Writing Workshop Writing an Autobiographical Narrative

Writing WorkshopWriting an Autobiographical Narrative Feature Menu Assignment Prewriting Choose an Experience Consider Purpose and Audience Gather Details Reflect on Your Experience Organize Your Details Practice and Apply

Writing an Autobiographical Narrative Assignment: Write a narrative about a significant autobiographical experience. What experiences stand out as memorable and important in your life? Were they events beyond your control, adventures you chose to have, or achievements you worked hard for? Writing about an experience is a good way to explore its meaning—to discover and share how it has shaped who you are. What story does your life want to tell? [End of Section]

meeting my cousins from Albania for the first time moving from Colorado to North Carolina when I was ten going hang gliding at Kitty Hawk Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Choose an Experience What are some of the defining moments of your life?Brainstorm a list of experiences you remember vividly.

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Choose an Experience Choose the experience that stirs up the most vivid memories or feelings. Hang gliding made me feel free as a bird We took the ferry to Kitty Hawk, NC, where the Wright brothers made their first flight People were hang gliding off the dunes—it looked scary but fun Note [End of Section]

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Consider Purpose and Audience Purpose • To describe a significant experience in your life. Audience • Consider what background information your readers will need. • Introduce yourself as you were before the experience. I wasn’t the adventurous type, and I’d always been a little scared of heights. [End of Section]

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Gather Details Focus on the sequence of events central to your narrative, and list them in a rough outline.

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Gather Details Note details about people and specific places. • factual details (names, dates, numbers) hang gliding training center at Kitty Hawk, July 2004 • sensory details (touch, smell, hearing, sight, taste) wind whipping my hair, taste of blood where I bit my lip • appearances, gestures, actions, and dialogue Jason—my parents’ age, tan, weathered face, reassuring grin—"Don’t worry, I haven’t lost a student yet!"

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Gather Details As you list details, jot down • figurative language (similes, metaphors, or personification) that describe your experience and create effective images the gliders soared like bright prehistoric birds • precise action verbs to note events and actions soared, dipped, hovered, shrieked

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Gather Details Make some notes about your thoughts and feelings at each point. • Consider showing thoughts and feelings through interior monologue. I was scared, but I couldn’t chicken out with my little brother watching me. I had to be brave. Shifting perspective [End of Section]

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Reflect on Your Experience Think about the significance of the experience and how it changed you. • What was I like before the experience? At first I _______________________________________, • How did I change as a result of the experience? but afterward I _________________________________. • What did I learn about myself and about life in general? I realized ______________________________________.

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Reflect on Your Experience Write two or three sentences that express the controlling impression, or central idea, about your experience. At first Iwas timid and tended to watch life from the sidelines, but afterward I had new confidence in myself. I realizedthat I had missed some great experiences by staying in my comfort zone, but now I could overcome my fears more easily. Don’t include these sentences in your narrative’s introduction. Just use them to focus your narrative. [End of Section]

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Organize Your Details You can organize your details in one of two ways. • Chronological order—Start at the beginning and relate the events in sequence. Background Main narrative Conclusion

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Organize Your Details You can organize your details in one of two ways. • Flashback—Start at the end and then “flash back” to the earlier events that led up to that point. Conclusion Main narrative Background

short, quick sentences Events that occurred rapidly longer sentences Events that occurred slowly Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Organize Your Details Consider the pace of your essay. The tow line went taut. Suddenly, we were airborne. I clutched the harness and shrieked. Before we got into the glider, the instructor explained exactly what would happen and answered my questions patiently. [End of Section]

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Practice and Apply Choose a significant experience from your life as the subject of your narrative. Then, plan the details of the narrative. [End of Section]

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Writing Workshop Writing an Autobiographical Narrative