Narrative essay tips
• Narrative tasks may require you to write a story or part of a story; they may also ask you to write a true account. The purpose of your writing is to entertain the reader through the situation you have imagined and also to explore that situation and the characters involved in it
• Remember how much time you have in the exam. Don't try to write too complicated a story. Examiners want quality not quantity.
• Don't fill your writing with direct speech; it causes problems with punctuation and it's difficult to use effectively. Just use a little to show that you are in control of it.
• Writing a story is not just about narrative; description of characters and setting is as important.
• It may help you to base your story on something that has (or might have) happened to you. You can then embroider the situation as seems best.
• Don't take a story you may have read (or written) before and try to make it fit the title on the question paper - examiners will be able to see the joins!
• Don't forget to use paragraphs.
• Ensure the time sequence in your essay runs into a few hours and not into months and years.
• Don’t create too many characters.
• Planning what you are going to write is crucial; the opening sentence allows you the opportunity to develop a story in many different directions. Think about what direction you will take and where it will end - before you start to write.
• Wherever you decide to set a story, you must make it convincing to the reader by including background details. For example, at what time of the day (or night) is the story going to start? Who else, apart from the central character, is going to be involved? How much detail or description will you give of the characters involved in the story? For example, in the sample question below how much time will you spend in describing the corridor, the walk to the door and what is to be found behind it?
• Are you going to write your story in the first or third person? It's your choice, but a
• Remember how much time you have in the exam. Don't try to write too complicated a story. Examiners want quality not quantity.
• Don't fill your writing with direct speech; it causes problems with punctuation and it's difficult to use effectively. Just use a little to show that you are in control of it.
• Writing a story is not just about narrative; description of characters and setting is as important.
• It may help you to base your story on something that has (or might have) happened to you. You can then embroider the situation as seems best.
• Don't take a story you may have read (or written) before and try to make it fit the title on the question paper - examiners will be able to see the joins!
• Don't forget to use paragraphs.
• Ensure the time sequence in your essay runs into a few hours and not into months and years.
• Don’t create too many characters.
• Planning what you are going to write is crucial; the opening sentence allows you the opportunity to develop a story in many different directions. Think about what direction you will take and where it will end - before you start to write.
• Wherever you decide to set a story, you must make it convincing to the reader by including background details. For example, at what time of the day (or night) is the story going to start? Who else, apart from the central character, is going to be involved? How much detail or description will you give of the characters involved in the story? For example, in the sample question below how much time will you spend in describing the corridor, the walk to the door and what is to be found behind it?
• Are you going to write your story in the first or third person? It's your choice, but a