1. Practicing the Genre: Telling a Story
Get together with two or three students and follow these guidelines to practice creating a meaningful story that will engage and intrigue your readers.
Ch. 2 Remembering an Event

2. Part One Tell a story about a memorable event in your life:
Choose an event that you can quickly describe and that you feel comfortable relating.
Plan how you will tell it (i.e. What is the climax and how will you build up to it?).
Take turns sharing stories among classmates.

3. Part Two Discuss what you learned:
What did your classmates’ stories teach you about the genre?
Isolate something in another’s story (something suspenseful, edgy, funny, etc.) that struck you and explain why. What aspects of their stories helped you identify with your classmates, and vice versa?
Consider strategies used by others that could benefit you:
describe characters with dialogue
depict scenery, feelings, and tactile sensations with vivid imagery
evoke excitement with action verbs

4. Analyzing Remembered Event Essays: Determine the writer’s purpose.
to understand what happened and why, perhaps to confront complex motives?
to relive an intense experience that might resonate with readers?
to win over readers, perhaps to rationalize choices?
to use personal experience as an example that readers are likely to understand?
to reflect on cultural attitudes?

5. Analyzing Remembered Event Essays: Determine the writer’s audience.
How does the author want readers to react?
to understand or empathize with the writer?
to think anew about a similar experience of their own?
to see the writer’s experience as symptomatic of a broader social phenomenon?
to assess how well the story applies to other people and situations?

6. Analyzing Remembered Event Essays: Assess the genre’s basic features.
A Well-Told Story
Vivid Description of People and Places
Autobiographical Significance

7. A Well-Told Story Determine ways in which the story engages readers:
By letting readers into the storyteller’s (or narrator’s) point of view? (ex: via first-person pronouns)
By arousing curiosity and suspense? (See Figure 2.1.)
By clarifying or resolving the underlying conflict through a change or discovery? (See Figure 2.1.)
Clarify an event’s significance by instilling a dominant impression; construct action sequences via action verbs and specific details about time and place.

8. Dramatic Arc
Exposition/Inciting Incident: Background information and scene setting, introducing the characters and the initial conflict or problem that sets off the action, arousing curiosity and suspense
Rising Action: The developing crisis, possibly leading to other conflicts and complications
Climax: The emotional high point, often a turning point marking a change for good or ill
Falling Action: Resolution of tension and unraveling of conflicts; may include a final surprise
Conclusion/Reflection: Conflicts come to an end but may bot be fully resolved, and writer may reflect on the event’s meaning and importance—its significance
FIGURE 2.1 Dramatic Arc
The shape of the arc varies from story to story: Not all stories devote the same amount of space to each element, and some may omit an element or include more than one.

9. Vivid Description of People and Places
Naming, detailing, and comparing create vivid description, relaying how people look, gesture, feel, and speak.
Vivid descriptions evoke the senses (sight, sound, taste, texture, movement) and use comparison (metaphors and similes).
Dialogue (quoted, paraphrased, or summarized) portrays people and their relationships; speaker tags (ex. he began perfunctorily) identify speakers and indicate tone/attitude.

10. Autobiographical Significance
To relay a story’s significance, authors include:
Remembered feelings and thoughts from the time the event took place
Reflections on the past from the present perspective, or thoughts/feelings from both the past and present
Word choices that contribute to a dominant impression

11. Guide to Writing: The Writing Assignment
Write about an event in your life that will engage readers and that will, at the same time, help them understand the significance of the event. Tell your story dramatically and vividly.

12. Starting Points: Remembering an Event
Basic Feature
Ask Yourself . . .
Take a Look at . . .
A Well-Told Story
How can I come up with an event to write about?
Consider possible topics. (pp. 27, 32, 36)
Choose an event to write about. (p. 40)
Test Your Topic: Considering Your Purpose and Audience (pp. 40–41)
How can I interest my audience and hold its attention?
Shape your story. (p. 41)
Test Your Story: Facing an Audience (p. 43)
Write the opening sentences. (p. 47)

13. Starting Points: Remembering an Event
Basic Feature
Ask Yourself . . .
Take a Look at . . .
A Well-Told Story
How can I make my story dramatic?
Assess the genre’s basic features: A well-told story. (pp. 15–16)
A Well-Told Story: Constructing an Action Sequence (p. 25)
A Well-Told Story: Making Up Stories (p. 34)
How should I organize my story?
Shape your story. (p. 41)
A Well-Told Story: Finding the Arc of the Story (p. 30)
Clarify the sequence of actions. (pp. 43–44)

