me nervously, clasping and unclasping her hands in her lap. I could sense that she was rather reluctant to talk, reluctant to expose apart of her life which had probably caused her a great deal of pain and suffering. A prolonged silence ensued. Finally, she inhaled deeply and started telling me her story. Her mother had been diagnosed with end stage cancer and there was nothing the doctors could do. They said that she had only three months to live. Her father thought it best to return to their hometown, to let her live in peace in the surroundings she had grown up in. Her father, devastated by his wifes

death, started to neglect his own health and three months later, he too died of a broken heart, leaving Mary Anne in the care of relatives. Tears rolled down Mary Annes cheeks as she related the difficult years with her aunt. The old widow treated her badly, forcing Mary Anne to quit school and to work as a dishwasher in a restaurant. The cruel old lady often beat her, and her cousins, jealous of her beauty, were more vicious than their mother

Now that the aunt was old and suffering from cancer, her five children had deserted her when they realised that she needed special care. Despite her aunts ghastly treatment of her, Mary Anne felt sorry for her.I cannot leave her. She has no one else, she said. I have promised to take care of her till the end of her life.I looked at Mary Anne and saw her goodness. Instead of seeing a gaunt and weary figure, I saw an amazingly beautiful human being. My heart went out to her. Just then her number was flashed on the screen. She got up and collected the medicine which, I understood, was for her aunt. Never had I felt so helpless and wretched. Her story reminded me of something my late grandfather used to say, Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.Before leaving, Mary Anne turned and smiled sadly at me. I never saw her again after that.(677 words)Let us analyse the elements in the sample essay. Simple plot - The story revolves around Mary Anne who leaves town when her mother is diagnosed with cancer. Her parents die and she is treated cruelly by her aunt. - A chance encounter at a pharmacy reveals this to the narrator. Setting - At a pharmacy/clinic most likely - A past event (no specific time mentioned). Important characters Mary Anne. Narrator. The aunt.

How the essay seeks to engage the reader The use of verbs, adjectives and adverbs vividly portray the characters. The gaunt figure that inched its way slowly towards the medicine counter looked old and haggard. Her dreary-looking outfit did nothing to conceal her bleak and depressing demeanour. Quietly, she sat on one of the chairs and waited patiently, like the rest of us, for her number to be flashed on the digital screen.

Vivid reminder of what the character had been like before. Mary Anne had been the school beauty. Everyone had admired her for her looks, her brains and her beautiful character Focus shifts from loss of external to internal beauty.

I wondered what had happened to the ravishing beauty I had once known. Then again, this person looked old, much too old to be 29. Narrators instinct she is still beautiful on the inside. I looked at Mary Anne and saw her goodness. Instead of seeing a gaunt and weary figure, I saw an amazingly beautiful human being. Narrators thoughts and feelings. Anyone who looked at her would have thought she carried the worlds burdens on her shoulders I was rattled. I looked at Mary Anne and saw her goodness. Instead of seeing a gaunt and weary figure, I saw an amazingly beautiful human being. My heart went out to her Effective used of past and past perfect tense. Her remarks reminded me of how beautiful she had been once. Mary Anne had been the school beauty. Everyone had admired her for her looks, her brains and her beautiful character Touch of humour. Many had said, rather enviously, that God had worked overtime with her making her one of his masterpieces Choices of words. Precise/apt pitiable Not repetitive, e.g. treated her badly, ghastly treatment.

Inclusion of dialogue. Gives voice to the narrator and Mary Anne. Break monotony of narration. Varied sentence structures. I was rattled. (Simple sentence) Her mother had been diagnosed with end-stage cancer and there was nothing the doctors could do. (Compound sentence) Now that the aunt was old and suffering from cancer, her five children had deserted her when they realised that she needed special care. (Complex sentence) Use of repetition for emphasis. "Why did you leave so suddenly, Mary Anne? Why" Unexpected ending. Mary Anne does not desert her aunt in her time of need. The beauty of her character shines through. Sometimes, you can change a story to suit another topic. Why dont you manipulate the sample essay to fit the topic Beauty?

