Personal Narrative
Personal Narrative
• A true story about something that happened to
the person who tells it.
– I was about to start the test when I looked out the
window and saw Froggy running for his life.
Needless to say, the test was forgotten as I became
swept up into the drama outside the classroom.
Personal Narrative
• Gain the reader’s attention right away.
• Told in 1st person using the pronouns I, we.
• Include important events in the order of their
happening.
• Use details to tell what the author saw, heard, felt, etc.
• Told in the author’s voice.
• Have a satisfying ending that tells how the story worked
itself out.
Personal Narrative
• Create a good beginning that:
–
–
–
–
grabs the reader’s attention right away
might start with an interesting question
might make a statement that surprises the reader
might start with dialogue
Personal Narrative
• Rewrite these weak beginnings to make them
stronger.
– The man kept falling down in the soft mud.
– The room had been thoroughly searched.
Personal Narrative
• Organize your story:
– Tell the events in the order that they happened.
– Stay on topic.
– Use time clues:
• First
• Afterwards
• finally
Personal Narrative
• Strong endings:
–
–
–
–
Tells how the experience worked out.
Elaborates and add details.
Does not end with the words The End
May describe the writer’s feelings but does not just
talk about how the author felt.
Personal Narrative
• Freddy was never seen again after that day. That
is the end of my story.
• Gone, like the bases of the baseball field, gone
like the chalk lines running in the rain. It was
time for me to wave good-bye.
Personal Narrative
• Rewrite these weak endings:
– That dog really made a scene on the day he came to
school.
– Eddie eventually gave away every cent he had.
Personal Narrative
• Write a personal narrative of 4-5 paragraphs
using an idea from your Topic T-Chart:
Pre-write: Transition-Action-Detail
Write a rough draft
Revise/Edit: Have three (3) of your classmates read
and review your narrative for ideas, transitions, and
conventions (spelling, grammar, punctuation).
Final draft