14. Starting Points: Remembering an Event
Basic Feature
Ask Yourself . . .
Take a Look at . . .
Vivid Description of People and Places
How can I describe the place where the event occurred vividly and specifically?
Assess the genre’s basic features: Vivid description of people and places. (pp. 16–17)
Describe key people and places vividly, and show their significance. (pp. 44–45)
How can I make the people in my story come alive?
Vivid Description of People and Places: Using Visuals and Brand Names. (p. 31)
Vivid Description of People and Places: Portraying a Person (p. 35)
Use dialogue to portray people and dramatize relationships (p. 45)

15. Starting Points: Remembering an Event
Basic Feature
Ask Yourself . . .
Take a Look at . . .
Autobiographical Significance
How can I help readers grasp the significance of my remembered event?
Assess the genre’s basic features: Autobiographical significance. (pp. 17–18)
Autobiographical Significance: Showing and Telling (pp. 26–27)
Autobiographical Significance: Handling Complex Emotions (pp. 31–32)
Autobiographical Significance: Using Symbols (pp. 35–36)
Clarify your story’s significance. (pp. 45–47)
How can I create a dominant impression?

16. Guide to Writing: Writing a Draft: Invention, Research, Planning, and Composing
Complete the activities in this section to turn your remembered event into a story that is well- told, meaningful, and vivid. Refer to these sections throughout your writing and revision processes.

17. Choose an event to write about.
Select an event that
takes place over a short period of time (preferably just a few hours);
centers on a conflict (an internal struggle or external confrontation);
discloses something significant about your life;
reveals strong, possibly complex or ambivalent feelings.
Make a list of possible events in your life that you would feel comfortable writing about. If you need help selecting an event, try consulting online resources such as Moth, Story Preservation Initiative, Sixties Project, or StoryCorps for inspiration.

18. Test Your Topic Considering Your Purpose and Audience
Ask yourself how accurately you will be able to reconstruct the event; are there missing details, and will your readers absorb your story’s full effect?
Are you comfortable sharing this personal story with your peers and instructor? Will your readers grasp the significance or the underlying conflict?

19. Shape your story.
After selecting an event, begin to outline your story.
Refer to the five sections of the dramatic arc, listed below. (Remember that each section need not be the same length.)
Exposition/Inciting Incident: Set the scene and show how the conflict or problem started.
Rising Action: Build tension and suspense, showing how the crisis developed or worsened.
Climax: End the suspense by dramatizing the most critical moment or turning point.
Falling Action: Show how the tension diminished as the conflict moved toward resolution.
Conclusion/Reflection: Bring closure to the story and reflect on the event’s overall significance.

20. How Do I Develop a Dramatic Arc?
Provide exposition to reveal your narrator’s underlying conflict.
Use action sequences and dialogue to dramatize the inciting incident.
Build suspense and excitement to intensify the story’s rising action and arouse your readers’ curiosity.
Dramatize the climax to give the rising action direction.
Summarize the falling action to wrap up the conflict and unravel complications.
Conclude with reflections to emphasize the story’s significance.

21. Test Your Story In a small group of classmates, test out your story:
Storytellers: Take turns telling your story briefly, describing the place and key people. Try to pique your listeners’ curiosity and build suspense.
Listeners: Briefly tell each storyteller what you found most intriguing about the story.
Were you eager to know how the story would turn out?
Was there a clear conflict that seemed important enough to write about?
Were you able to identify with the storyteller?
Would you understand why the event was significant for the storyteller?

22. Clarify the sequence of actions.
Practice using strategies employed by the writers in this chapter to clarify when different actions occur in relation to each other.
Use appropriate tenses to show the sequence of actions occurring over time.
Include time cues (when, now, then, and as) to help readers understand how one action relates to another in the time sequence.
Refer to calendar or clock time to establish when the event took place.

23. Describe key people and places vividly, and show their significance.
Use naming and detailing to help readers visualize people and understand their roles in your story.
Add comparisons to distinguish characters and to create a dominant impression.
Specify sensory details (size, shape, color, sounds, textures, smells, tastes) within the scene’s key features to emphasize the dominant impression.
Give readers an overview of the place; take them on a tour.
Weave active, specific verbs and vivid descriptive details into action sequences.
Include a photo or video to help readers visualize people/places.

