Starting Points: Explaining a Concept

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A Well-Told Story

How can I come up with an event to write about?

  • Consider possible topics. (pp. 22, 27, 30)
  • Choose an event to write about. (p. 34)
  • Test Your Choice (p. 35)

How can I interest my audience and hold its attention?

  • Shape your story. (pp. 35–36)
  • Organize your story to enhance the drama. (pp. 36–37)
  • Test Your Choice (p. 37)
  • Write the opening sentences. (pp. 43–44)

How can I make the story of my event dramatic?

  • Assess the genre’s basic features: A well-told story. (pp. 11–12)
  • A Well-Told Story: Constructing an Action Sequence (p. 20)
  • A Well-Told Story: Using Dialogue (p. 25)
  • Shape you story. (pp. 35–36)
  • Organize your story to enhance the drama. (pp. 36–37)
  • Use dialogue to tell your story. (pp. 38–39)

How should I organize my story?

  • Assess the genre’s basic features: A well-told story. (pp. 11–12)
  • Autobiographical Significance: Coming Full Circle (p. 30)
  • A Well-Told Story: Using Dialogue (p. 25)
  • Organize your story to enhance the drama. (pp. 36–37)
  • Choose your tense and plan time cues. (p. 38)
Table : Starting Points: Explaining a Concept
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Vivid Description of People and Places

How can I describe the place where the event took place vividly and specifically?

  • Assess the genre’s basic features: Vivid description of people and places. (pp. 12–13)
  • Vivid Description of People and Places: Using Figures of Speech (pp. 29–30)
  • Develop and refine your descriptions. (pp. 39–41)
  • Incorporate descriptive details throughout your story. (pp. 41–42)

How can I make the people in my story come alive?

  • Assess the genre’s basic features: A well-told story. (pp. 11–12)
  • Vivid Description of People and Places: Using Names and Details (pp. 20–21)
  • A Well-Told Story: Using Dialogue. (p. 25)
  • Develop and refine your descriptions. (pp. 39–41)
  • Incorporate the descriptive details throughout your story. (pp. 41–42)
Autobiographical Significance

How can I help readers grasp the significance of my remembered event?

  • Assess the genre’s basic features: Autobiographical significance (p. 13)
  • Autobiographical Significance: Showing and Telling (pp. 21–22)
  • Consider ways to convey your event’s autobiographical significance (pp. 42–43)

How can I create a dominant impression?

  • Assess the genre’s basic features: Autobiographical significance (p. 13)
  • Autobiographical Significance: Showing and Telling (pp. 21–22)
  • Consider ways to convey your event’s autobiographical significance (pp. 42–43)