Drafting Guide for your Personal Narrative
Intro section: (To open your narrative you may choose to do some or all of the following:
·
Describe the setting (how old you were when it happened and place)
·
Use imagery (remember the 5 senses)
·
Mention who else was involved briefly
·
Use foreshadowing at the end of the paragraph to set the mood
I remember it being a decent day. I forgot my homework again so I knew that I would be gettin
the bench again. While I was sitting on the bench there were two others, there was a girl who
spoke back to the teacher and was on the bench for that. And there was Chris, a new kid who
had also forgotten his homework. We weren't supposed to talk to each other but no adult was
watching us so we talked for a bit. I wanted to know him a little better and he wanted to know
me better or so I thought.
Body sections:
·
Remember to sequence your narrative in chronological order
· Use transition words like “ that morning, that evening, then, afterwards, later that day, when,
afterwards, etc” to signal that time is passing
·
Vary your pace. It’s okay to slow down the action when you get to the CLIMAX of your story
·
Use lots of details and the 5 senses when appropriate
·
Remember to use CHARACTERIZATION techniques
· Use figurative language (similes, metaphors, analogies, personification, hyperbole,
onomatopoeia)
·
Use dialogue strategically and make sure your characters sound real (colloquialism)
A day after that I walked into class late because of traffic and I was supposed to sign in and get
to class. I did just that and walked to class. The teacher was mad that I was late but I didn't care
that she was always cranky. I sat down and nothing was out of the ordinary but I felt something
was off. Later during lunch everyone in my class was not playing like usual instead they were all
surrounding the bench where I was. I was confused as no one cared to pay attention to me so
why now? Only one student wasn’t there, Amber was sitting at the lunch table and she was
looking towards my direction confused. Then out of nowhere i heard someone shout “hey
Amber did you know that this guy likes you.” Everyone started laughing and I wanted to run and
hide but that had to be the only time that the teacher was watching and I couldn't leave.
Body continued
A few days later I had to be by the office instead of the bench so I did amber. Forgot why she
was there but i am kind of glad we spoke to each other she was blushing and i was
embarrassed to talk to her. I apologize for what happened a few days ago and she was fine. I
told her everything about why I had a crush on her and a few other things. She was confused as
to why I was calling her beautiful when everyone called her the opposite. I told her beauty is in
the eye of the beholder, she said that she only wanted to be friends with me and I was ok with
that. But that didn’t stop others from making fun of us.
Body continued
Everyone was making fun of us for months, one would always call us a couple. But on one
occasion we were supposed to write a love story for valentine’s day. Me and Amber decided to
work together so we wrote a good story called “Blood in Roses” and of course they made fun of
us. We didn’t care at the time but when it was time to present mostly everyone came in with
happy couple gifts and they would interrupt us and ask us questions about “being a couple” we
got through the story with no other problems.
Conclusion Section
Should contain:
·
A resolution to all the conflicts involved
· A reflection piece where you tell the reader how this event/episode changed you on the
inside.
· You have a choice—Direct closing (see Frederick Douglass model) or the Subtle closing
where you imply with an artistic closing line just what it all taught you (see Gary Soto model, or
“Tale or Two Turkeys”, or Amy Tan piece) Very often the subtle closing technique means you
close with a haunting last line.
Resolution part:
I had to move schools because my dad moved to Norwalk so I never actually got to say
goodbye to amber. I went to a middle school where I received the closest I needed. I met a girl
named Emily. She was just like Amber. They had so many things in common. I became friends
with her and when she left to texas i felt like the roles were reversed but this time i got to say
goodbye. To this day I miss them very much but only I moved on .
Your closing: