243
Remember that two of the essential components of writing an effective narrative are having a story worth telling and telling it well. So far, you have been working mostly on the first component. The next few steps will focus on how you can make your narrative interesting and engaging for the reader.
By far, the majority of personal narratives are written in chronological order, meaning that they recount the details of an event in the order in which they occurred, perhaps adding relevant background when necessary. You can certainly experiment with other organizational structures, including a variety of flashbacks for particular effects, but know that the reader, in general, expects a story to unfold in chronological order. If you vary that structure, be prepared to assist the reader in following your narrative by using effective and clear time transitions, such as “earlier that month . . .” or “long before this happened . . .”
Now, just because your narrative will likely be told in chronological order, this does not mean that you need to begin at the beginning. In fact, one of the most ineffective ways to begin a narrative is “It all started when . . .” or “I remember a time when I . . .” Just as in any other piece of writing, you will want to hook your readers immediately with something that will draw them into your story.
Here are a few openings from texts in this Conversation:
“Shooting an Elephant”: “In Moulmein, in Lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people.” Starting with being hated is engaging because readers want to find out exactly why the narrator was hated, especially by so many people.
“Zolaria”: “It is July and we are a miraculous age. We have been sprung from our backyards, from the neighborhood park, from the invisible borders that rationed all our other summers.” This opening raises many questions. What is this age, who are “we,” and what will we do with this new freedom?
“Against School”: “I taught for thirty years in some of the worst schools in Manhattan, and in some of the best, and during that time I became an expert in boredom.” It is surprising that the commonality that the narrator identifies between good and bad schools is “boredom.” Readers wants to learn more about what has made him an “expert” in boredom.
Think about one of the topics that you brainstormed earlier. Write a sentence or two of an engaging opening for that topic. Consider using an interesting piece of dialogue or a specific detail from the event, or even drop the reader right in the middle of a situation that you will describe in greater detail later in your narrative.
Now, write an entirely different opening for the same narrative, using a different approach. Which one is more effective at capturing your reader’s attention? Which one feels most natural to your style?