How to Write a Personal Narrative Essay?

Nov 28, 2023

How to Write a Personal Narrative Essay

You’ve been assigned to craft a personal narrative essay about yourself, but you’re unsure where to begin. No need to fret. Since you’ve found your way here and are reading these words, rest assured that you can immediately access valuable paper writing help! We will assist you in grasping the fundamentals of a narrative paper and guide you through the process with clear, step-by-step instructions and illustrative examples to help you create a flawless composition.

When it comes to academic writing, if you ever find yourself in need of expert assistance or lack the time to complete your assignments, you can always consider the option to buy an essay. Many online services and professional writers offer custom essay writing services to help you with various types of essays, research papers, and academic projects. These services can provide you with well-written, plagiarism-free essays tailored to your specific requirements, saving you time and ensuring the quality of your work.

What is a Personal Narrative Essay

A personal narrative essay is a type of paper in which the author tells a story from their life. It is not always the whole life path that comes into focus, like in an autobiography essay, but more often, it focuses on a particular episode, fragment, event, or experience worth telling.

In this essay type, the author has to explore the value and significance of such an episode or event, sharing their emotions and lessons learned. This is where a narrative paper stands out from other, purely academic writing forms, as here the author can be more informal in expressing their emotions, thoughts, and experiences in an engaging and personal manner.

Therefore, a narrative paper has several distinctive characteristics:

First-Person Perspective: It is usually written from the first-person perspective, using pronouns like “me” and “I” to give a sense of honesty and personal touch.
Descriptive Details: Effective personal narratives contain agile details that help the audience to co-feel and show empathy to the author.
Emotional Impact: Personal narratives often evoke emotions, enabling the readers to relate to the writer on a personal level.
Reflection and Insight: In addition to retelling events, just like in a commentary essay, personal narratives often include the author’s reflections on the experiences and the lessons learned.

While such an informal style may certainly make you feel more relaxed, it’s time to note that a college personal narrative essay should still adhere to basic principles of good writing, such as a meaningful introduction and a conclusion, the presence of a thesis statement, writing coherence, and proper grammar.

How to Write a Personal Narrative Essay Step-by-Step Guide

Initially, you might be wondering how to start a personal narrative essay. As with any essay, your writing will go much smoother, if you devote a small fraction of your time preparing an outline.

Step 1. Prepare a Personal Narrative Essay Outline

An outline is a rough sketch of the to-be essay. It is a plan of the paper, containing all the essential components required to write the Introductory part, the Main Body, and the Conclusion:

Introduction	The Main Body	Conclusion
Begin with a “hook” – an astonishing fact, a vivid description, or a catchy quote from a dialogue – all from the chosen episode of your life.	Start with extended background information on the topic – historical or social context, define terms (if applicable), and give out all relevant circumstances accompanying your narrative.	Provide a summary of the key points from the main body. Focus on what you’ve learned/how you’ve changed.
Provide some brief additional information explaining the context or background of the hook mentioned above.	Disclose your narrative/story in a structured manner – paragraph by paragraph. Everything you write here has to help you reach your purpose outlined in the thesis statement.	Highlight the significance and value of the current narrative. Why did you tell it?
Thesis statement – explicitly tell your reader what the purpose of this essay is (e.g., to describe a bright episode from your life, to share lessons learned, etc.)	In the last paragraph of the main body, address potential counterarguments, considerations, or alternative perspectives (challenging your main arguments).	Engage the reader to reflect on their past (similar experiences, events, challenges, etc.)

The Introduction and the Main Body are the two elements that should always be part of your outline. You can prepare their brief versions perfectly, and sketches of the key contents, in advance. For instance, you can write down a few words about the hook, the thesis statement, and the key points of your personal narrative to address the thesis.

However, the conclusion is a bit different, as you cannot know in advance the exact points you’ll need to summarize until you write them down in the Main Body.

Ideas for a Personal Narrative Essay Topics

You cannot effectively make an outline without a topic. For a typical high school personal narrative essay, the choice of topics is always very wide, and most teachers leave it up to students to choose a good topic – an episode from their lives worth sharing.

However, sometimes you may be given a selection of personal narrative essay prompts to choose from. For example:

A Pivotal Moment in Your Life: Describe a moment or event that served as a crucial turning point in your life. How did it change you and your perspective?
Conquering a Personal Hurdle: Narrate an experience where you faced a significant challenge (or obstacle) and discuss the tactics you employed to overcome it. What lessons have you learned from navigating through this experience?
An Unforgettable Journey: Describe a memorable journey you undertook, whether it be a physical expedition to a new destination or a personal path of growth and self-discovery.
Extracting Wisdom from a Wrongdoing: Ponder upon a mistake you made and the valuable lessons you extracted from it. In what ways did this experience help you to become a better person?
Significance in Achievement: Detail an accomplishment that carries deep personal meaning for you. What improvements did this achievement bring to your skills and capabilities?
Delving into Family Traditions: Analyze a family tradition with special significance. What does it mean for both you and the members of your family?
A Defining Moment of Bravery: Share an episode of summoning courage to confront a fear or an opponent. Where did you get the strength to overcome it?
Impactful Encounters: Share an encounter with someone special that left a lasting impression on you. What mark did it leave on your life?