24. Use dialogue to portray people and dramatize relationships.
Give readers a vivid, dramatic impression of your story’s characters and their relationships by using dialogue to quote, paraphrase, or summarize.
Insert a quotation to dramatize a key moment or characterize a relationship.
Summarize to move the story along and emphasize thoughts, feelings, or actions.
Include speaker tags to identify and characterize each speaker and intersperse remembered thoughts.

25. Clarify your story’s significance.
Refine your understanding and presentation of the event’s significance by using these strategies:
Reexamine the underlying conflict to determine what your story is really about.
Consider whether or not you now have insight into your motivation that you did not have previously.
Examine inconsistencies or ambivalence in the language used to tell your story or describe people/places.
Recall your remembered feelings and thoughts.
Explore your present perspective, as you look back on the event.
Reconsider your purpose and audience in light of your developing understanding of the event’s significance.

26. Write the opening sentences.
Begin with a surprising statement
Pick a specific time and place to set the scene and mood
Reflect on something from your past that provides context for the event

27. Draft your story. By this point, you have
Developed a plan for a well-told story
Crafted vivid details to help readers imagine what happened
Devised strategies for relaying autobiographical significance
Launched your story
Now stitch all of this material together to create a draft.

28. Guide to Writing: Evaluating the Draft: Using Peer Review
Participate in a peer review session to exchange drafts with your classmates and give each other thoughtful, critical readings. A good critical reading will:
Let the writer know how clear, vivid, and meaningful the story seems to readers.
Praise what works best.
Suggest where improvements can be made.
Refer to the basic features for guidance on evaluating a draft.

29. A Peer Review Guide Basic Feature Ask Yourself . . .
Summarize/Praise/Critique
A Well-Told Story
How effectively does the writer tell the story?
Summarize: Highlight the inciting incident and the climax of the story.
Praise: Cite a passage where the storytelling is especially effective — for example, a place where the story seems to flow smoothly and maintain the reader’s interest, or where narrative action is compelling or exciting.
Critique: Tell the writer where the storytelling could be improved — for example, where the suspense slackens, the story lacks tension or conflict, or the chronology is confusing.

30. Vivid Description of People and Places
A Peer Review Guide
Basic Feature
Ask Yourself . . .
Summarize/Praise/Critique
Vivid Description of People and Places
Do the descriptions help you imagine what happened?
Summarize: Choose a passage of description and analyze how and how well it uses the describing strategies of naming, detailing, and comparing.
Praise: Identify a description that is particularly vivid — for example, a graphic sensory description or an apt comparison that makes a person or place come alive.
Critique: Tell the writer where the descriptio could be improved — for example, where objects in the scene are not named or described with enough specific detail (colors, sounds, smells, textures), or where the description is sparse. Note any description that contradicts the dominant impression; it may suggest how the significance can be made more complex and interesting.

31. A Peer Review Guide Basic Feature Ask Yourself . . .
Summarize/Praise/Critique
Autobiographical
Significance
Is it clear why the event was important to the author?
Summarize: Briefly describe the story’s dominant impression, and tell the writer why you think the event was significant.
Praise: Give an example where the significance comes across effectively — for example, where remembered feelings are expressed poignantly, where the present perspective seems insightful, or where the description creates a strong dominant impression that clarifies the significance.
Critique: Tell the writer where the significance could be strengthened — for example, if the conflict is too easily resolved, if a moral seems tacked on at the end, or if more interesting meanings could be drawn out of the experience.

32. Guide to Writing: Improving the Draft: Revising, Editing, and Proofreading
Reflect on what you have written thus far:
Review comments from your classmates, instructor, or writing center tutor. What are your readers getting at?
Take another look at your notes and ideas. What else should you consider?
Review your draft. What else can you do to make your story compelling?

33. A Troubleshooting Guide
Basic Feature
Problem
Options
A Well-Told Story
My readers tell me that the story starts too slowly.
Shorten the exposition, spread it out more within the story, or move it to a later part of the story.
Move a bit of dialogue or narrative action up front.
Start with something surprising but critical to the story.
My readers find the chronology confusing.
Add or change time transitions.
Look for inadvertent tense shifts and fix them.
My readers feel that the suspense
slackens or that the story lacks drama.
Add remembered feelings and thoughts to heighten anticipation.
Add an action sequence to build to a climax or high point.
Cut or shorten background exposition and unnecessary description.
Build rising action in stages, with multiple high points.

