The Assignment: Write a 3 to 4 page essay about an event in your life. The topic should be of some importance to you, but you will want to choose a story that will interest readers. Try to think of a story that tells something about you. Narratives should be well told, and this story should clearly indicate an autobiographical significance. MLA format
Invention: Start by developing a list of stories about things that happened to you when you were a child or in high school. These might have happened a few years ago or when you were much younger. If your first choice doesn't work out, refer back to your list. Avoid writing about traffic accidents, speeding tickets, or deaths.
Sketching the Story: Begin with a rough sketch. After you have a chance to think about the story for a while, you should begin to remember more details. You might want to make an outline of the points or details that you remember.
Describing: Writing a narrative is much like telling a story. People have been telling stories for centuries. Literature and history classes still include Homer's Iliad and often Greek and Norse myths of gods and heroes. Today most of us are familiar with storytelling in movies and on TV. Remember, a narrative is not simply telling what happened or listing events. To tell an interesting story, a writer needs to include specific details about where the events took place, the sights, the sounds, dialogue, expressions, and gestures. Think about scenes you have seen in movies. Action doesn't take place in a vacuum. Any time we watch movies we see backgrounds, costumes, traffic, street noise, buildings, and furniture. It's not necessary to include everything, but it's better to have too much detail than too little. When you start revising, you can always cut what you don't need.
Remembering People: Any good story will include interesting people. Start by trying to remember all the people involved in the story. There may only be a few who are essential to the story. What did they look like, how did they dress, how did they talk, do you remember any particular gestures. Can you remember any specific conversations? Do you remember the tone of the conversation: joking, angry, sarcastic, irritating? Of course, it's difficult to remember exactly what was said years ago, but try to recreate whatever you can and imagine what might have been said.
Basic Features of Essays About Remembered Events
* A good story should be interesting. If
the reader isn't entertained, there may not be a reason to finish.
* Good stories depend on specific narrative action,
dialogue, and clearly written and varied sentences.
* Readers respond to vivid details: specific
descriptions of scenes, people, and objects.
* Show the reader the significance of the event;
a good story makes a point.
Read Occasions for Informal Essays
Format: All papers are to be word processed
on 8½ x 11 inch paper. Never turn in a paper on flimsy or erasable
paper. Double space everything including block quotations and the works
cited page. Use 1 inch margins at the top, bottom, and sides of each page.
The right margin does not need to be justified. Fonts like Times New Roman
or Arial should be used. Don't try to eat up space by using 14 point or
larger; keep everything in 12 point. Indent each paragraph five spaces.
Block quotations should be indented ten spaces from the left margin. Spellcheck
all drafts.
