Personal Narrative Assignment
For this essay you will need to write about one specific experience that changed how you acted, thought, or felt. Use your experience as a spring board for reflection. 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.
Good stories occur everywhere and can be told about anything. They are as likely to occur in your own neighborhood as in some exotic locale. Potential stories happen daily; what makes potential
stories actual stories is putting them into language, recounting them, orally or in writing. Good stories are entertaining, informative, lively, and believable; they will mean something to those who
write then as well as to those who read them.
All stories account for something that happened-an event or series of events, after which something or somebody is changed. As in a fictive story, your personal essay will contain the similar elements:
a character (who?) to whom something happens (what?), in some place (where?), at some time (when?), for some reason (why?), told from a particular perspective (how?).
In other words, any time you render a full account of a personal experience, you answer what is commonly known as "reporter's questions"--the who, what, where, when, why, and how questions reporters ask themselves to make sure their reports of news stories are complete. Whether your essay is engaging or not depends upon the subject, your interest in telling it, and the skills you use to
weave together these story elements.
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Narrative provides human interest, spark our curiosity, and draw us close to the storyteller. In addition, narratives can do the following:
· Create a sense of shared history, linking people together.
· Provide entertainment. Most people enjoy a thrilling movie or an intriguing book.
· Provide psychological healing. Reading or listening to the narrative of someone who faced a life crisis similar to one you are experiencing can help you through the crisis. They can also help the writer deal with the crisis.
· Provide insight. Narratives can help you discover values, explore options, and examine motives.
Description:
For this essay you will need to write about one specific experience that changed how you acted, thought, or felt. Use your experience as a spring board for reflection. 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.
Good stories occur everywhere and can be told about anything. They are as likely to occur in your
own neighborhood as in some exotic locale. Potential stories happen daily; what makes potential
stories actual stories is putting them into language, recounting them, orally or in writing. Good
stories are entertaining, informative, lively, and believable; they will mean something to those who
write then as well as to those who read them.
All stories account of something that happened-an event or series of events, after which something or somebody is changed. As in a fictive story, your personal essay will contain the similar elements:
a character (who?) to whom something happens (what?), in some place (where?), at some time (when?), for some reason (why?), told from a particular perspective (how?).
In other words, any time you render a full account of a personal experience, you answer what is commonly known as
"reporter's questions"--the who, what, where, when, why, and how questions reporters ask themselves to make sure their reports of news stories are complete. Whether your essay is engaging or not depends upon the subject, your interest in telling it, and the skill with which you
weave together these story elements.
Characteristics of a narrative:
· Narratives make a point
· Narratives convey action and details
· Narratives present a conflict and create tension
· Narratives sequence events
· Narratives use dialogue
· Narratives are told from a point of view
For this paper, you will