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR QUESTION PAPER SPM bahasa Inggeris paper 1 consists of two sections; Section A and Section B. Section A is where you are applying your knowledge on writing a talk, a speech, a report, a dialogue, an article, a letter and so on. You are given 45 minutes to answer this section. This section is compulsory for you to answer because only one question is given that brings a total of 35 marks. How the examiner marks the directed writing: from 35 marks; 3 marks awarded for format; 12 marks for content points and 20 marks for language (grammar). Section B is where you are applying all your knowledge in writing skills. This section is where the rules of grammar take their roles. Therefore, prepare yourself with adequate amount of grammar and how it works. Now, lets take a bird's view on this section. You are given five questions and only to answer one. You are given an hour to read through all questions, to choose the question you feel most comfortable with, to plan for the points, to write and to check for any grammatical error. Thats seriously a lot of tasks to do within 1 hour. So my suggestion is that you must determine your chosen or most comfortable type of written essay (either narrative, reflective, descriptive, argumentative/persuasive or factual/expository). For me, I rather avoid choosing reflective, descriptive, argumentative/persuasive or factual/expository essay because these types of essay require a lot of knowledge on current issues. Thus, I choose narrative essay. This section carries 50 marks. How the examiner marks the continuous writing: they mark the essay based on impression which means there is no fixed formula to mark your essay, but they will judge your essay based on your tenses, vocabulary, sentence structures and so on. From there they will determine your marks. Later in this blog I will be discussing on ways to earn high marks for your Continuous Writing. WHY NARRATIVE ESSAY? Firstly, let us explore the pattern of continuous writing essay questions from 2002 to 2010. Year 2002 Questions - (Descriptive) a teacher who has great influence on you - (Factual/Expository) good result at school do not guarantee success in the future - (Descriptive) how I can help to make the world a better place to live in - (Open essay) colours - (Narrative) completing a story - (Descriptive) a day wished never happened - (Factual/Expository) country to choose and why

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

- (Descriptive) an invitation that cannot live without - (Open essay) friends - (Narrative) completing a story - (Descriptive) a festival celebrated - (Factual/Expository) ways to promote tourism in Malaysia - (Descriptive) my ideal school - (Open essay) clothes - (Narrative) completing a story - (Descriptive) biggest challenge in life - (Factual/Expository) ways to keep oneself healthy - (Descriptive) who would you be if you were given a chance to be anybody - (Open essay) music - (Narrative) unexpected visitor - (Descriptive) an enjoyable weekend you had - (Factual/Expository) ways television help students in studies - (Descriptive) your life in the next ten years - (Open essay) food - (Narrative) completing a story - (Descriptive) an embarrassing experience - (Factual/Expository) giving opinions whether teenagers today are only interested in entertainment - (Descriptive) my early years - (Open essay) tomorrow - (Narrative) completing a story - (Descriptive) a hard-working person who succeeded in life - (Argumentative) examination - good or bad - (Descriptive) perfect future husband or wife - (Open essay) stars - (Narrative) completing a story - (Descriptive) unforgettable incident seen on way home - (Argumentative) school children should not have long holidays - (Descriptive) favourite day of the week - (Open essay) beauty - (Narrative) completing a story - (Descriptive) most popular student in school - (Argumentative) internet mostly a good thing - do you agree? - (Factual/Expository) ways to save the environment - (Open essay) home - (Narrative) completing a story

We can see that every year narrative essay question is asked and it is about completing a story either given the beginning or the ending of the essay except in 2005 where the question stated clearly on what is the main event of the story. The rest of it, you can determine your own plot of story. Now I will explain why I am so excited about narrative essay. you are only write the essay in past tense; therefore no confusion on tenses it lets you to imagine a situation; allowing to express creative ideas if you lucky enough, the question given is plot-free (its you who create the plot fitting to the question given) you can use wide vocabulary

easier compared to open essay, factual essay and argumentative essay need not to remember current issues around you

These are lists of benefits that I can think of when writing a narrative essay. Continue reading my blog as I will bring you on how to produce a good narrative essay. PRIOR TO THE EXAMINATION: WRITING PRACTISES To produce a good narrative essay, first you need to brush up your grammar. It does not work if your grammar is not that good. Get help from your friends and English teacher especially because they know what they are doing; plus that is what they do - teach you! Buy if you can afford to, if not borrow grammar books, example of English essays, and anything that is related from friends or library of your school because by reading it will improve your English skills. There is always a friends that 'master' a certain subject and for this identify your friends who have the highest marks in Continuous Writing among you. Read his/her essay and try to compare it to your essay. It is not a bad thing to copy the way they write the essay as long as it involve study and education. Try to find time to write an additional essay (which is your own personal essay; not homework) for two or a week times and asked for your teacher's comments. As for me, I started to write additional essays after finishing my trial examination because my Bahasa Inggeris grade was the lowest among the 10 subjects that I took. I started a bit late, but you should start NOW while you have the time. Believe me it helps a lot because for my trial I got a B but for the SPM examination I got an A+ for Bahasa Inggeris and English GCE-O an 1A. English GCE-O is the marking standard of British English and it only takes the marks of your Continuous Writing. See how important it is for you to excel in Continuous Writing.

