Personal Narratives

Introduction to personal narratives

Nonfiction Narrative Writing

​Personal Narratives...

​-are based on real-life (true) personal experiences that have significant meaning for the writer.

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-may have resulted in the writer learning a lesson or gaining insight about themselves, others, life, etc.

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-are told by the narrator to describe the personal experience.

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-are written in the first-person (“I”) point of view.

A good personal narrative will have these pieces:

• ​Narrow, Clearly Defined Focus

• ​Character Descriptions

• ​Dialogue

• ​Setting Description

• ​Interesting Details

• ​Logical Sequence

• ​Strong Conclusion

• ​Purposeful and Precise Word Choice

• ​Varied Sentence Structure

​​Narrow, Clearly Defined Focus

​This means the writer focuses on a central idea based on a significant event.

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A personal narrative is about a moment or single event in the author's life—not their entire life story.

​Dialogue

Including some dialogue in a personal narrative helps to make the characters and the experience more vivid.

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Dialogue keeps the narrative flowing and can reveal something about the characters.

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Dialogue should be interesting and not overused.

​Character Descriptions

​Personal narratives describe the characters involved in the writer’s personal experience.

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The characters are developed through interesting details that describe their appearance, actions, and words.

Setting Description

Personal narratives also describe the setting (where and when the event or experience happened).

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Sensory details can be used to describe the setting to bring the experience to life. For example, what does the writer smell, see, hear, taste, or feel?

Strong introduction

In a personal narrative, the introduction...

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-establishes the setting, introduces the people involved, and sets the tone of the narrative

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-includes a hook to get the reader interested

foreshadowing (a hint of something to come)

--action

--dialogue

-a sound (onomatopoeia)

imagery (description of setting or characters)

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Interesting Details

Details can...

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-appeal to the senses

-describe what is happening instead of just telling the facts or listing the actions

​-provide a clear understanding of why an experience is meaningful

​-describe the narrator's emotions at the time of the experience

​-help the reader visualize what is happening in the story

Logical Sequence

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​​Personal narratives typically include an introduction, a plot, characters, a setting, a climax, resoution, and a conclusion. The resolution usually results in personal growth for the author.

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​The events described should give the reader insight as to why the experience was meaningful for the author.

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​Relevant transitions and strong sentence-to-sentence connections enhance the logical movement of the narrative. In other words, transitions connect events and move the reader smoothly through the story.

Strong Conclusion

Conclusions should...

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-leave readers with a lasting impression of the personal experience

-give readers a sense of closure and completion

​​-show the author’s personal growth

and/or emphasize the importance of the event

Purposeful and Precise Word Choice​

During the revision process, writers evaluate their words and change them as needed.​​

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For example, they might:

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-replace overused words with stronger, more powerful ones (action verbs, adjectives, and adverbs)

​-insert phrases and figurative language (e.g., similes, metaphors) that describe, explain, or provide additional detail and connections

Varied Sentence Structure

Use a variety of sentence patterns by:

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-combining short sentences with prepositional and appositive phrases

-combining short sentences by linking with a coordinating or subordinating conjunction

-varying sentence beginnings

--beginning with an adverb

--beginning with an introductory clause

-breaking up long, rambling sentences (often run-on sentences) into two or three shorter sentences