Non-fictional Narrative Writing Make it personal!

Fictional –Not true Non-fictional – true Narrative – tells a story Non-fictional narrative- tells a true story Examples of non- fictional narrative writing: Biography Autobiography Memoir Narrative essay speech

BIOGRAPHICAL Tell someone else’s story Sea Biscuit: An American Legend, by Laura Hillenbrand Left For Dead, by Pete Nelson Arthur Ashe Remembered, John McFee Rosa Parks, Douglas Brinkley

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL : Tell your own story The preface of Left For Dead,by Hunter Scott “The Washwoman,” by Isaac Singer “The Rights to the Streets of Memphis,” by Richard Wright Memoir examples: “Old Shoes,” Karen Thornton “Body surfer, “Jude Thornton “The Bouquet,” Naomi Levy “The Talk,” Gary Soto

Narrative Essay May focus on persuasion, but by telling personal experiences *some informal editorials *“A Few words,” Mary Oliver *”Never Do That to a Book,” Ann Fadiman *“The Talk,” (humorous essay) Gary Soto *Your pet peeve editorial was a narrative essay “On Summer,” Lorraine Hansberry

VOICE …Is the verbal expression of who you are. A writer’s voice reflects his or her personality Your writing voice is the fingerprint of your writing expression. It is your style, your way, your method, your word fashion. No one else will “sound” like you do when you write.

DEVELOP YOUR STYLE By working hard during voice lessons in Mrs. Thornton’s ninth grade English class. You are worth it!

Narrative Writing and the Writer’s Voice Work hard to establish five basic elements of voice: 1. Diction-word choice 2. syntax- sentence structure 3. Detail – the addition of information 4. Imagery and figurative language- appeal to the senses 5. Tone: attitude of author

Elements of voice or style in more detail 1. DICTION- This is your word choice and provides the foundation of expression. Be clear with your diction. Precise diction makes clear what the reader means. Word choice is important in order to create mood, provide accurate information, supply imagery, or express specific emotion. 2. DETAIL – This is your use of facts, observations and examples. Use of detail enables the reader to “participate” with you as he reads.

Imagery – This is the language used to present a sensory experience to the reader. There are five senses imagery can help the reader to use. They are seeing, hearing, touching (tactile), tasting, and smelling. Imagery is created through detail, description, and figurative language. For example, a simile (figurative langauge) IS imagery. Descriptive words ARE imagery. Details CAN provide imagery.

SYNTAX --This is your choice of sentence structure, your arrangement of words. Syntax controls your focus or message. Variations of syntax can cause tension or provide relief. Syntax reveals the individuality of the writer. Examples of particular choices of sentence structure : -Often begins sentences with prepositional phrases - -Often uses compound-complex sentences often - -Uses parallel structure often - -Uses short statements mixed with long ones…

TONE Tone is expressed by your own qualities, your persona, your attitude! The tone is you coming off the pages and into the head of the reader. It is the way the reader “gets” you and your personality. ture=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1

Grammar lesson focus: dependent clauses begin with a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun (after, before, which, that, if, while, as if, as, because, who, though, where, since, although…) A subordinating conjunction always connects a dependent clause to an independent clause, so we call the sentence COMPLEX. Which sentence is complex? 1. After we set out for the park, the rain began to pour. 2. After the rain, we went home. 3. The rain came and we went home. Is the following punctuation correct? The rain began to pour after we set out for the park.

Today’s Grammar Lesson: An essential appositive does NOT need commas Non-essential appositive: The apple, picked this afternoon, tasted yummy in my salad. Essential appositive: The actor Dennis Quaid will be signing autographs in the foyer

This is the format that an English student will use when writing a paper. MLA requires specific fonts, margins, headers, and a particular way of citing sources. FYI, if you are writing a science or social studies paper, you may be asked to use APA (American Psychological Association) format, which is slightly different.