Narrative: descriiption of setting and people, including Who, What, When, Where
Commentary: descriiption of what you, as the narrator, were thinking and feeling as the scene and/or event unfolded
Analysis: explanation of why you chose to write what you did; why your story is important to you; what you think your story can teach other people
Your 2-5 page essay will contain:
● First person narrator that conveys an internal life (commentary) external context (sensory details)
● Dialogue
● Title linked to your theme/motif
Characters
● An inciting action(s) and/or turning point
● A conclusion that links to the intro
Include in each paragraph at least one of the following:
descriiption of a sound
A descriiption of someone’s face or clothing
A descriiption of the environment
A scent
1st paragraph: Brief descriiption of experience (narrative)
2nd paragraph: Things you were thinking and feeling as the event unfolded (Commentary)
3rd paragraph: Major way the experience changed you (Analysis)
4th paragraph: Summary of impact on narrator’s identity (Analysis)
UPLOADED EXAMPLES AND INSTRUCTIONS.
You could write any topic but topic you can keep in mind is death, love, relationship, a pet, a sport. Something creative.
I am giving topics you don’t have to write about this.
Write about a secret that you have never told to the person you love.
Write about a time when a broken heart led to something you have never expected.
Write about a time a date that was terrible you would never forget.
Recall what stressed you out most as a child. Was it the creaking stairs leading to the basement? Or being lost at the store? Explore your current relationship to that stressor. Did you ever move past that fear or anxiety? How do you interact with it now?
What relationship in your life has caused the most pain? Write the key scene in that relationship, when everything was at stake.
Who was your first friend to die? Write about how you learned of their death, and how you and their other friends mourned them.
Choose a happy or comfortable memory and write it in a way that makes the memory creepy or eerie to the reader. Don’t change the basic facts of the event, only select different facts and present them differently.
Recall an individual that you particularly hated. Describe their cruelty to you, and try to write yourself into an understanding of why they might have done it
