What’s the Point of a Personal Narrative or Story?
Writing can be used both to inform and entertain audiences, or to write for oneself in order to reflect more deeply on a thought. While writing for oneself, such as in a journal or diary, is useful; even personal writings often become edited and shared with an audience. Keeping an audience in mind, the personal essay or story becomes a way for writers to use personal thoughts and experiences to get a reader to learn something about the world, and possible reflect on their own actions. Much like a traditional essay, the personal narrative almost always has a main point, idea, or thesis. Unlike a traditional essay, however, the personal narrative tends to make this point less explicitly, focusing instead on the components of the narrative that slowly and subtly reveal this point.
Selecting a Topic for a Personal Narrative or Essay
To begin thinking about a topic for a personal narrative or essay, use some exercises to practice being inventive.
1.Try thinking about the end, or the main point. What is a belief that is held dearly, or a perspective that is valuable and worth sharing with readers? Is there an outlook on a topic, or on life in general that might be unique? If discovered, this unique personal view can be made into a personal narrative by thinking about what life experiences and stories might have led to that view perspective. What personal stories can be told that demonstrate this insight, or show a slow development of this insight?
2. If this doesn’t work, a story might make for a place to start. What’s an example of an interesting personal experience or story? How can this story be told in an exciting way for the reader? If a story, or several stories, is evident, the next step is to begin questioning the value of these stories. Why are these stories interesting? What can be learned from them? What insight did these unique experiences provide that might be shared with readers?
3.A final inventive technique that might help generate an idea is to think about scrapping the idea of an insight altogether. Maybe it is not a particular belief at all, but a way of thinking about things? Is there a particularly funny or beautiful way to approach everyday life? One way to consider a personal essay topic is to share with the reader a unique lens for the world. Comedians do this all the time when they tell stories about everyday life designed to get their readers, viewers, or listeners thinking about the world differently.
Beginning to Write a Personal Narrative
Before actually beginning to write a personal narrative, it is important to consider various elements of narrative including setting, plot, and character. These elements need to be taken into account so that the reader can follow the narrative in a recognizable fashion.
The setting of the narrative includes the place, time, and context of the story. This is essential to making a narrative coherent. If telling a personal story about life in the eighth grade, for instance, the reader will need to be queued into this at some point. Also consider other elements of setting such as the setting of the time being written about. If writing about being an eighth grader in America in 1989, for instance, the reader will need a sense of what the particular place was like in that particular time. Finally it is important to consider the context of the setting. What situation is causing this setting to occur?
The plot of a narrative can be formulated in many ways, but is generally thought to include the elements of rising action, climax, and falling action or resolution. It is important to maintain these elements so that the reader feels as though he or she is progressing through the story, and toward something important. In the case of a personal narrative this “important something” is usually the event where the final belief or insight is realized—an epiphany. A climax should be determined before the writing of a personal narrative so that the writing can build the climax nears. In the personal narrative, the resolution is usually the revealing of the belief, ideal, or lesson.
Characters are an essential element to any narrative, but the trick is making these characters important and memorable in the telling of the story. To do this, a writer should be descriptive about the characters, and use dialogue to show events happening rather than prose that tells how it happened. Readers tend to understand characters best when they can “hear” them talking. After writing your narrative once through, go back and see which scenes can be turned into dialogue to replace the block text with a conversation.
After setting a purpose for the narrative, and thinking through the elements of setting, plot, and character, a writer should reread the work to think about how the narrative can show the reader that growing or learning is occurring, and thus, a building toward the resolution—the belief.
Building Toward a Belief in the Personal Narrative
The final belief or insight in the personal narrative won’t make sense if the reader can’t relate it to the rest of the narrative. To be sure that the belief or insight makes sense, it is important to build toward the belief throughout the story.
To do this, a writer might go back through the narrative and find places in the text where the writing can show the reader that something has been learned, or that an understanding of the world is changing in some way. Think about devoting entire paragraphs after an event or scene in the narrative to reflect on the experiences through narration. This will help demonstrate the personal growth of the narrator, and help the reader feel a part of, and enjoy, the resolution of the narrative.
Personal narratives are a popular way to reflect on personal beliefs, or to share these beliefs with readers who might learn from, or relate to, the beliefs and insights they’ve read in personal narratives. Keeping these elements in mind will help guide personal narrative writing experiences.
Justin Rademaekers - Hello. As a writer in eastern Pennsylvania for over seven years I have had the pleasure of publishing articles on topics ranging from ...
Join the Conversation