Narrative Writing

Remember, narrating a story is different from writing the same story down. While narrating a story, the narrator tends to forget certain points or may add those points later on. However, while writing a story, the narrative writer has to keep in mind the characters of the story, the theme of the story, role played by each character, the expressions and tone of voice of the characters and so on. Most important point is, writer should maintain the flow of the story while keeping in mind the readers.

What is meant by Narrative Writing?

Creative writing is known as narrative writing. A narrative writer writes to entertain the reader. Therefore a fully developed narrative fiction or nonfiction should have a central theme that has to be introduced in the beginning, followed by the development of the theme and an eventful middle and a memorable end.

Types of Narrative Writing
The three main types of narrative writings are personal, imaginative and narrative essay.

• Personal Narrative

The narrative writing is known as personal narrative when a person writes about himself or about his experiences. In this style of narrative writing, the writer already has a plot. However, he has to narrate the experiences in such a way that it will capture the interest of the reader. A personal narrative writer has to pay attention to the flow of story; the dialogue (if any) and he should also include the description wherever necessary. On reading, the reader should experience the same feeling that the writer experienced in reality.

• Imaginative Narrative Writing

When a narrative writer writes a fiction or creates a story it is known as imaginative narrative writing. For an imaginative narrative writer, creativity is a must. Here the narrative writer can go beyond the reality. He can create unusual situations and events that could never happen in real life. Here the writer has to create a plot and make it sound convincing to the reader.

• Narrative Essay

Narrative essays are always written from a defined point of view. The point of view would be none other than that of the author’s. The narrative essay should have a central theme and points to support and elaborate the theme. A narrative essay includes vivid verbs and modifiers and is very precise in description of the characters. The narrative essays may or may not use dialogs. However, it can use conflicts and sequences like any story.

Conventions of Narrative Writing

Whether it is a personal, imaginative or narrative essay, you have to keep in mind the conventions of narrative writing. Remember that the narrative writing means story writing.

• Narratives can be written using third person – he, she and it. But generally, it is written in the first person, using I.
• Narrative of any of the three types should have a concrete theme, settings and characters, a climax and a good ending.
• In narrative writing, the writer has to provide all the essential details to create a unified and dominant impression on the reader.

To summarize, narrative writing tells a story or a part of a story. Narrative writing is found in novels, biographies, autobiographies, essays and short stories. Narrative writing depends on the personal or imaginative experience of a person. A narrative writing should contain an entire story - beginning, middle and end. It should cover all the necessary details that explain the story. The narrator should be able to pass on his thoughts and views to the reader.