Personal Narrative Tricks

The eight "Smiley Face Tricks" are from Ready-to-Use English Workshop Activities for Grades 6-12: 180 Daily LessonsIntegrating Literature, Writing & Grammar Skills by Mary Ellen Ledbetter; Copyright (c) 2002 by M.E. Ledbetter

#1 - MAGIC 3

Giving three examples in a series is pleasing to the ear and adds support to a point being made. Using modifiers before each item in the series can emphasize the effect.

"She blinked her blue-green eyes, chewed on a lacquered nail and frowned at the interviewer.”

#2 - FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Comparisons such as similes, metaphors and personifications—can bring interest, humor and connection for the reader.

“That stuff in the bottom of the strainer is toxic waste—deadly poison – a danger to health” (Fulghum, 302).

"When the teacher asks us all to hold hands and Wyatt reaches for mine, thisjolt of electricity floods out of his fingers and ricochets through my whole body like I'm this human pinball machine and Wyatt's the ball" (Sonya).

#3 - SPECIFIC DETAILS FOR EFFECT—

Using specific details that invoke the senses help the reader imagine the place or person being described more clearly.“The smell rushed at me as soon as I stepped inside. The hallway had that mama-don't-cook-nothin’-without-onions smell. It lingered on top of musty cigarette smoke, the kind that never quite comes out of the carpet, no matter how long ago the smoker left. My arms rippled with goose bumps. I'd been here before."

# 4 - REPETITION FOR EFFECT

Repeating words or phrases can emphasize a point.

• "I’m going away from this place. Away from my disapproving mother, away from my annoying brother and away from this infernal heat.” (Leslie)

# 5 - EXPANDED MOMENTSlowing down to expand a moment, rather than rushing through it, can stretch out tension and keep your reader hanging on to every word.

But no, I had to go to school. And as I said before, I had to listen to my math teacher preach about numbers and letters and figures. I was tired of hearing her annoying voice lecture about “a=b divided by x.” I glared at the small black hands on the clock, silently threatening them to go faster. But they didn’t listen, and I caught myself wishing I were in a bathing suit again, walking carelessly on white sand and looking down at almost transparent pale-blue water with Josh at my side.

# 6 - HUMOURHaving fun with your writing makes it interesting for both you

and the reader.

Once, after dinner, I said to him that I bet Jesus never had to wash dishes and clean gunk out of the sink. He agreed. It was the only theological discussion we ever had.

#7 - HYPHENATED MODIFIERSSaying something in a different way can bring interest and

recognition of how something feels. Hyphenated adjectives often cause the reader to "sit up and take notice."

She rolled her eyes at her mother and turned her nose up with a I-can't-believe-you-actually-said-that sniff.

#8 FULL-CIRCLE ENDING

To wrap up a story, try repeating a phrase or idea that brings the reader back to an idea at the beginning of a piece.

Beginning: “Hey, you, with the green and neon-orange striped shoelaces, you who always pulled on my old frazzled white ones in math. Hey, you, Justin, who always added your version of ‘art’ to my math problems for Ms. Canton’s class, so that 9x7 = 63 turned out to be a train with puffs of smoke and two boxcars and made me get an 83 instead of a 93 since Ms. C. doesn’t count locomotives as correct answers.”

• Ending: “Now Justin still sits behind me in math with his neon-green and orange striped shoelaces and pulls on my old white frazzled ones. HE still draws zombies on my homework, but he hasn’t dumped another pitcher of Kool-Aid on me – not yet, at least. Oh, and by the way, in case you’re wondering, his first words when he opened his eyes were, ‘It was James Kenton who hid your clothes and made you walk around in a chicken suit…I’m not that mean.”