Ideas & planning · Tip 4 of 82 · 4 min read
Your Life Is Full of Stories
Turn real moments, from a lost tooth to a family trip, into stories worth reading.
You don't need dragons or spaceships to write a great story. Your own life is packed with them! A true story about yourself is called a personal narrative.
Pick a small moment
Don't try to write about a whole holiday or a whole year. Pick one small moment and zoom in, like a camera.
Okay 😐
We went to the beach. We swam and ate ice cream and played games. Then we went home. It was fun.
Wow! 🤩
The wave came out of nowhere. One second I was standing in the shallow water, and the next I was sitting on the sand with seaweed on my head and my ice cream floating away.
The second one zooms in on one funny moment, and it's much more fun to read.
Moments you could write about
- The first time you rode a bike (or fell off one!)
- A time you felt really proud
- The day a new pet or baby came home
- A time something went hilariously wrong
- A moment you were scared, and what happened next
Include your feelings and thoughts
In a personal narrative, readers want to know what was going on inside your head. What were you thinking? How did your tummy feel?
As I walked onto the stage, my legs turned to jelly. Don't forget the words, don't forget the words, I told myself. Then I saw Grandpa in the front row, giving me two thumbs up.