Together, the trickster tales of Native Americans, the journals of the first English settlers, and the autobiographies of former slaves help tell the story of early America. Each of these forms includes elements of narrative writing: detailed accounts of experiences real or imagined. Like many narratives, though, the ones written early in America's history served a larger purpose than simply recording memories or entertaining readers. Besides recounting a series of events, these texts invited readers to reflect upon an experience or observation and to integrate that reflection into their knowledge of the world.
In general, these reflective narratives are the stories that really matter to a writer, the ones that reveal truths about people and about the world. Using a well-structured sequence of events, an intriguing narrator or main character, and precise language that helps readers picture the story, anyone can craft an engaging narrative. In this lesson, you will select a story that matters to you, and you'll try to tell it as thoughtfully as the early Americans did so long ago.
Question
How is narrative writing different from other types of writing?