Take these prompts as guidelines, offering you a direction, but choosing a specific episode, experience, or event from your life is always up to you.

Step 2. Start with an Introduction

An introduction in a personal narrative is like a preface and a table of contents in the same package. It sets the stage for your essay by introducing the topic and giving some initial glimpses into your narrative, often referred to as background information.

Various techniques are used to start an introduction, however, all of them share one thing in common – they aim to grab the reader’s attention. They do so by the following means:

The “Hook” – compelling and eye-catching information: a vivid description, a staggering fact, or an intriguing question about your topic. Example:

“In the quiet solitude of my father’s cabinet, I stumbled upon a dusty handwritten book, which held the life story of my grandfather, setting the stage for a journey of discovery into my family’s past generations.”

Strong Opening Statement – begin with a bold statement describing the essence of your narrative. Example:

“In the labyrinth of my feelings, empathy was always the compass that guided me through the darkest periods of my life, revealing the inner strength that I always possessed despite the veil of superficial modesty.”

Set the Scene – expose a vivid scene that will guide your reader into the world of your story. Example:

“Through the shadows of the dark forest, a feeble spot of lights made it into the bottom of the trees – revealing the mysterious object that would become the subject of my story.”

Introduce a Character – describe your acquaintance with someone who would become the hero of your narrative. Example:

“The old man in the park square, who was sitting quietly reading a morning newspaper, would become the best mentor of my life via a chain of incredible events.”

Step 3. Write the Main Part

The main part should consist of separate paragraphs, each devoted to a particular point you want to make in your narrative. It’s important to note that the average length of a personal narrative paper equals 2-3 pages, which translates to approximately 5-7 main body paragraphs. But don’t be overly focused on the length and formatting requirements, at least this essay type allows you to be highly creative and informal in your approaches.

There are many controversies associated with writing a personal narrative essay, and one of the most significant is whether to focus on overdramatic or traumatic stories. The writer always has the freedom to choose whether to dramatize their experiences or maintain a constant positive tone of voice. The choice is not easy, as both approaches have pros and cons. We hope that the following table will help you make a weighted decision regarding the possibility of referring to dramatic or traumatic experiences in your story:

Pros	Cons
👍 Emotional Impact. Sharing traumatic stories can create a powerful emotional impact on readers, promoting a deeper connection between you and your audience.	👎 Focus on Victimhood. Excessive emphasis on negativity that traumatic and dramatic experiences represent, can overshadow the ability of your narrative to empower and inspire others.
👍 Catharsis. By sharing your traumatic and dramatic experiences, you can relieve yourself of the part of negativity from those. In psychology, it is called catharsis.	👎 Ethical Concerns. Dramatic events may reveal sensitive information about others. This can raise ethical concerns and potentially breach other participants’ privacy.
👍 Resilience and Growth. First, by sharing dramatic stories, you can inspire and support others facing the same or similar challenges. Additionally, by analyzing your experiences, you can become more resilient yourself.	👎 Audience Response. Not all people will constructively take your shared traumas. Today, the audience is spoiled by overly heroic and positivist narratives, hence, they may see your openness as a sign of weakness.
👍 Awareness and Advocacy. Sharing traumatic experiences can draw greater public attention to those, promoting awareness and prompting discussions and actions to better address social or personal challenges.	👎 Risk of Causing Harm to Yourself. By recalling the traumatic events in your life, you essentially make yourself live through them once more. This can harm your psyche.

Step 4. Finish Your Essay with an Engaging Conclusion

In the conclusion to the personal narrative, you should share your lessons learned and link them back to the topic of your essay outlined in the introductory part. Again, just like with the main body, this final part doesn’t have to be overly formal, but it still needs to be structured in one way or another. Therefore, it will suffice to make 2-3 sentences for the conclusion, where you’ll share your insights, briefly characterize the significance of your narrative, or engage the audience to reflect on their own experiences. For example:

“In between the lines of my story, I’m hopeful you find echoes of your own, resonating with the universal human values of empathy and compassion. Everyone’s life, after all, is a combination of narratives waiting to be told…”

Final Remarks

Writing a personal narrative can be an interesting and very rewarding experience. It doesn’t require significant data collection and research; rather, it involves revisiting your past, analyzing memories, and crafting compelling stories with meaningful conclusions.

The above guide should equip you with all the necessary starting knowledge and tools needed to write an outstanding personal narrative. If you encounter any challenges taking your first steps, our service offers the option to buy a personal narrative essay. For those who find it easier to grasp new concepts through concrete examples, our specialists are ready to provide the guidance you need!

<< Previous Next >>