There are a number of things you must not do if you are to achieve a good grade for a narrative essay.

1. Avoid telling a story of crime and violence, of pirates and smugglers, which usually ends with the hero beating up the villain.
2. Do not tell an incident about ghosts, vampires or monsters, as these usually culminate in a variety of totally unreal and unbelievable situations.
3. Do not re-tell the story of a film or an incident you may have watched on TV. You will not be able to condense the story into an apparently original plot and your examiner may already have seen the film.
4. At the end of your story, do not suddenly pretend that the whole thing has been a dream and ‘then I woke up’. This is a common fault and you should avoid it if you possibly can.