The document provides tips for writing an effective narrative, including stating a clear thesis, including descriptive details to make the story vivid, answering basic questions like who, what, where, when to choose important details, using dialogue to move the story forward or reveal character personalities, and organizing events chronologically or out of order for interest. Visualizing the story in advance can help write a more compelling narrative.

1. The Narration Pattern

2. Narration A narrative is a story that explains or illustrates some point . Like all good stories, a narrative should be captivating, have interesting details, and contain features like plot and setting.

3. Tell Your Story for a Reason Your story should have a specific purpose. Make sure to state your point in a clear thesis statement .

4. Details! Interesting & captivating stories usually include specific, descriptive details to make the story vivid. Important details describe scenery, key people, and events. Determine which details need emphasis; the more details your reader has, the better they understand your point.

5. Answer Questions To choose details, answer the standard questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Explaining the specifics of what happened gives readers all the significant details.

6. Write Dialogue Dialogue can be powerful in a story. It can move a story forward, give pertinent information, or give insight into a character’s personality.

7. Organizing Chronological order arranges details in the order they occurred. Or, to try something more interesting, tell events out of order.

8. Visualize It is often helpful to plan or pre-write your essay. This help you write a more effective story.