Source: Scienceworks Melbourne - Nitty Gritty Super City, PlanningGreen, Flickr
To further develop the central idea of your narrative, try to put yourself back into the event or experience you chose in the last section. Visualize the circumstances surrounding the event or people involved. Are there strong emotions connected to your memory of the situation? Consider the decisions that were made, the actions taken, and the consequences that resulted. Think about the situation or the people that triggered your memory. Reflect on why your memory is important to you and how it changed you. You can use the same questions from the previous section to help you come up with more details:
In addition to these questions, consider one more important element. A good personal narrative includes the answer to the following question:
Source: Source: Elijah, one of my students, sharing his story, Brande Jackson, Flickr
Maybe the situation or event you are writing about changed the way you think or feel about life, or a part of life. Consider this question carefully because it will play a major role in fleshing out the central idea of your narrative. Remember, the central idea is the main idea of your story.
Sample Responses:
Now you should be ready to write your personal narrative. You brainstormed and chose one item or topic to focus on for your story. Next, you made a list of details, events, or situations related to your topic. Then, you checked off one specific detail to narrow the focus of your topic. Finally, you responded to questions about the event or detail you chose in order to connect to your main idea such of “friendship,” “personal challenges,” etc.
For our topic “My best friend Danny,” our narrowly focused central idea became this: The adventure Danny and I had in the dead of winter means a lot to me now because it showed me what it means to have a best friend.
Using your notes, write the narrowly focused central idea of your personal narrative.