Personal Narrative Brainstorming for Engaging Storytelling
Start your personal narrative journey by selecting an event that resonates with significant aspects of personal experience and emotional impact. Explore shared experiences, vivid memories, realizations, potential life-changing moments, and elements of suspense to craft a compelling story. Engage in brainstorming sessions with partners to exchange ideas and choose intriguing narrative options for a captivating storytelling experience.
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Presentation Transcript
Warm Up: Complete the Brainstorming Sheet When starting a personal narrative, you ll want to choose an event that fits all or most of the following: You experienced this event with others You remember this event (or how it made you feel) vividly This event caused a realization or epiphany (either in the moment or later in life) that you still believe today 5 minutes This event changed or had the potential to change your life in a significant way The story of this event contains some degree of suspense End
Brainstorming When starting a personal narrative, you ll want to choose an event that fits all or most of the following: You experienced this event with others You remember this event (or how it made you feel) vividly This event caused a realization or epiphany (either in the moment or later in life) that you still believe today This event changed or had the potential to change your life in a significant way The story of this event contains some degree of suspense
Examples of Stories (from me) When my old neighborhood purposefully bullied one family Neighborhood shooting incident Little sister almost drowned in riptide Breaking my femur Sean dying at the butterfly party 9/11 in 3rd grade Lightening storm freshman Year at College
Find your Personal Narrative Partner (partner list posted on the side board)
Exchange Brainstorming Sheets Choose the option you like better, and talk to your partner about why that option was more intriguing to you
Picking a topic When your partner picked a topic, did you feel relieved or nervous If you felt relieved, that s the one you actually want to write about If you feel nervous, that s probably not the one you actually want to do If you feel nothing, just write the one they picked, and if you hate writing it, at least now you don t have to blame yourself
Due Dates: Rough Draft is due next Friday (3/9) Final Draft is due March 23rd I want electronic copies of BOTH drafts!
Narrative Leads Helpful hook-writing strategies
4 types: Description Action Dialogue Reaction
Description Vivid imagery Focuses on sights, smells, tastes, sounds, and feelings Where can it help you? Establishing setting/mood
Description I ll always remember the taste that day left in my mouth the bitterness of salt water gone dry. It had been unbearably hot and the sand glowed a painful white in the midday sun. I remember peeling my long, sticky hair off of my neck and cradling about a dozen scratchy shells in my arms. The seagulls cawed dully overhead and the waves roared against the shoreline. It was the kind of day where the air was barely breathable, thick with the smell of too many bodies and way too much sun tan lotion.
Description Mom didn t sound quite right that night. Her voice shook and quivered the way it did when Great Grandmom died. So we knew this wasn t going to be a normal party. I watched from my car window as the dull yellow streetlights poured out onto the cracked sidewalks and faded cars. That was back when we still had the minivan: a sturdy car with itchy seats and a constant scent of animal crackers and crayons.
Action Main character is doing something Is NOT a section of the climax, but rather an action that take place during the exposition Helps you generate entertainment value and accomplish characterization
Action Mom! I snatched up the sand dollar and ran towards my mom, kicking up sand as I scampered across the blistering beach. Devon followed closely behind as I stumbled up to the place we had laid out our beach supplies. It didn t take long before my smile slid off of my face. David had raced in too, wheezing out an apology between each gasping breath. The riptide was too strong and he had left Meghan behind.
Action I snapped on my shoes and grabbed my Gameboy color on my way out the door. Brittany Elizabeth! my mother shouted as I clambered into the minivan. I mumbled a quick apology and strapped myself into the car seat. I remember fidgeting uncomfortably on the way there, unable to concentrate on my game. It was not the kind of party, my mom had said, that asked you to bring a present or a cake. That really bothered me. There was something wrong, I thought, about going to a sick kid s party without even a cake.
Dialogue: a Character or Characters speaking Helps you develop characterization Helps you to develop mood
Dialogue Where is she?! my mom screamed. I don t know in ocean it s too rough David sputtered, clutching his knees for support. I realized they were talking about my little sister Meghan, David, I asked, Is she okay? He just looked at me with worried eyes, I don t know Britt I am so sorry.
Dialogue Brittany you need to know, My mother started in a voice I had never heard her use before, this isn t just any party. Is it his birthday? No, sweetheart. Is it because the cancer went away? My mom took a deep breath. No it s not. I looked at her and she looked back. There was something unspeakable about a going away party for someone who wasn t coming back.
Reaction: A Character Thinking Helps to set the mood/tone Helps to characterize the narrator
Reaction: A Character Thinking I turned the sand dollar over in my hand. I couldn t believe I had found something so rare! It was fragile though, and I made my self a silent promise to never let it break. I watched David playing in the surf but where was Meghan? I suddenly realized that David wasn t playing he was running. I froze. Why would he be running like that? And why wasn t my little sister with him?
Reaction: A Character Thinking It was not the kind of party you were supposed to wear a dress though. Not that I minded nine, I thought, was not the age for wearing dresses. It was the time when you measured summer by the number of grass stains on your knees and popsicle stains on your shirt. Still I had to wonder. If Sean s party wasn t a dress-up party, then what kind of party was it? I thought about the way my mom had been fighting tears when she told us about it. And the way that she told us that it was a going away party. Sean has been sick for a long time, I thought. What do they mean by going away? Suddenly, it didn t feel much like a party at all.
