Personal+Narrative

Personal Narratives
Unit Focus:
 * understanding the characteristics of a personal narrative
 * creating effective introductions and conclusions

What is a personal narrative?
Personal narratives are written to share significant events in writers' lives. The stories are always true stories that really happened to the writer. They are personal to the core, and at their best they are revealing and relevant to others. This means that the story is written in the first person. Be sure to use words such as I, me, we and us.

Personal narratives allow you to share your life with others and vicariously experience the things that happen around you. Your job as a writer is to put the reader in the midst of the action letting him or her live through an experience. Although a great deal of writing has a thesis, stories are different. A good story creates a dramatic effect, makes us laugh, gives us pleasurable fright, and/or gets us on the edge of our seats. The story should make the reader feel the same as the writer felt at the time. Your purpose is not to merely tell an interesting story but to show your readers the importance and influence the experience has had on you. A story has done its job if we can say, "Yes, that captures what living with my father feels like," or "Yes, that’s what being cut from the football team felt like."

A good narrative has a clear focus on a particular topic. All of the ideas within the narrative help express the importance of the topic to the writer. Good personal narratives are also well organized. Ideas are usually presented in chronological order. The main idea is often clearly explained in the introduction and the ending gives a sense of resolution.

Show, Don't Tell
Don’t tell the reader what he or she is supposed to think or feel. Let the reader see, hear, smell, feel, and taste the experience directly, and let the sensory experiences lead him or her to your intended thought or feeling. Showing is harder than telling. It’s easier to say, "It was incredibly funny," than to write something that is incredibly funny. The rule of "show, don’t tell" means that your job as a storyteller is not to interpret; it’s to select revealing details. You’re a sifter, not an explainer. An easy way to accomplish showing and not telling is to avoid the use of "to be" verbs.

Setting Description
Where does this event take place? This will help to set the stage for the reader. You want the reader to have the same experience as you did when the event took place.

Character Description
In the personal essay, your main character is yourself, so try to give your readers a sense of who you are through your voice, actions, level of awareness, and description. The characters in a good story are believable and interesting; they come alive for the readers.

Use Dialogue
It’s amazing how much we learn about people from what they say. One way to achieve this is through carefully constructed dialogue. Work to create dialogue that allows the characters’ personalities and voices to emerge through unique word selection and the use of active rather than passive voice. Check out this [|site]for alternative word choices.

Interesting Details

 * Details! Details! Details!**
 * **example 1:** Read the following aloud: **I went home.** I ate a snack. I did my homework **.** I played outside.


 * **example 2:** Now read the following aloud:**I stumbled off the bus, arms full of books, dragging my jacket in the dust of the driveway. What a day it had been!** Throwing everything on the sofa, I spied Mom's homemade chocolate fudge brownies cooling on the kitchen counter. Just the thing! Chocolate and a big glass of milk before tackling my homework! I savored every bite and then whizzed through my math problems. Double-checking those multiplication drills, I found no mistakes. Milk and brownies: the perfect brain food! Tucking away my books, I ran outdoors to join the neighborhood ball game.

Notice how example 2 conveys the same basic information but in a much more interesting way. By adding details to your writing, you are helping the reader to feel the emotions and experience the same feelings that you had during the event.

Don't forget that every story needs a good introduction and conclusion! In the introduction to your narrative, it is important to catch your audience's attention. Say something that will make them want to continue reading. Set the stage for the body of your story.

There should be a sense of closure in the conclusion of the narrative. Often the conclusion restates a theme or a central idea. You may want to briefly summarize your main points or relate a lesson that you learned from your experience. However, be careful to avoid cliches!