The Bird’S Nest Stuck In Our Flue Was Out Of Reach, So I Called A Chimney Sweep

Tips for Writing a Personal Narrative (75 word OR 100-300 word) A personal narrative is a story about YOU and something you have experienced. These tips apply to both 75- Word Personal Narratives AND 100-300 Word Personal Narratives.

To choose a topic use your memory. Think back to this morning, or yesterday, or last week, or five years ago. Topics can focus on emotions; a time in your life when you were happy, sad, scared, worried, proud, peaceful, secure, tired, having fun or laughing your guts out. Topics can be about special places, family traditions or important people. Don’t try too hard to find the perfect topic. If a topic pops into your head you may want to just start writing. Surprisingly, these often turn out quite well.

Good introductions hook the reader by making him ask questions. For example one student started this way. Out of all of us, I had the lousiest gun. (a story about paint balling). Another student started like this: My grandma lay in the dark when it all happened.

Start by jumping into the action. For example, I was standing on the high dive, looking down at the swimming pool below. This is better than starting with the car ride to the swimming pool. Avoid “bed-time to bed-time” stories where you tell about the whole day. Just get to the good part of the story. Make sure the setting is clear in the beginning of the story. Your reader needs to know where and when this is taking place.

Help the reader feel what you felt. A good story has done its job if it makes us feel the same happiness or sadness you felt, or whatever it was you felt. A story has done its job if the audience says, “So that’s what it feels like to be cut from the basketball team” or “That’s what going to the mall with you is like.”

Show, don’t tell. Don’t tell the reader what he or she is supposed to think or feel. Let the reader see, hear, smell, feel, and taste the experience directly. An easy way to do this is don’t use the following verbs: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been. Examples: Don’t say, My dad was so mad. Say, my dad through the remote at the couch and screamed. Don’t say, She is my best friend. Say, she hugs me when I cry.

Use dialogue. Don’t use too much, but when something meaningful was said, let us hear it. Put it in quotes.

End with a punch. Make sure your last line makes the story feel finished and makes the reader feel the emotion you want him/her to feel. Remember, if you want the audience to know you were devastated when you got cut from the basketball team, your last line should make that point. For example, don’t say, And that’s how I didn’t make the basketball team. Say, And I fought back the tears all the way home.

Example: Every night after the lights were off, I would walk quietly into my boy’s room and do the same routine. This night was like any other night. My bare feet on the carpet, I slipped into the room and went to my oldest boy. Sitting on his bed, I leaned over and whispered a prayer of blessing into his ear, always taking care to speak softly, since this was a personal moment. I did the same with my middle son on the bottom bunk, and then I went over to my little-buddy boy, Carter. “Are you ready for Daddy to pray with you?” I whispered in his ear. He nodded. I began to pray. I thanked God for giving me such a precious boy. I thanked God for his good heart and what a good little brother he was. There was a prayer for protection and a prayer that he would remember to be kind and obedient and that he would grow up to be a man that would make a difference in this world. I closed with a prayer that he would sleep well and have “no bad dreams.” Then I kissed him on his forehead and said “Good night, don’t let the bed bugs bite.” And then he said something he had never said before. “That was a really good prayer, Daddy.” “It was? Well, thank you, Carter.” I was feeling good that my son was developing his theology. “There was only one thing wrong with it.” “Oh, really? What was that, Carter?” “You kind of spit in my ear a little bit.”