writing
Write a personal narrative essay on a topic of your own choosing. Begin your story in a specific moment and allow the story to unfold chronologically from there, using background information only as it is pertinent and necessary: in other words, you should use your paragraphs to reconstruct specific moments of time for your audience, saving any reflective explanation that is not pertinent to the events for your conclusion.
● Keep your audience – your fellow members of our WR 333 class – at the forefront of your mind as you write. Tell a story that they will be interested in reading.
● Feel free to talk with family or friends who were present for the event or moments you are sharing.
● Render your story in moments. Show, don’t tell. Ask yourself “How did I know ___” (that your friend was upset, that it was cold outside, that something exciting was about to happen).
● In each moment you depict, focus on two or three of your five senses (sight, touch, sound, taste, and smell) to evoke a sense of reality for your reader. Allow your reader the sensory and temporal sensations you experienced.
● Take care to focus your topic closely and carefully to avoid slipping into a reflective essay mode.
● Like other stories, narratives center around an event or series of events that precipitate or demonstrate a significant personal change. Make efforts so that your reader understands the significance of the story you are sharing.
● Draw inspiration from LNR essays that we’re reading in this unit. Feel free to skip ahead if there’s an essay you think might help you approach your writing.
● Recall that narrative essays should depict some sort of meaningful change. Stay connected with the purpose of your own work.
● As you explore topic ideas, consider experiences that were exciting, unexpected, devastating, adventurous, frightening, liberating, painful, or broadening. This class is a safe space and we will respect one another’s personal privacy and intellectual property by not sharing details about others’ experiences (unless explicit permission has been given by the author).