Personal/Reflective Writing - Style Involves a combination of narrative, description, discussion, and reflection Narrative – relate a past incident and reflect on how you felt then and now Description – describe the people, places, etc Discussion – analyse your feelings, reflections. Reflection – look back on the events/incidents. Compare how you felt afterwards/now with what you felt at the time. What have you learned about yourself/life? Can you apply these lessons to other occasions?

The right style 1 Use the first person – I Think of an effective opening – try a statement, description, a quotation, saying, dialogue Similarly – think of a good ending – this could relate to your opening Vary your sentence lengths and structures

The right style 2 Make a list of adjectives to describe your feelings at various points – use a thesaurus Try to include humour Try making comments in asides, using sarcasm, litotes and hyperbole Use parenthesis and dash tags Try to draw parallels and make comparisons – use similes and metaphors but avoid clichés

The right style 3 Employ a chatty, informal style Address your reader – use the second person – you Mix your narrative with reflection After your first draft is completed, leave it for a couple of days and then return to it – you’ll see lots to revise/change/improve