Choose an event to write about.
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To make a compelling story, the event you choose to write about should
- take place over a short period of time (preferably just a few hours);
- center on a conflict (an internal struggle or an external confrontation);
- disclose something significant about your life;
- reveal complex or ambivalent feelings (rather than superficial and sentimental ones).
Make a list of events that fit the bill. If you’re like most people, you may have trouble coming up with events to write about. To get your juices flowing, try the following:
- Review the Consider Possible Topics activities for selections by Dillard, Desmond-Harris, Ruprecht, and Lam or for the interview with Koepcke, or reread any notes you made in response to those suggestions.
- Consult Web sites where people post stories about their lives, such as the Story Preservation Initiative, the Sixties Project, or StoryCorps. Try also typing memory project, survivor stories, or a similar word string into the search box of your browser.
If you need more ideas, the following may give you a jumping-off point:
- A difficult situation (for example, when you had to make a tough choice and face the consequences, or when you let someone down or someone you admired let you down)
- An occasion when things did not turn out as expected (for example, when you expected to be criticized but were praised or ignored instead, or when you were convinced you would succeed but failed)
- An incident that changed you or that revealed an aspect of your personality (such as initiative, insecurity, ambition, jealousy, or heroism)
- An incident in which a conflict or a serious misunderstanding with someone made you feel unjustly treated or caused you to mistreat someone else
- An experience that made you reexamine a basic value or belief (such as a time when you were expected to do something that went against your values or had to make a decision about which you were deeply conflicted)
- An encounter with another person that led you to consider seriously someone else’s point of view, that changed the way you viewed yourself, or that altered your ideas about how you fit into a group or community
- An event that revealed to you other people’s surprising assumptions about you (as a student, friend, colleague, or worker)
TEST YOUR CHOICE
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After you have made a tentative choice, ask yourself the following questions:
- Will I be able to reconstruct enough of the story and describe the place and people in vivid detail to make my story dramatic and create a dominant impression?
- Do I feel drawn toward understanding what this event meant to me then and what it means to me now? (You may not yet know what the significance of the event is, but you should feel compelled to explore it.)
- Do I feel comfortable writing about this event for my instructor and classmates? This isn’t a diary entry, after all. You are going to share your writing with others and should be comfortable doing so.
If you lose confidence in your choice, return to your list and choose another event.