follow the steps outlined in this slideshow to write your narrative writing an autobiographical...

FOLLOW THE STEPS OUTLINED IN THIS SLIDESHOW TO WRITE YOUR NARRATIVE

Writing an Autobiographical Narrative

Assignment: Write an autobiographical narrative that reveals an experience’s significance for you.

Writing an Autobiographical Narrative

Do you have a relative or a friend who tells the same stories over and over again? Many people like to share stories about events that have a special significance to them or that reveal something important about their lives, values, or beliefs.

What story will you tell?

Think about specific, meaningful experiences from your life.

a neighborhood park, a vacation spot

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Search Your Memory

• a special place

rode a bike, volunteered

• the first time you did something

a sports event, a family reunion

• a special occasion/tradition

Ask yourself

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Choose an Experience

• Is this experience important to me?

Choose the experience that brings out the most detailed and positive response from you.

• What specific details can I give about this experience?

• Is the experience too private or embarrassing to share?

Purpose

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Define Your Purpose and Audience

• To relate the sequence of events that make up a personal experience

• To express to your audience the significance of those events

• To use diction, imagery, details and figurative language to create setting and mood

Audience

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Define Your Purpose and Audience

• Teachers

What background information will the audience need to understand the experience?

• Friends

• Others who will read your autobiographical narrative

• Classmates • Parents

List all the vivid details you can recall about events, people, places, thoughts, and feelings.

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Gather Details

EventsWhat sequence of events make up the experience? Were there important events that led up to or followed the experience?

TipMatch the pace of your narrative to the pace of the actual events—a quick pace for rapid events, a slow pace for more drawn-out events.

Sequence of events: volunteered for beach clean-up, found an injured turtle and got it help

Later events: volunteered at an animal rescue shelter, decided to become a veterinarian

Details: Remember to focus on the most important/significant details


Pace

• quick pace for more rapid events

• slow pace for more drawn-out events

The rescue shelter was very busy. I filed papers. I answered phones. I cleaned cages. The to-do list seemed endless.

The turtle seemed scared, so I approached it very slowly and spoke to it in a soothing voice.



PlacesWhere did the events happen?

TipUse concrete sensory details (IMAGERY) to create effective images of the sights, sounds, and smells of the places you are describing.

Beach on a spring afternoon; cool breeze from the sea; warm, white sand; calm water; salty air


Concrete Sensory Details (IMAGERY)

• What senses does the passage appeal to?

At the beach clean-up, we found several old tires—the rubber brittle and hot from the sun’s heat—that were breeding grounds for hundreds of buzzing and biting mosquitoes.



PeopleWho was involved in the events? What did those people look like? What did they do and say?

TipUse sensory details to describe actions and gestures. Use dialogue, actual words people say, to show each person’s personality.

Me—ages fifteen and sixteen

Dr. Alice Monroe—animal rescue veterinarian; friendly; gentle with animals; always takes time to explain treatments


Actions and Gestures

I spent several weeks working with Sammy, an older dog that had been abused. At the beginning I used slow, deliberate motions when I approached him, and I always brought him a treat.



Thoughts and FeelingsWhat did I think and feel as the events unfolded?

TipUse interior monologue, “thinking out loud,” to share your thoughts with readers.

Excitement to volunteer, worry about the injured turtle, respect and admiration for the people at the animal rescue shelter

[End of Section]


Interior Monologue

I told myself, “If I want to get into veterinary school, I’ve really got to buckle down and study.”


Dialogue

Dr. Monroe explained, “Working with abandoned and neglected animals can be rough—sometimes they show up in such bad condition that it just makes you cry. But, watching them heal and learn to trust people again is worth all of the heartache.”

Discuss the events in chronological order, or time order. (Feel free to include a flashback if it makes sense for your narrative.)

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Organize Details

Main narrativeDiscuss events that were part of your meaningful life experience.

Next Last

ConclusionDiscuss events that came after your experience to show how that experience related to other parts of your life.

First

BackgroundDiscuss events that came before your experience to help your audience understand what led up to it.

Use transitional words and phrases to guide your readers through the events in your narrative.

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Organize Details

at first before

to begin later

then next

afterwards last

Changes in Time

around nearby

across from next to

beside behind

in front of under

Changes in Place

[End of Section]

Ask yourself

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Share the Significance of the Experience

• Did the experience change me? If so, how?

• What did I learn from the experience?

• Has my perspective, my thoughts and feelings about the event, shifted over time? If so, how?

• Include these thoughts in the closing of your narrative.

Rescuing the injured turtle and volunteering at the animal rescue shelter has given me a new respect for animals and a sense of accomplishment and purpose.

Write a sentence identifying your controlling impression—the main idea or feeling you want to communicate about your experience.

You don’t have to include this sentence in your final draft, but every detail in the narrative should contribute to the controlling impression.

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Share the Significance of the Experience

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Practice and Apply

Follow the guidelines in this section to choose an experience, analyze your audience, and gather and organize details for your autobiographical narrative.

A Writer’s Framework Use the structure outlined here.

Introduction •Begin with an engaging opening.•Supply background information so readers understand the context of the narrative.•Hint at the significance of the experience.

Body

•Discuss the sequence of events that make up your experience.•Discuss the important events that led up to or followed your experience.•Include plenty of details about people, places, and events.

Conclusion

•Look back at the experience from the present time.•Reflect on what you learned or how you changed as a result of this experience.•Reveal the significance of the experience.

ELEMENTS OF VOICE

Your paper must also include:Clear, descriptive dictionAt least one example of imagery for each of the

five sensesAt least one metaphor, one simile and one example

of personification (figurative language)Your diction, imagery and figurative language

should help the reader visualize your setting.Your diction, imagery and figurative language and

setting should help the reader sense the mood (the emotional tone/feeling) of your story.

Rubric: Writing an Autobiographical Narrative Evaluation Questions Tips Revision Techniques

1. Does the introduction include an engaging opening,

background information, and a hint at the significance of

the experience?

Bracket the engaging opening and background information. Underline the

hint about the significance.

Add an engaging opening and background information. Add a

sentence or two that suggests the significance of the event.

2. Does the narrative include details about events, people,

and places?

Circle details. If you have fewer than three circles in each paragraph, revise.

Add details about events, people, and places to the paragraph. Elaborate on existing details

with sensory language, figurative language or dialogue.

3. Does the narrative include details about the narrator’s

thoughts and feelings?

Highlight sentences that contain the narrator’s thoughts or feelings. If there

isn’t at least one such detail in the narrative, revise.

Elaborate on details by answering the questions, “What did I think?” or “How did I feel?”

Consider using interior monologue.

4. Is the order of the events clear?

Number the events in chronological order.

Rearrange events in chronological order, if necessary, and add transitional words and

phrases to show the order.

5. Does the conclusion discuss the significance of the

experience?

Underline sentences in the conclusion that reveal the meaning of the

experience.

Add sentences that indirectly or directly explain the importance of

the experience.

See Schoolwires to review a model of an autobiographical narrative.

See also “A Christmas Memory” for a model of using diction, imagery and figurative language to convey setting and mood.

follow the steps outlined in this slideshow to write your narrative writing an autobiographical...

Documents

sequence of events

important events

autobiographical narrativedo

later events

vivid details

specific details

detailspacequick pace

rapid eventsslow pace