Last Friday, we had a writer celebration.
And I was completely proud and
impressed of the way that you were telling your stories.
The way that you zoomed in and a use your true exact details and
you started with a good lead and you wrapped it up.
And I also really enjoyed what you chose to write about because I really felt like
I got to know each of you a little bit better, right.
The things you hope for, the things you're worried about.
>> The things we like.
>> The things you like and are interested in, the way you spend your free time.
Even like, Jack who tries to create an adventure, so
you have something to write about, and you wrote about it so beautifully.
And all of your stories, each of your stories.
Isabel's potato gun, where her dad comes to ask her to shoot a potato gun,
and she's scared of it, but it's totally awesome so, she does it.
But we're gonna be looking at now, we started talking about this yesterday,
writing personal narratives that are a little deeper.
They go a little deeper into ourselves where the readers can learn about us,
and I think even when we write a deep personal narrative we learn about
ourselves a little bit more sometimes.
And we looked at a couple yesterday.
So today I'm teaching you about generating some ideas for
these kinds of personal narratives.
Let's do this, to find the first blank page in your writer's notebook,
I'm gonna try some of these out.
>> Do we write the date on it?
>> Yeah, if it makes you happy, right?
A lot of times when we look at a story about ourselves, that is when we learned
something deep about ourselves, it happens at some turning point in our life.
And one of those can be like the very first time that you did something.
Like in Owl Moon, the first time she went owling.
And she learns about owling,
she learns to be like her dad, she grows up a little bit.
So on your first page, try this,
just put down a heading right down the first time I tried something.
This could be first time you try something hard like a sport or
climbing or swimming and diving into a pool.
It could also be like the first time you did something that you now do every day.
>> Ride your bike.
>> The first time you rode a bike and you can say those things out loud,
you could tell me those.
>> Okay.
>> All right.
Like the first time you read a book >> At eight.
>> Give me a thumbs up now if you got at least one or
two ideas on your page >> Okay good, good, good.
Next we could try is, I'm gonna put up here to like something hard,
or something you do everyday.
The next thing you could try is.
Think of the last time you did something.
Last year, Meg wrote this wonderful story about her last day at her old school.
And how she kind of learned about herself that she could feel sad
about something and excited about something at the same time.
Think of like the last time.
The last time you tried something or you did something.
Could be like the last time that you saw a pet that you had that died or ran away.
Or the last time you saw somebody before you moved?
If you've got some first time ones as the last time things.
Think of a time when you learned something about someone or about yourself.
Last year, Anna wrote this
amazing piece when she learned that she has this huge capacity for guilt.
Like she went to a birthday party in Atlanta when she was four or something and
she stole a bracelet.
And when she came back, like for years, she couldn't sleep at night
because she thought about it every time she went to bed.
She felt guilty.
She couldn't go in her closet because that's where she was hiding it.
And she felt guilty.
And so she learned that she not only that she cares about people and so
she feels guilt when she does something like that.
But then she also felt that found that when she called the person up and
returned the bracelet.
And told them what they've done and
they that she has this ability to feel normal again.
Simply go to sleep is felt good about herself.
You're finishing up putting down some of your bullets.
I see some of you have a whole page of ideas.
You have just generated a whole years worth of ideas.
Okay some of you have.
Remember that when you sit down to write that one of the most important things you
have at the beginning of the writing process is an idea.
And now you've got several ways to think of ideas, right?
If you remember when you come in, if you have an idea and
you want to write about it.
That's what you write about.
You're in charge of your writing.
If you don't have an idea, remember the writers write.
Writers or I just heard an interview on the radio with the writer and
the interviewer says do you write every day and she says I do.
But it's hard.
Because I'm a mom, I have a regular job, that every day I write at least for
an hour Even if I'm just writing down ideas, I write every day.
And so you could write down a person, a place, or thing and
small moments with those places you could think of the first time you did something,
the last time you did something, when you learn something about yourself or
when something changed your life.
Write down those small moments that time went on.
Put those ideas down, and then you can get right into the writing process right?
You are already knee-deep in the writing process if you're putting down an idea.
So here's what I want you to do right now, as you are writing this morning,
I want you to pick one of these ideas, okay?
That's you're going to write about and you and
when we as you organize your writing today.
Remember that timeline we did where you took your small moment and you did like
a little bolted timeline with three or four or five small moments together?
And each of those bullets was a paragraph.
That really worked for a lot of you for organizing your writing.
I would encourage you that as you pick an idea today,
sketch out a very quick timeline, and then start writing.
Remember starting with a, pardon me?
>> Does it have to be on the subject the first time I try something?
>> It could be on any of the ideas that you chose.
The first time, the last time.
>> What if you still wanna do is small moments story.
Not like notes.
What if you still want to do stories that's not about
>> That's a good question,
and first I want to just say that these are gonna be small moment stories.
Personal narratives are gonna use small moments.
>> Why don't you, let's do it.
Write something different.
>> Yeah, I would like you to
talk with me about that in a second here just to see what that might be.
But what I want you to try, and like I've said before.
You are in charge of your writing.
But I do want you to explore today a little bit.
The trying to write something that has a moment of significance for you.
And what I know about you or
is that in your writing you pretty much do that anyway.
Like the story that you wrote the other day.
Was really the one that you did for the writer celebration was really
a last time I'm gonna ever do that is how you ended it, right?
He said I'm never gonna do that again.
And that was a wonderful personal narrative that
brought us into that thing and actually a lot of you that writer celebration last
time read stories that we're like this the first time I tried to wait for.
First time I shot a potato.
Last time I ding dong ditch, right?
Most of you did this.
And this is just a strategy award for coming up with ideas for
those kinds of stories a little faster, okay.
>> Okay, now I get it.
>> You got it?
Excellent.
So pick a story that youâ€™re gonna do today.
Try sketching out a timeline cuz that really worked for a lot of you in
organizing your writing and bringing the reader through that experience.
What's that? >> I just did my timeline.
>> You just did your timeline?
>> Yes. >> And once you finished your timeline,
write, okay?
So find a place you're comfortable and go write.
>> Could we [INAUDIBLE] >> A series of small moments if-
>> That would be perfect.
So that's what that timeline would be really good for, like [SOUND] But yes,
it can definitely be a series of small moments.
That was one of the things that printed on our chart yesterday that good writers do.
Jack had a brilliant question.
Is it okay if we do it like the Lucy Comes Home story
where we write a series of small moments.
And yes that's what we look at that for because that's a great idea.