1. Personal Narratives

2. Personal Narratives
Writing about a specific, meaningful event or experience from your life
The first time you experienced death
The time you fell in love
The time you saved your brother from drowning
Learning how to swim
Etc.

3. Think… What is your first memory as a child?
What is the most embarrassing moment that has ever happened to you?
What is the best gift you ever received?
Who were your best friends in 4th grade? Are you friends with them now? Why or why not?

4. You will write a Personal Narrative essay with:
A PURPOSE (why is this event important and why does the reader care?)
A SEQUENCE OF EVENTS (think plot)
A THEME (what important human experience does your story convey?)

5. Purpose
Pick an event that has CHANGED YOUR LIFE in some way. This event happened and you have never been the same.
Make sure you will be comfortable with me reading about it.

6. Sequence of Events
You will probably want to write your narrative in CHRONOLOGICAL order…
BUT you could also use flashbacks or flash-forwards too.

7. Theme
A theme is: a central “deep” idea that we see repeated in literature, movies, music, art, etc. Most humans have experienced it.
For example:
betrayal
hope
losing innocence
-power of love
-good vs. evil

8. One more thing…
How has your PERSPECTIVE changed over the years? Do you want to tell your narrative from the perspective of you being 6 years old, or you being 13 looking back on a past event?
Pick a perspective and stick to it!