MY TIPS ON HOW TO WRITE A BETTER NARRATIVE ESSAY 1. BRUSH UP YOUR GRAMMAR There is nothing more important than having a good grammar skill. So, language must be taken into consideration when writing an essay. Refer to the above writing practices. 2. ESSAY SHOULD DEPICT WIDE USE OF VOCABULARY AND INTERESTING PHRASES Unlike the other types of essays, a narrative essay requires you to have a wide repertoire of vocabulary in the story you wrote. This is to avoid a dull story to be presented to the reader; in this case the examiner. From my previous writing, I wrote that the marking system for continuous writing is based on impression. Thus, to give good impression to the examiner on the essay you wrote, you must include a wide range of vocabulary and some interesting phrases. Study the examples given below: Example 1 "It was a boring weekend. We were lazy to read books and study, so we planned for a camping trip. After gaining permission from our parents, we brought necessary camping things and food for the camping trip. Then, we went to Mount Tahan." Example 2 "It was a mundane and lacklustre period after the school final examination. Danny, Erik and I had had enough of reading books and studying, so we all set on going a camping trip. After getting the green light from our parents, we equipped ourselves with the necessary camping gear and enough food to last us for the two-day camping trip. Then, we embarked on our journey to Mount Tahan with high spirits." Between both examples, Example 1 depicts a dull story but Example 2 depicts a colourful story although both are mainly telling the same idea. Why? Here are the answers: 1. Example 1 lacks of vocabulary. 2. Reading Example 1 does not portray sense of maturity in writing unlike Example 3. Example 1 lacks of details but Example 2 has an adequate details in the writing that added the value of interest. 4. The use of word/phrase like mundane and lacklustre, green light,camping gear, embarked and high spirits added more sophistication to Example 2. So, how to make your essay more interesting to read? 1. Find words or phrases that can replace a common word that you think can be used for every essay you want to write. For example happy can be replaced by cheerful, cheery, merry, joyful, light-hearted, jovial, gleeful, buoyant, carefree, blithe, glad, elated, ecstatic, euphoric, overjoyed, exuberant, in seventh heaven, propitious, auspicious and fortuitous. Actually these replaceable words for happy just only a portion of it. A

thesaurus may come handy for this job. Try searching for sad, shocked, scared and so on. 2. Insert at least two idiomatic expressions in your essay like Example 2 that uses the idiom green light which means giving permission and high spirits which means happy. From Example 2 which is a complete paragraph there are already two idiomatic expressions. So, imagine if there are five similar paragraphs! 3. This next tip could be very ambitious. Try to insert common words and phrases from Latin and modern languages which had been accepted and used in English Language. Such words like ad initio (Latin) meaning from the beginning, esprit de corps (French) meaning team spirit, genre (French) meaning style and so on. These words can be found in English dictionary. 3. HAVE A FIXED PLOT WHEN WRITING NARRATIVE ESSAYS Here is another important part in narrative essay writing. Plot. A good narrative must have a strong plot. Beginning with an introduction, then there is rising action, a climax, then falling action and lastly a resolution. Example of a narrative essay: From Terengganu 2010 Trial Examination; beginning with "I could not sleep throughout that night..." Stranded

I could not sleep throughout that night. Not even a minute. It was just because I might miss the ships or boat that passed by the island. I was shivering in cold even it was just a gentle breeze. I thought to myself that things would have been different if I did not take part in that vacation. Never in my wildest dream that a spectacular vacation on a cruise ship at the beginning turned out to be a nightmarish affair.

Introduction

The day before was a joyous one. I embarked on a three-day vacation trip on a cruise ship. The vacation was amazing. The scenic view was splendid across the horizon of the sea as far as the eyes could see. The sea water was crystal clear and the sky was a magnificent azure. My blissful day did not stop there. The

dusk thrilled me as I sat on a chair. The sky gave its golden appeal and the Sun Raising looked like it was sinking into the sea as night began to unfold. Then, the golden action yellow background of the sky changed to twinkling stars. I was staggered to see the view of the opulent God's magnum opus.

As the night grew older, something totally different started to appear up to the sky. The sky was too dark. It darken so much as the glimmering stars started to disappear. To my instinct, something bad would happen any time soon, but I just could not figure it out. I went into my room and soon dived into a deep slumber.

'RIIIINNNNGGGG!!!!!!'

"This is your captain speaking. Abandon the ship! This ship is about to sink!" Climax The loud ringing sound really woke me up from my comfort bed and I was taken aback to hear the announcement. To my horror, the ship was in top syturvy. High jinks enshrouded the air. Then I realised, there was a storm happening outside. To my flummox, I dragged myself outside and saw people running higgledy-piggledy as they did not know what to do. As for me, the only thing I could remember is that a huge wave came crushing upon the ship and then everything seemed to darken.

