The essay focuses on one narrow theme or central idea. The success of the essay depends on the ability of the writer to present an idea in a complete and condensed form. It's important that the essayist develop the theme by including documented facts and a train of logical inferences that support a final statement. The theme of the narrative essay can cover any topic, serious or amusing, that's important to the writer and the reader.
It is important for there to be a transformation within a narrative essay, not simply a description of something. It often consists of a personal experience, in which there is a change in viewpoint. In order to be interesting, the person in the narrative should experience a transformation of some kind, whether through a change in feelings or in their perception of the events.
The narrative essay differs from historical writing or newspaper reporting in that it isn't designed to be objective. In newspapers, narrative essays or editorials are kept separate from straight news because they contain more than just facts. The editorial presents the writer's opinion about the facts outlined in the rest of the newspaper. The writer, and the newspaper, hope that the reader will be stimulated to think about the situation described in the editorial and form their own opinion. The narrative essay gives the writer and reader a chance to joust with their intellect.
It is useful for the body of the essay to begin with an arresting idea or statement to grab the reader's attention and then add different elements such as quotes, personal experiences or statistics to keep the reader moving from paragraph to paragraph. If a politician gives a speech on healthcare reform, a narrative essay criticizing that speech might begin with an anecdote telling about the difficulties an average citizen went through when they tried to get their private insurer to pay for a much needed test.