56+ paper examples, study guides & outlines
The personal narrative is one of those academic writing assignments that students either love or hate. For some people, the structure of a personal narrative comes naturally to them, and they are easily able to relate a wide variety of experiences to their readers. For other people, the lack of formal structure in a personal narrative makes it difficult for them to keep on-task, and an assignment that should be relatively easy becomes a huge challenge.
Loosely defined, the personal narrative essay is a prose narrative relating a personal experience from the writer’s own life. Traditionally, personal narratives are told in first person, though they can be written in both third-person or second-person perspectives.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind when you are trying to write a great personal narrative. The first one is to think about the prompt. Sometimes you might not have an experience that directly relates to the prompt. In those circumstances, you might need to think outside-of-the-box and consider what experiences you have had that might somehow relate to the prompt.
The second one to think about is the emotion you want to convey. If you are relating a personal experience, then you have personal feelings about the story. How does it make you feel to remember the story? You want your readers to have the same feeling after they finish reading the story. Therefore, use words that convey your emotion and include things like dialogue to make your narrative seem more personal.
To see how to write a compelling personal narrative, browse through our personal narrative example essays.