Streaks steaks of light awaken me found out that I was on a beach. At last I thought that my misery had ended. But a little exploration did not bring much hope. There was no one there. So, being an optimistic person, I built up a settlement near the beach. I laid upon my leaves bedding. I wondered. Could I survive? Did my family know that I loved them? For how long did I have to wait? Falling action Out of the blue, an abrupt siren was heard from a far. Swiftly, I arose from my leaves bedding and ran nearer to the beach. I shouted for my life while waving my hands up on the air. "Help! I'm here! On the island! Help! Help! I'm here!" Then, the siren became louder and louder. At the moment, I knew they had

noticed me. Unexpected, tears of joy started to drop from my eyes. Before I even thought my life was over, now the door back to my life was widely opened. By the moment I stepped into the rescue boat, I know that it was the time for me to go home. Resolution

That is the example of a complete narrative essay written by me within a week time after my trial examination. This essay earned me 45 marks out of 50 marks.

Note: the underlined words or phrases in the essay really help in earning me a high marks. Now back at the title above and this is about a fixed plot. What is the meaning of fixed plot? A fixed plot is the plot that you will be using during your exam. How to do that? The example essay above is from the question; beginning with "I could not sleep throughout that night..."

But, what will happen if the question says; ending with "...It was truly the experience of a lifetime." My suggestion is that you keep on using the same plot, NOT the same essay by means memorising word by word, but change either the beginning or ending with respect to the question given. This is an example for changing the ending with the same plot: "...Then, the siren became louder and louder. At the moment, I knew they had noticed me. Unexpected, tears of joy started to drop from my eyes. Now, looking back to what had happened to me I realised that I am surviving alone at a deserted island. Not everyone could say that they slept on leaves bedding and have the sky as the roof. It was truly an experience of a lifetime." Now, can you see what I am trying to make point here? By practising two or three times, you can easily remember the plot. When writing the essay, try as much as you can to relate the plot to the question asked. This is what I did for my examination. Note: the benefit of having a fixed plot is that the time that you usually used to plan for your essay can be used to write. By the way, it is the written part is submitted to the examiner, not the planning part, right?

IMPORTANT NOTE ON WRITING A NARRATIVE ESSAY 1. Give a title to your essay (refer to the example essay given above; it has a title) . The title itself must be relevant to the plot. So, does the title 'Stranded' relevant to the plot? Yes it is because the plot is about a person was trapped in an island after a tragedy on a cruise ship. The title of an essay can be anything as long as it fits the story. 2. Must write more than 350 words. But, the essay must not too long. Remember this; the longer you write the more mistakes you make. An ideal essay should be around 350 to 400 words. 3. Use only one hour to write the essay and the same for Directed Writing; only use 45 minutes. Be fair when writing the essay; 4. Include wide range of sentence structures, vocabulary and must have at least one dialogue (MUST HAVE - one of the characteristics of excellent essay). Why you should have dialogue in your essay? When you include a dialogue in your essay, it shows that you have the knowledge in punctuation. This is what is special about narrative essay because there is no dialogue in factual essay, right? 5. At least include a word that plays a specific sound. In the example essay I include the word 'RIIIINNNNGGGG!!!!!!'. In English, it does not mean a thing, but it gives the reader a feel to the story you wrote. 6. Include a wide range of vocabulary to your essay to keep the interests of the readers. 7. Check for any grammatical error after finishing the essay. Make sure it is grammatically correct in order to get high marks.

WHAT TO AVOID? 1. AVOID WRITING SOMETHING THAT YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND My teacher used to tell me that narrative essay is relatively a little bit easier that the other types of essays; but it depends on the question itself! If your do not understand a word or a phrase for a particular questions; DO NOT even try to write about it! For example you are given this question:

Write about your most propitious moment. See the underlined word? Most of us do not understand the word "propitious", some may guessed that it means sad, surprise and so on where the real meaning is happy. Avoid writing something that you do not sure.

2. AVOID MEMORISING THE ESSAY WORD BY WORD Continuous Writing is much related to Directed Writing in terms of language. The quality of language you portray in Directed Writing reflects the grammar knowledge that you have because in Directed Writing there is no specific question to be asked. It can be anything of any format. Unlike Continuous Writing, students tend to memorising an essay. How does the examiner even know that a student was memorising an essay or not? It depends on the language on Directed Writing. Let say R got 6 marks for language in Directed Writing but in the Continuous Writing R's language band stands for A. By that time the examiner know that R was memorising an essay. Thus, R's Continuous Writing essay will fall to the lower band. Directed Writing does play a major role here.

Therefore, it is crucial for you to have a strong knowledge on basic grammar.