A, B, C WORKSHOP
A, B, C’s for a Personal Narrative
Dialogue:
Reveals character, especially by using words to describe HOW they spoke
(murmur, shout, advise, droned, consoled). Avoid the word “said”. It can also
show character and/or tone by using slang, informal grammar, and/or dialect.
Keeps the action moving. Don’t just tell the reader what happened, show them
through a combo of narration and dialogue.
Shows relationships
Example: If a character speaks gently to another, it
shows a tender relationship; characters who interrupt or speak harshly
demonstrate a different relationship.
A, B, C’s for a Personal Narrative
Punctuating Dialogue:
He screamed, “This is the best book I’ve ever read!”
“This is the best book I’ve ever read,” he responded.
“This,” he interrupted, “is the best book I’ve ever read.”
How about these:
Did you say The test will be Friday?
Joey said I heard Mr. Hepler say Your test is tomorrow. That is really soon!
A, B, C’s for a Personal Narrative
Sensory detail (five senses)
Creating images of a scene/event/moment in a reader’s head by listing the
SEE
HEAR
FEEL/TOUCH
TASTE
SMELL
Think of a moment at the beach. Can you picture sixty seconds of one
moment from that experience and its sensory details: see, hear, feel, taste,
smell. This is not about what happened, just where you are and what is
around you.
A, B, C’s for a Personal Narrative
Sensory detail (five senses)
waves crashing…
the white foam advancing then retreating, playing some sort
of game with the little children building sandcastles
the baking granules that were glistening in the sun’s rays
hot sand…
kids laughing…
the sound of happiness colored with pure innocence grew
louder as the birds flew closer
A, B, C’s for a Personal Narrative
Can you (and your seat partner) compose examples of these “basic” techniques of figurative language
that are a way to be advanced?
personification
onomatopoeia
simile
hyperbole
metaphor
irony
A, B, C’s for a Personal Narrative
 personification: giving inanimate objects (or abstract concepts) animate or living qualities
Example: “Time let me play / and be golden in the mercy of his means”
 simile: comparison between two essentially unlike things using words such as “like,” “as," or
“as though” Example: “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”
 metaphor: comparison between essentially unlike things without using words because it’s a
direct labeling of something to which it is not literally applicable
Example: “[Love] is an ever fixed mark, / that looks on tempests and is never shaken.”
 onomatopoeia: the use of words to imitate the sounds they describe
Example: “crack” or “whir”
 hyperbole: exaggeration for emphasis that is not to be taken literally
Example: “I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.”
 irony: a contradiction of expectation between what is said and what is meant (verbal irony)
or what is expected in a particular circumstance or behavior (situational).
Example: "Time held me green and dying / Though I sang in my chains like the sea“ *It can
also be when a character speaks in ignorance of a situation known to the audience or other
characters (situational)
A, B, C’s for a Personal Narrative
 How about apostrophe, oxymoron/paradox,
allusion?
 What the figures of speech that refer to the poetic
nature of words: alliteration, assonance,
consonance?
A, B, C’s for a Personal Narrative
alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds,
particularly at the beginning of words.
*Note that alliteration is NEVER repetition of vowel sounds.
Example: “. . . like a wanderer white”
assonance: the repetition of similar vowel sounds.
Example: "I rose and told him of my woe"
consonance: the repetition of similar consonant
sounds at the end of a word.
Example: “think-blank” or “whose-woods”
A, B, C’s for a Personal Narrative
Diction (word choice) is maybe the most simple way
to help establish author voice and create mood/tone
within writing.
But how?
A, B, C’s for a Personal Narrative
Dynamic action verbs and exact adjectives
Not only do they help move/show the action, the more dynamic and
detailed the verbs the better they help create mood
Ex:
I was nervous.
She stole quick, frequent glances at the clock, pacing the lengths of the
hallway.
I cried after my beloved fish was flushed.
bawled/ blubbered/ sobbed/ teared up/ whined
A, B, C’s for a Personal Narrative
Formality of the mode and audience
Also, choose based on formal (research/analysis/essay) or informal (narrative)
Ex: cowardly
Gutless
Poltroon
Craven
Chicken
Yellow
Pusillanimous
Connotation: negative versus positive
Ex: place these in order from most positive to least positive
thin versus emaciated versus gaunt versus skinny versus slim versus slender
A, B, C’s for a Personal Narrative
Sentence structure: while it’s not exactly diction, sentence length (short or long) can impact style
Ex: I saw his face. He was pale and lifeless. It was obvious. He was dying.
the slow pacing and pauses = emotionally dramatic tone/mood.
versus
He proceeded to go through other moments in my life, but I could scarcely hear them through
the ringing in my ears and my futile attempts to hold back tears
the wordiness and limited pausing = more thoughtful, rushed, overwhelmed tone/mood
A, B, C’s for a Personal Narrative
Use of specific, concrete words, while trying to avoid vague emotional words like bored,
painful, hard, tough, nice, good, bad, sad, etc. Better yet, move it to sensory detail, with
strong verbs. It can result in this…
Ex:
We rode home in the car. Everything was quiet, except for the bad weather outside. I was
bored.
versus
The droning sound of male’s voice speaking the latest financial declines in the DOW caused
my mind to go numb as we continued down the darkened road that was intermittently lit
with sudden and glowing flashes of lightning.