Although we think of narration as simply storytelling, it can be an effective way to organize an essay or introduce an argument. Many writers start off with a story that leads into their main theme.


Here is an example that opens a book about the power of emotions.


Ponder the last moments of Gary and marry Jane Chauncey, a couple completely devoted to their eleven – year – old daughter Andrea who was confined to a wheelchair by cerebral palsy. The Chauncey families were passengers on an Amtrak train that crashed into a river after a barge hit and weakened a railroad bridge in Louisiana bayou country. Thinking first of their daughter, the couple tried their best to save Andrea as water rushed into the sinking train. Somehow they managed to push Andréa through a window to rescuers. Then as the car snake beneath the water, they perished. (Daniel Goleman : Emotional Intelligence)


Here’s another effective narrative that a writer uses to anchor an essay about how she writers.


Every once in a while after reading, someone in the audience will come up to me. “Have I got a story for you?” They will go in to tell me the story of an aunt or sister or next – door neighbor, some moment of mystery, some serendipitous occurrence, some truly incredible story. “You should write it down,” I always tell them. They look at me as if they’ve just offered me their family crown jewels and I’ve refuted them. “I’ m no writer,” they tell me. “You’re the writer”. (Julia Alvarez : Grounds for Fiction)


When you build a paper around narrative, remember that good narrators use vivid language to show their readers what is happening and to make the reader see something.