Writing a Personal Narrative

Writing a Personal Narrative

Techiques, Tips, & Tricks

​What is a Personal Narrative?

narrative writing connected to a personal experience, usually told in the first-person.

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Describes/tells a story of a specific time or event​

Writing techniques to accomplish our goal

• Vivid descriptions

• Zoom in specific moments

• Raw emotion

• Dialogue

​Imagery (Vivid Description)

Imagine you are this red panda laying on a branch.

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Describe the setting using the 5 senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch).

Open Ended

Vivid description: Imagine you are this red panda laying on a branch.

Describe the setting using the 5 senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch).

Start with: As I was walking through the state park,

Zoom in on a moment

Pieces of your story are more significant or interesting than other elements of your story.

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Select one object in this picture and add more detail and description to it.

Open Ended

Select one object in this picture and add more detail and description to those parts.

Emotion

Readers want to feel a connection to what you felt.​

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Describe how the woman in the photo really feels (use adjectives)

Open Ended

Describe how the woman in the photo really feels (use adjectives)

As Anabel was ...

Dialogue

Character dialogue adds excitement.

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What could this child be saying? To whom?

Open Ended

What could this child be saying? To whom?

Create an interesting, fun, or intense dialogue.

Multiple Select

A personal narrative...

• describes an event

• tells a story

• explains why something is important

• is usually told in first person

Multiple Select

When you want the reader to feel what you are saying, add...

• vivid descriptions

• dialogue

• a picture

• a good title

Open Ended

Think of a time when something made you excited.

Write who was there... where you were... and what happened.

5 - 6 sentences

Poll

After practicing these writing skills, I feel totally ready and confident to write my personal narrative