ENG 113 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Dramatic Structure
Writing Your Narrative/Autobiographical Essay
Choosing What to Write About
1. Takes place over a short period of time
2. Centers on a conflict
3. Reveals something significant about you and your life
4. Reveals strong, complex, or conflicted feelings (rather than superficial or sentimental
feelings)
Purpose! Audience!
1. How well am I going to be able to reconstruct the story, place, and people?
2. How comfortable do I feel sharing this story?
3. How well am I going to be able to make readers understand the nature of the conflict?
Structuring Your Story
1. Exposition/inciting incident: set the scene, give background, show how the conflict
started
2. Rising action: show how the conflict developed or worsened. Efforts to resolve the
onflit that didn’t work
3. Climax: end the suspense by showing the critical moment or turning point
4. Falling action: show what happened as a result of the climax
5. Conclusion/reflection: bring closure to the story and reflect on its significance
Sequence of Actions
1. Keep your tenses straight
2. Use time cues so readers know how each action relates to the others
3. Be specific about time of year, month, week, day
Some More Notes on Description
Give your readers an overview of a place. Use strong, specific verbs instead of a bunch of
adjectives.
Helping Readers Understand Your Story’s Significance
1. Examine the conflict to determine what your story is really about
2. Do you hae insight into the eent that you didn’t hae then? If not, hy not?
3. Look for inconsistencies or ambivalence in the way you tell the story. What does that tell
you?
4. Recall thoughts and feelings you had during the event
5. Explore your present perspective on the event
6. Think about your purpose and your audience. Consider how that might change the way
you tell the story
Opening Sentences
1. Set the scene, set the mood
2. maybe make a surprising statement
3. Reflect on something else from your past that provides context
4. But don’t get ogged don here hen you’re just eginning
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Document Summary
Choosing what to write about: takes place over a short period of time, centers on a conflict, reveals something significant about you and your life, reveals strong, complex, or conflicted feelings (rather than superficial or sentimental feelings) Structuring your story: exposition/inciting incident: set the scene, give background, show how the conflict started, rising action: show how the conflict developed or worsened. Sequence of actions: keep your tenses straight, use time cues so readers know how each action relates to the others, be specific about time of year, month, week, day. Give your readers an overview of a place. Use strong, specific verbs instead of a bunch of adjectives. If not, (cid:449)hy not: look for inconsistencies or ambivalence in the way you tell the story. What does that tell you: recall thoughts and feelings you had during the event, explore your present perspective on the event, think about your purpose and your audience.
