1. NARRATIVES
Main Aim Is To:
Tell a sequence of events & scenes
Develop PLOT
Develop CHARACTERS

2. Biographical or Autobiographical (true)
NARRATIVES
There Are Two Main Types:
Fictional
(not true)
Biographical or Autobiographical
(true)

3. Autobiographical Incident
Writing Workshop
Autobiographical Incident
Describing an important event in your life . . .
Writing an autobiographical incident, or firsthand account, can help you and others to see an important event in your life more clearly.
You will need to use vivid sensory details, vocabulary, dialogue, and figurative language to engage the reader and reveal the significance of the event.

4. Autobiographical Incident
Writing Workshop
Autobiographical Incident
Describing an important event in your life . . .
-The beginning of the essay captures the reader’s interest
-Your autobiographical narrative will be about one significant event in your life
-The narrative needs to include the people, times, places, and objects
-During your description of the event you need to include your feelings
(how you felt then), but at the end of the narrative you need to tell your reader your feelings now as you look back on it (how you feel now)

5. Your Autobiographical Incident At A Glance
Beginning
Middle
End
-Write about a single incident
-Identify the people, places, times and objects involved
-Describes the incident using descriptive details and dialogue
-Describe your feelings THEN
Tells the outcome and importance of the incident
Presents the writer’s feelings about the experience NOW
-Introduces the incident in an interesting way
-Includes the people involved and the setting
-Tell why the incident is important to you

6. STANDARDS FOR WRITING Rubric
A successful autobiographical incident should:
Grab readers’ attention at the beginning
Focus on one incident that is important to you
Identify people, places, times, and objects involved in the experience
Describe your feelings then
Describe your feelings now
Have vivid descriptions
Include dialogue

7. Planning Your Autobiographical 1. Free Write About The Incident
Incident Essay
Take a few minutes to write down everything that you remember about the incident.
What happened?
When?
Where?
Who was involved?
How did you feel at the time?
1. Free Write About The Incident

8. Planning Your Autobiographical
Incident Essay
Fill in the details.
Go back to what you wrote about the incident. Flesh out the description of the time, the place, and the people involved.

9. Planning Your Autobiographical
Incident Essay
Think about the significance of the event.
Why do you remember the incident? What did you learn? Did it change you?

10. Planning Your Autobiographical
Incident Essay
4. Tell your story aloud.
Share your story with others. Can they visualize, or picture, what happened? Do they have questions about the order of events? Then start your first draft.

11. Planning Your Autobiographical
Incident Essay
5. Begin drafting your essay.
Remember that you can revise and reorganize your writing later. Try to give readers a strong sense of the incident. Show rather than tell why it is important to you. Include well chosen sensory details and dialogue as you plan your essay. Remember to start off with a strong beginning and conclude with a memorable ending.

12. Sensory Detail Practice
Tell me about your favorite home-cooked meal: - Sense of smell - Sense of sight - Sense of touch - Sense of taste - Sense of hearing * Thoughts and emotions

13. A Captivating Beginning
What sounds better? A. One day this past summer I went to the beach. B. It was a warm summer day and I could smell the salt in the ocean breeze.

14. Figurative Language
Simile -A comparison of two things that are not the same using the words like or as.
She was strong as the wind.
The clouds look like spilled milk.
I am as fast as an eagle.
Metaphor-A comparison of two things that are not the same without using the words like or as.
She was the strong wind.
The clouds are spilled milk.
I am a fast eagle.

15. Figurative Language
Personification. Attributing human qualities to objects, animals, or things.
The wind was her mother.
The clouds talked to the sun.
The eagle commanded attention.
Hyperbole. An obvious and intentional exaggeration. An extravagant statement not to be taken literally
We waited for eternity.
I told you a million times.
Her hair is ninety feet long.
IdiomsAn expression where the meaning is not understood from the actual definition of the words.
She broke my heart.
I fell in love.
He kicked the bucket

16. Figurative Language Practice
Create a simile or a metaphor for each person, place, thing, or idea:
-A parent
-Your best friend
-A subject in school
-A T.V. show
-Something special to you

17. Time to write…

18. Make Sure to Have a Strong Ending!
What sounds better? A. The day I learned to ride a bike was the day I learned about trust. B. It was a really good day.

19. REVISION Adding Detail Description Figurative language Specifics
Clarification
Sentence expansion
Idea expansion
New info

20. Deleting REVISION Repetitions Unimportant, irrelevant info
Sentence combining
Parts to ANOTHER story

21. Re-arranging REVISION Re-sequence Re-order to produce a DESIRED effect
Re-order for logic

22. Substituting: REVISION Increasing the VIVIDNESS of language
Replace DEAD Words
Replace OVERUSED words
Replace one idea for a better one

23. Planning Your Autobiographical
Incident Essay
TARGET SKILL:
MAKING THE ORDER OF EVENTS CLEAR
To help your readers understand the order in which things happened, use transitional words and phrases. Some words that indicate time include: to start off, at first, second, next, then, after, earlier, before, later, finally, and at the present time.

24. Planning Your Autobiographical
Incident Essay
TARGET SKILL:
MAKING THE ORDER OF EVENTS CLEAR
Transitions are especially important if you begin your narrative in the middle of the incident or at the conclusion of the incident.

25. Correcting “Errors” & “Mistakes”
EDITING
Correcting
“Errors”
&
“Mistakes”

26. Spelling Punctuation Capitalization Grammar & Usage
EDITING
Spelling
Punctuation
Capitalization
Grammar & Usage

27. Punctuation EDITING Full stops at the end of sentences
Quotation marks for dialogue

28. Capitalization Of proper nouns Letters of the first word in sentences
EDITING
Capitalization
Of proper nouns
Letters of the first word in sentences

29. Grammar & Usage EDITING NO Run-on sentences NO sentence fragments
Subject-Verb Agreement

30. That is All…