You may have noticed that sometimes detailed explanations and definitions aren’t enough to help you understand something. Sometimes an example—and a realistic one at that—is the only thing that makes an idea clear or conveys the right message.
Writers of anecdotes use them because they are ideal for getting their points across. But how is a good anecdote able not only to tell an engaging story but to convey the author’s message, too?
One reason a good anecdote is so effective is because it takes you back to a certain point in time and makes you feel as if you’re reliving it with the author. To accomplish this, writers often follow some guidelines when creating anecdotes. Click each title to learn what makes a good anecdote.
Writers begin anecdotes in the middle of the action or right before it starts. If writers jump into the middle of the action, they’ll have to back up and give some context for what’s happening. However, if they begin their story right before the action starts, they can provide context up front.
Part of explaining the context in anecdotes is describing the scene. Good anecdotes include what the writer saw, smelled, heard, felt, and tasted. In other words, good anecdotes include important sensory details.
Effective anecdotes are short and sweet. They relate the facts of the event without going off course. One way writers do this is to focus on the 5Ws and H questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?
People who write good anecdotes include a mix of narration and dialogue, the actual words someone said. Effective anecdotes only include dialogue for the most important parts of the story or to help move the action of the story forward.
Anecdotes that work well include details that are very specific. These kinds of details, along with descriptions, allow readers to experience an event in the same way the author did.
As you’ve already seen in this lesson, anecdotes are very short. Often, they are only a few paragraphs long.
Effective anecdotes encourage readers to think, feel, or believe in the same way the writer or narrator does. To be meaningful to the reader, a personal anecdote must be meaningful to the writer, too.
Question
For an anecdote to be effective, how much background information should be included?
