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Generating Material for Your Narrative Essay
Due: Monday 1/11
Format: On paper, either typed or handwritten.
Length: Aim for at least three pages of typed writing, or approximately 750 words. If it is
handwritten, it will be longer than three pages, since handwriting is usually bigger than typing.
Grading (15 points): The content of this writing is not graded. Rather, it will be evaluated
according to the following criteria:
 Length: The more the better. It’s ok if some parts seem not to fit, or if they don’t directly
answer the questions. The questions are prompts—your answers might stray away from
them into your memories and ideas.
 Experimentation and freedom of writing: Did you really let yourself go, and think of
every possible detail that might be included? Did you follow each question as far as your
memories would possibly lead?
 Evidence of use: Your pages show that you have examined what you’ve written and
have decided what from it to use or not use for your essay. Your highlights and notes to
yourself are all over the pages. Some portions might be circled, others might be crossed
out, according to whether you thought they would be good to use in your essay.
Instructions: Write as much as you can about each of the following questions. You may type or
handwrite. If something seems particularly interesting and fruitful, write more about it. Writing
down lots of detail: include actual dialogue, specific description, etc. The purpose of this is to
loosen up your brain and get writing on the page. Some of this writing might be included or
developed in your essay later. Some might not be. Don’t worry about whether what you write
here is important enough to be in your essay. Your goals are to generate ideas and material.
Ideally, you will end up with more than your essay can use.
1. Setting: Where does your experience take place? Take your mind there, and write down
all the details you remember of this location. Think of details that relate to all the
senses: Sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch.
2. Character: Who was involved in this experience? What are these people like? How do
they speak, how do they look, what is their relationship to you?
3. Dialogue: What are some of the specific things that were said during this experience? Or
if there were no people around speaking, maybe you’ve written the sounds you heard in
#1 above?
4. Background: What led up to this experience? Were there many steps leading up to the
main event, the specific experience? What was your state or attitude before this
experience?
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5. Conflict: What conflicts did you experience during this experience? Was it a conflict with
another person, with a group, with an idea, or within yourself?
6. Climax: Was there a single moment during this experience when your attitude shifted,
or when the conflict reached its height, or when there was a turning point?
7. Resolution: What happened afterward? How has this experience influenced your life?
8. Extending: Why is it important to you to tell about this experience? Why should others
outside you care about it?
9. Theme/thesis: What underlying idea does this experience illustrate? Another way to
word this might be to use the template below:
Although this experience seems to be about ______________, it’s really about
_______________________.
Also, you could experiment with some of the thesis templates provided above in the
assignment sheet.
Next Step: (We will do this in class on 1/11) Read over what you’ve written. Circle the parts that
seem most important or interesting. Perhaps these might go in your finished essay. Find the
parts that seem less interesting: Perhaps these will not be included in your finished essay, or
maybe they could be included but need to be developed further. Consider what overall main
idea (see “thesis” on the assignment sheet for this essay) this writing might lead to. In other
words, use this material to begin building your essay from. Or, if you don’t like any of it, toss it
and repeat this exercise with a different topic.