By: Katherine Chung
Written For Yellow Arrow Publishing's Marketing Intersnhip
We often forget how important events and celebrations can be. Sometimes we forget to write things down or take a photo of an event. Oftentimes we do not realize how important something or someone is until we lose them. While this last sentence describes my life perfectly, it also sounds like something that we may hear from our parents or mentors.
Personal narratives are like short chapters of an individual’s complete memoir. This specific style of writing allows people to recall a memory and share a personal experience through writing. These short stories can be about a specific experience and can be intense and hard to comprehend.
Typically, authors write in the first person when they are describing their experience. By writing from this point of view, authors can use their five senses to vividly describe a scenario to their audience. This descriptive language allows the audience to step into the authors’ shoes instead of their own. Authors need to understand the setting of their story so that the audience knows when and where the event took place. In addition to writing from this specific point of view, some authors like to add quotes and photos to their narratives to make their stories feel more personal. Sometimes the authors use their photos as cover images and other times authors may put a collage of photos at the end of the story for the audience to view. Each author who writes their personal narrative can be as specific or general as they want their story to seem.
The most common technique that authors use for personal narrative writing is by using a storytelling element which allows authors to retell a story that has made them who they are today or allowed them to overcome any obstacle. It may be difficult for an author to recall a memory from their past to write about but the storytelling element allows authors to add a fictional element to their personal story. Sometimes authors may change a person’s name for the sake of their privacy. Most personal narratives are written in prose and are 1-5 pages long. They do not need to be very long since most events occur in a quick instance of a few hours. An event could be boring
By reading more personal narratives, readers can learn more about others. Grow as readers and learn about new topics and events that they never knew about before. Oftentimes, it is easier to read an excerpt or a chapter than an entire biography about an individual. No one’s life is ever happy and easy. Even the most famous writers struggle to write their own narratives.
As a writer, I would like to believe that it is important to write personal narratives, even though it may not be for everyone. I have been through a lot in my short lifetime and believe that it is important to share the darkest moments so that others do not have to feel alone. Most of the time I do not even realize that something important has happened till months later.
I have found that it is difficult to write about the saddest and most tragic moments that have happened to me. It is also hard to write about those moments; sometimes I get a flashback many years later and then jot down the event.
Writing my narratives has helped me gain a better mindset about how I want to share my story. Some people can relate to my stories and others may learn something entirely new about them. That is the power of sharing my memories and narratives that I have learned.
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