PERSONAL NARRATIVE/FICTIONAL ADAPTATION
STUDY GUIDE
7th Grade 9/23/15
Personal Narrative:

Non-fiction; autobiography; narrator tells about his or her own experiences

ONE moment in time; one single event

Point-of-view – FIRST PERSON (I, me, mine, we, our, ours, etc.)

Real place

Contains message/reflection

Specific feelings/emotions of NARRATOR; Reader understands what narrator realizes and learns

Limited characters; limited dialog/conversation
Fictional Adaptation:

Fiction (true story may be changed so that story can be presented in another form)

Narrator may or may not be a part of the story

Additional named characters and plot may be added to enrich the story

Extensive dialog and conversation

Developed plot/details

Realistic fiction

Point-of-view – THIRD PERSON (he, she, it, they, theirs, etc.)

Reader must infer feelings/emotions of characters from details in story
STORY/LITERARY SKILLS
exposition
description of where/when the story takes place (setting) and the
characters involved in the story
setting
the time and place in which the action of a story occurs
theme
a lesson or moral to be learned from a story
viewpoint/perspective from which the story is told.
1st person – narrator/writer know what she or he is thinking and refers to
herself/himself with 1st person pronouns: I, me, we, us, our)
point of view
3rd person – the narrator or writer uses the prounouns: he, she, it, they,
his, hers, theirs
mood
the feeling a story or poem causes the reader to have. (Ex. sad, peaceful,
funny)
inference
draw conclusion based on clues in reading passage
summary
recap of main points in a story, which includes some information from the
beginning, middle and end of the story
characterization
the way people or animals are portrayed in a story (what they say, do,
experience); can be stated directly or indirectly
GENRE/SUBGENRE COMPARISONS
Genre
Type
Structure
Content
Purpose
Examples
Fiction
Fictional
Adaptation
Story,
chapters, acts
in a play, scenes
in a movie that
are based on
autobiographies
Both real
AND made-up
characters,
setting, plot
Uses dialogue,
actions, and events
to communicate
and explore a
theme; also can
inform, explain,
entertain
“Playing Time”
NonFiction
Autobiography
Personal
narrative,
memoir
Real people,
places, events
Writer tells their
thoughts, feelings,
observations to
others; inform,
explain, entertain
“Eat Dirt”
“from American
Childhood”
“from Angela’s
Ashes”
“My First Free
Summer”