Major Essay #1

English 1010 |  Major Essay One |  Assignment Guidelines

Write a narrative essay that incorporates elements of dialogue and description. Pick a story to “show.”  Your story can be on any topic or event of your choosing. You are encouraged to use the idea you started pursuing in the Discussion board prompt “Anecdotes.”

If you REALLY don’t like any of the ideas from your list you created in the Discussion Anecdotes, try one of the following options as a jumping-off point:

Option a) Choose any family photograph and use it as inspiration for a story.  You can show the story of your family or a certain family member at this point in history, or you could give background information of the day before the photo was taken.  Don’t tell the story of everybody getting together to take a picture—use the image to launch an interesting story that has some lesson we can learn from.

Option b) songs often bring back vivid memories  that you’d like to tell the story of—you would decide what perspective you’d tell the story, what events you’d include, even what lines of lyrics from the song you’d like to quote (and how you’d integrate them).  This does not mean transcribe the song and pass it off as a story: the idea is to take the idea or setting or a character from a favorite song and create your own story around it. 

Regardless of where your story’s inspiration comes from, your goal is to show events and characters (their emotions, personalities, and background) rather than merely writing (telling) about them literally. Also consider how to show the setting: its sounds, smells, and light are things to think about. 

   

Consider some of the following questions when constructing your essay, but please do not use these questions as an outline for your essay. These questions should help you generate (or eliminate) ideas.

1. Will you write the story in the first person or third? Present or past tense?
2. Who will narrate the story for you?
3. Will you use flashback?
4. What tone is appropriate in telling your story (what tone is appropriate for your narrator)?
5. What is the audience of this piece? It could be the class.  It might be a family member.
6. How will you use the photo or song to tell a larger story?  Is there a theme or lesson you can impart to the audience?
7. How can you frame your essay?  Will you start in the present tense and flashback to the events? Could you start and finish in someone’s stream of conscious thought (with the bulk of the essay told from another perspective)?
8. How will you use descriptive language (active verbs and precise nouns) to show the audience characters and places? How will you use dialogue?

A successful narrative essay will meet a number of standards:

• Focus centrally on an event.
• Explain pivotal moments in your narrative in a way that will your reader thoroughly understand the point or lesson you are making.
• Immediately capture the interest of the audience with a catchy “lead.”
• Use storytelling and/or descriptive language to create a vivid picture that is interesting to read.
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of organizational strategies.
• Be around 1000 words and follow the document formatting rules outlined in the course syllabus.*
• You may also construct your narrative essay using an alternative format, such as a letter, a magazine article, etc.  Talk to me about your creative ideas to assure they still fulfill the assignment objectives.