What makes the stories in the videos seem so real? While the action is animated, the narration is by a real person. Hearing the story in the person’s own words gives it special impact.
Video production usually starts with writing a script. In this case, each script is a personal narrative, much like the one you will write about your own life. Yours may have a very different topic and purpose, but it will have some of the same features.
Click each tab below to explore the features of a personal narrative.
A personal narrative typically tells a story in the first-person point of view, using pronouns like I, we, me, and mine. Point of view helps the audience understand how a person experienced events. Point of view also helps show the relationships between people.
How does point of view figure into the personal story in “Getting into the Game”? Read this part of the narrative from the video.
I didn’t always have a lot of friends, like I do now. Having a disability in middle school wasn’t easy. Other kids didn’t know how to include me in activities, so I often sat on the sidelines watching. Sometimes I played basketball during PE. But some kids said it wasn’t “real basketball” and called me names like “Wheels.” I felt pretty alone.
Question
From where do you see the action in the narrative?
Now, read the next part of the narrative.
In high school, I started volunteering in an animal shelter. I met other kids who loved animals as much as I do. One of them asked me what else I liked to do. I said I was a gamer. He was a gamer, too. We played, and I won two out of three games! He knew others who liked to game, so we organized gaming marathons.
Question
How does the speaker’s relationship with other kids change from the first example text box to the second?
Details help bring a personal narrative to life. They help the audience see, hear, and feel the writer’s experience. Compare the following two texts about a student’s experience of bullying.
I didn’t always feel comfortable being me. In middle school, kids made fun of me. I couldn’t understand why. Did I do something that made them treat me this way?
I didn’t always feel comfortable being me. In middle school, kids made fun of my name, the food I ate, and even asked me if I was a terrorist. I couldn’t understand why. Did I do something that made them treat me this way?
Question
How do the details in the second version improve the narrative?
A personal narrative shares an important message—often a “light bulb” moment of insight in the writer’s life. That message often depends on the way events develop. To express a clear message, the narrative must show change or growth as a result of events. Like a fictional story, it must have a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Read this text from the video “One Good Friend.” As you read, notice how the narrator’s life changes and why.
I really like talking to people and making them feel welcome. Maybe it’s because I didn’t feel welcomed when I moved to a new town in 8th grade.
My Dad was in the Army. We had to move ‘cause Dad got stationed in a new town. Mom got a job there, too. I didn’t want to leave my friends and my home. And I was sad that my Dad got deployed.
Kids at the new school had known each other a long time. When they had birthday parties, I wasn’t invited. Some of them called me an “Army brat.” Sometimes they tripped me in the hall.
After a while, I made a friend in my neighborhood. Her Mom owned a café grill in town. We went there after school most days. She kind of took me under her wing.
I ignored the girls calling me names and sat with my friend at lunch. She introduced me to a couple of other friends. I started working at the café grill in high school—busing tables, washing dishes, whatever job I could do. The girls who bullied me eventually stopped. By then, I knew everyone in town.
Now, I work at a restaurant in the city. I talk to a lot of interesting people. That includes my parents!
Question
What is the message of the narrative?