34. A Troubleshooting Guide
Basic Feature
Problem
Options
A Well-Told Story
My readers find the conflict vague or unconnected to the autobiographical significance.
Think about the conflict’s multiple and possibly contradictory meanings.
Add remembered feelings or thoughts to suggest multiple meanings, and cut those that don’t clarify the significance.
Add your present perspective to make the significance clearer and bring out the implications.
Add dialogue or narrative action to clarify the conflict.

35. A Troubleshooting Guide
Basic Feature
Problem
Options
Vivid Description of People and Places
My readers feel that the people in the story don’t come alive.
Add details about distinctive physical features or mannerisms.
Add speaker tags to the dialogue to characterize people and relationships.
Read your dialogue aloud, and revise to make the language more natural and appropriate to the person.
My readers have trouble visualizing the places I describe.
Name objects in the scene.
Add sensory details (colors, sounds, smells, textures).
Use a comparison — metaphor or simile — to evoke a particular mood or attitude.
Add a visual — a photograph or other memorabilia.
My readers feel that some descriptions weaken the dominant impression.
Omit unnecessary details.
Add adjectives, similes, or metaphors to strengthen the dominant impression.
Rethink the impression you want your writing to convey and the significance it suggests.

36. A Troubleshooting Guide
Basic Feature
Problem
Options
Autobiographical
Significance
My readers do not identify or sympathize with me.
Add background details or explain the context.
Reveal the cultural influences acting on you or emphasize the historical period in which the event occurred.
Show readers how you have changed or were affected by the experience.
My readers don’t understand the significance of the story.
Use irony or humor to contrast your present perspective with your past behavior, feelings, or attitudes.
Show that the event ended but that the conflict was not resolved.
Use dialogue to show how your relationship with people in your story changed.
Indicate how the event continues to influence your thoughts or actions.

37. A Troubleshooting Guide
Basic Feature
Problem
Options
Autobiographical
Significance
My readers think the significance seems too pat or simplistic.
Develop contradictions or show ambivalence to enrich the implications.
Use humor to comment ironically on your past behavior or current contradictory feelings.
Stress the social or cultural dimensions of the event.
Revise Hollywood-movie clichés, simple resolutions, or tagged-on morals.

38. Edit and proofread your draft.
Use the right word/expression
Familiar sayings and expressions are often heard, not read; they may sound correct when spoken, but they are often incorrectly written
Highlight any common phrases/expressions and check against a dictionary or online resource
Choose vivid language and cut flab
Avoid boring word choices and delete empty intensifiers (just, very, certain, really, etc.)
Use powerful, active verbs instead of passive ones ; replace forms of “to be” (am, is, are, was, etc.) with active verbs
Compose your descriptions with fewer, more specific words
Resolve dialogue issues
Practice correct placement of commas and quotation marks throughout dialogue
Add speaker tags and paragraph breaks to help dialogue flow more smoothly
Use the past perfect tense
Replace the simple past tense with the past perfect tense to clarify meaning and establish a clear sequence of events
Remember that past perfect is formed with “had” followed by a past participle

39. Thinking Critically Reflecting on What You Have Learned
Reflect on all the writing you have done for this assignment by applying the knowledge you’ve gained from:
Information in this chapter
Your own writing
Other students’ writing
Class discussions

40. Analyze & Write
Use one of the following writing prompts and write a blog post, a letter, or an message to a student who will take this course:
Explain how your story’s message influenced one of your decisions as a writer, such as how you used the dramatic arc, how you constructed dialogue, and how you integrated remembered thoughts/feelings into your story.
Discuss what you learned about yourself during the process of writing this essay. What part did you find most challenging? Did you try anything new, like getting a critical reading of your draft or outlining your draft for revision? If so, how well did it work?
If you were to give advice to a fellow student who was about to write this essay, what would you say?
What influenced your choice of an event to write about or how you told the story?
Describe any good advice you received from a critical reader—how did that reader help you improve your story?

41. Thinking Critically Reflecting on the Genre
What has the genre taught you about self- discovery? Consider the possibilities of an essential self versus a self constructed from various situational roles. How might these ideas of the “self” influence you as you write about your remembered event?

42. Analyze & Write
Write a page or two explaining how the genre prompts you to think about self-discovery. Consider one or more of the following:
Consider how writing about your remembered event might be an exercise in self-discovery. Planning and writing your essay, did you see yourself as discovering your true self or examining how you reacted in a particular situation? Does your essay reveal your single, essential, true self, or does it show only an aspect of the person you understand yourself to be?
Write a page or so explaining your ideas about self-discovery and truth in remembered event essays. Connect your ideas to your own essay and to the readings in this chapter.