Assignment

Prewriting

Choose an Experience

Consider Purpose and Audience

Gather Details

Reflect on Your Experience

Organize Your Details

Practice and Apply

Writing WorkshopWriting an Autobiographical Narrative

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Assignment: Write a narrative about a significant autobiographical experience.

Writing an Autobiographical Narrative

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?

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What are some of the defining moments of your life? Brainstorm a list of experiences you remember vividly.

moving from Bogota to Armenia when I

was ten

Paragliding in Panachi near San Gil

Visiting my cousins in Miami for the first

time.

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Choose an Experience

Choose the experience that stirs up the most vivid memories or feelings.

We took the bus from Bucharamanga to San Gil, and then another bus to Panachi.

People were hang gliding off the cliff—it looked scary but fun

Paragliding made me feel free as a bird

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Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Choose an Experience

Purpose

• To describe a significant experience in your life.

• Consider what background information your readers will need.

Audience

• Introduce yourself as you were before the experience.

I wasn’t the adventurous type, and I’d always been a little scared of heights.

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Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Consider Purpose and Audience

Focus on the sequence of events central to your narrative, and list them in a rough outline.

Events

1. In Panachi I saw people hang gliding off the cliffs. I decided to try it.

2. My mom and I met with the instructor, who said that tandem flights were great for beginners.

3. The instructor and I strapped onto a glider, and we jumped off the cliff.

4. We soared over the valley below.

5. Since then I’ve paraglided three times, once solo.

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Gather Details

Note details about people and specific places.

• factual details (names, dates, numbers)

• sensory details (touch, smell, hearing, sight, taste)

• appearances, gestures, actions, and dialogue

paragliding training center in Panachi, July 2011

wind whipping my hair, taste of blood where I bit my lip

Pedro the Instructor—my parents’ age, tan, 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.

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Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Gather Details

Think about the significance of the experience and how it changed you.

• What was I like before the experience?

• How did I change as a result of the experience?

• What did I learn about myself and about life in general?

At first I _______________________________________,

but afterward I _________________________________.

I realized ______________________________________.

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Reflect on Your Experience

At first I was timid and tended to watch life from the sidelines, but afterward I had new confidence in myself. I realized that I had missed some great experiences by staying in my comfort zone, but now I could overcome my fears more easily.

Write two or three sentences that express the controlling impression, or central idea, about your experience.

Don’t include these sentences in your narrative’s introduction. Just use them to focus your narrative.

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Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Reflect on Your Experience

You can organize your details in one of two ways.

Background Main narrative Conclusion

• Chronological order—Start at the beginning and relate the events in sequence.

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Organize Your Details

You can organize your details in one of two ways.

Background Main narrative

Conclusion

• Flashback—Start at the end and then “flash back” to the earlier events that led up to that point.

Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Organize Your Details

Consider the pace of your essay.

Events that occurred rapidly

short, quick sentences

Events that occurred slowly longer sentences

The instructor jumped. Suddenly, we were airborne. I clutched the harness and shrieked.

Before we strapped into the glider, the instructor explained exactly what would happen and answered my questions patiently.

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Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Organize Your Details

Choose a significant experience from your life as the subject of your narrative. Then, plan the details of the narrative.

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Writing an Autobiographical NarrativePrewriting: Practice and Apply

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