If your instructor provides a rubric, read over it thoroughly to identify the expectations for full credit. Later, you can measure your essay against the rubric before turning in the assignment. If you have questions about the assignment, ask your instructor for clarification.
List the first thoughts that come to mind when you think about the prompt or question. Make a mind map to sort out your ideas. Use freewriting to uncover story ideas. Simply write whatever comes to mind without worrying about grammar or making sense. Make an outline to help put your ideas in order.
Don’t try to cover too much in one essay, as this will be too hard for your reader to follow. For example, let’s say the prompt reads: “Write about a setback that taught you perseverance. ” You might want to write about an injury you overcame. To narrow down your story, you might focus on the first time you exercised your injured limb after the accident, as well as the difficulties you faced.
For instance, the story about recovering from an injury might have a theme of overcoming hardships or persevering to reach a goal. You might want your reader to finish your story feeling inspired and uplifted. To achieve this feeling, you’d want to focus on your successes throughout the process and end the story with a positive thought.
If you are a character in your story, you will still need to complete this step. It’s up to you how much detail you want to write down about yourself. However, it’s helpful to take note of your description, interests, and desires at the time the story takes place, especially if a lot of time has passed. A main character description might look like this: “Kate, 12 - An athletic basketball player who suffers an injury. She wants to recover from her injury so she can return to the court. She’s the patient of Andy, a physical therapist who is helping her recover. ” A side character description might read like this: “Dr. Lopez is a friendly, fatherly middle-aged doctor who treats Kate in the emergency room. ”
For example, a story about overcoming a sports injury might include a few settings, such as the basketball court, the ambulance, the hospital, and a physical therapy office. Although you want to show your reader each setting, you’ll spend the most time on the main setting of your story. You might list the following descriptors about the basketball court: “squeaky floor,” “roar of the crowd,” “bright overhead lights,” “team colors in the stands,” “smell of sweat and sports drinks,” and “wet jersey sticking to my back. ” Your story may feature several different settings, but you don’t need to provide the same level of detail about each one. For instance, you may be in an ambulance for a brief moment in the scene. You don’t need to fully describe the ambulance, but you might tell the reader about “feeling cold and alone in the sterile ambulance. "
For example, you might introduce a young basketball player who is about to make a big play. The incident that kicks off the story might be her injury. Then, the rising action is the basketball player’s efforts to complete physical therapy and get back into the game. The climax might be the day of tryouts for the team. You might resolve the story by having her find her name on the team list, at which point she realizes she can overcome any obstacle. It’s helpful to use Freytag’s triangle or a graphic organizer to plan your essay. Freytag’s triangle looks like a triangle with a long line to its left and a short line to its right. It’s a tool that helps you plan out your story’s beginning (exposition), an incident that starts your story’s events, the rising action, a climax, the falling action, and the resolution of your story. You can find a Freytag’s triangle template or a graphic organizer for your narrative essay online. [8] X Research source
The most common types of conflict include person vs. person, person vs. nature, and person vs. self. Some stories will have more than one type of conflict. In the story about the young athlete who gets injured, her conflict might be person vs. self, as she’s having to push through her pain and limitations.
In most cases, a personal narrative will use the 1st person “I” point-of-view. For example, “Over my last summer with my grandfather, I learned more than how to fish. ” If you’re telling a fictional story, you might use the 3rd person point of you. Use your character’s name, as well as the appropriate pronouns like “he” or “she. ” For instance, “Mia picked up the locket and opened it. ”
Start your essay with a rhetorical question. For instance, “Have you ever faced losing something that’s important to you?” Give a quote that fits your essay. You might write, “According to Rosa Gomez, ‘You don’t know how strong you are until a setback breaks you. ” Provide an interesting fact that’s related to your story. As an example, “About 70% of kids will stop playing sports by the age of 13, and I was almost one of them. ” Use a short anecdote that relates to the larger story. For your essay about overcoming an injury, you might include a short story about your best moment playing sports before your injury. Start with a shocking statement. You might write, “As soon as they loaded me into the ambulance, I knew I might never play sports again. ”
Let’s say your main character is you. You could write, “As a tall, lean 12-year-old, I easily outplayed the other girls on the court. ” This gives the reader a picture about what you might look like, as well as your interest in sports and athletic ability. If you’re telling a fictional story, you might introduce your character like this: “As she walked toward the high school debate podium, Luz exuded confidence from her Kate Spade headband down to her thrift shop Betsey Johnson pumps. ” Not only does this help the audience picture Luz, but it also shows that she puts effort into her appearance. The fact that she shops at thrift stores might indicate that her family isn’t as wealthy as she portrays.
You might write, “It was my 7th-grade year, and I knew I had to make varsity if I were going to get attention from the high school coaches. ” Sensory details trigger your senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. As an example, “My shoes squeaked across the court as I dribbled toward the goal line, the red basket in sight. Sweat made the ball feel slippery against my fingertips, and its salty taste coated my lips. ”
For instance, you might write, “I never expected that pass across the court to be my last for the season. However, recovering from my injury taught me I’m a strong person who can accomplish anything I set out to do. ”
