Now you know that you’re going to share something about yourself with other people. The events in your narrative will represent a time when you discovered this aspect of yourself. Thus, choosing a specific topic is important.
The first stage of the writing process is prewriting. Prewriting activities help you choose a topic and gather ideas and details. For this assignment, your first prewriting task is to choose a topic.
Remember that other students may read your essay. For that reason, you should choose a topic and an experience that you feel okay sharing with people you don’t know well.
Consider the following questions to help you choose your topic. Then, write down your chosen topic.
| What time or event in my life changed how I saw myself? |
| What led up to the moment when I learned something about myself? |
| What did I learn from my experience? What can other people learn from it? |
The next prewriting task is to make a list of ideas and details to include in your essay. You may want to imagine that you are scripting your own video. What do you want to show and tell your readers?
Consider the following questions to help you build your list. Write down your ideas and details.
| What were the key events? |
| What details will give readers a clear picture of what happened? |
| How did I feel before, during, and after the events of my story? |
| How did the events change my choices or behavior? |
Locate your file containing this module’s journal assignments, paste the prompt below at the end of the document, and leave your file open so that you can add notes as you work through this lesson.
Personal Narrative, Step 2
In your personal narrative file for this module, follow the steps above to complete the prewriting stage of the writing process.
When you have a topic and a long list of ideas and details for your personal narrative essay, save your work and go on to the next stage in the process.
