1. Yes… it’s that time of year 
Short Story Writing
Yes… it’s that time of year 

2. Writing Personal Narratives
A personal narrative is a story that you write about yourself. You tell the story using the first person, always referring to yourself as the narrator, saying “I.”

3. How to plan your Personal Narrative
Select a story you want to tell about yourself, using pre-drafting strategies.
Outline the events from the story you have chosen in the order which they occurred.
List words or phrases that you would/will use to describe the event.

4. Continued… Make a list of people and places involved in your story.
Identify where and when the story took place.
Review your notes and decide if you have all information needed to begin.

5. Picking a good lead
You can use the lead or opening, of your personal narrative to do two things. First, grab the attention of the reader. Second, to set the tone for the rest of the story.
One way to begin a lead is to brainstorm a good opening sentence. Free write as many good ideas as possible without stopping to think if they are right or wrong.

6. Ways to organize your story
Organizing by time – You can narrate events in the order in which they occurred. One technique you could use is flashback, which we talked about during our playwriting unit.
Organize by space – You can narrate in order of location, starting with your first location and moving from place to place.

7. Continued…
Organize by importance – You can begin with the least important event and end with the most important, therefore building suspense and leading to a well written climax.

8. Show your experiences
One way to “show” readers what you are talking about is to describe the concrete details of the story. Take your time describing the place, person, Try to let the readers see what you saw, hear what you heard, smell what you smelt etc.

9. The final paragraph
What is the final idea you want to leave with your readers? You might choose an ending that allows different interpretations or leaves the reader to imagine what happens next. You could also let readers see how you felt about your experience and how that experience could change your future.

10. Making your story better
Should you change or improve your lead?
Can you make the ending more effective?
Can you improve connections between ideas?
Do your characters act and speak convincingly?
Is the tone right for the story? Is it consistent?

11. Elements of Personal Narrative
Your personal narrative must be at least 3 typed pages, double spaced, 12 point font, NO BOLD TYPE.
Your rough draft must be read by at least to of your peers and initialed to prove they read it.
The two people that read it must show corrections on your work, each using and different colored pen/pencil.

12. Continued…
Personal Narrative must include a cover page done in the correct format.
If possible, include pictures/visual on separate page to go with story.
Refer to story rubric for marking scheme.