Writing Personal Narratives When thinking about writing a personal narrative remember that it is not just what happens but what you--as the author--make of what happens. How do you engage the experience at hand?
Childhood and BeginningsThe following questions are catalysts to get you started thinking. I thank Linda Spense and her book Legacy for providing many of these questions. Jill Ker Conway, in her autobiography The Road from Coorain, answers many of these same questions, a fact that will help guide you: again, writing a personal history involves writing about common human experiences, while making those experiences uncommon in some way.
1. Tell what you know or have heard about any of your ancestors other than your parents and grandparents. Include significant details when possible.
2. When were you born? What were you told about your birth and infancy, and who told you?
3. What kinds of "make-believe" do you remember playing? What did you find amazing as a child?
4. Recall your earliest memories of school. What do you remember feeling about your first few years in school. What do you remember learning? What do you remember liking about school? What was difficult or frightening?
5. Who were your childhood friends and what did you most like to do together? Who was your best friend and how did the friendship begin?
6. What did you do when you came home from school? Who would be there?
7. Imagine your family during a typical mealtime. What do you see going on around you? What would you be eating? What was regular Saturday like? Sunday?
8. What kinds of music did you hear as a child? Write a memory that involves music.
9. What were the reading material in your home? Who read to you?
10. Were there television shows and movies that made an impression on you as a child?
11. What did "being good" mean in your family? What work was expected of you as a child? What else seemed expected of you as a child, either stated or unstated?
12. What were the historical events taking place in your childhood and how were you aware of them?
13. Tell of time when you gained confidence in yourself.
14. What were some of your fears? Tell about a time where you felt extremely frightened?
15. When were the times that adults let you down?
16. What questions did you have that did not seem to have answers?
17. What were some of the things you wanted to do as a child but could not? Which of them were forbidden to do? Which were unavailable or unaffordable? Which were beyond your abilities as a child?
18. What do you know about your grandparents' lives? What do you remember feeling about your grandparents?
19. What have you heard about your mother's childhood? What did you hear about your father's childhood?
20. What sense about marriage did you get from your parents?
21. Picture yourself as a child. Now imagine that this child is standing in front of you this moment. What would you like to say to this child?
1. What did you do that was risky? Tell about some rebellious actions of yours. What led up to them and what were the consequences?What was the most trouble you were in as a teenager?
2. How did your relationship with your mother and father change during your adolescence?
3. From your wisdom today, what are you thankful for from your adolescence years? At that time, what did you think you were thankful for?
Young Adult1. What is going on in your family? Has your relationship with your parents changed since you left home?
2.When did you first begin to feel that you were an adult?
3. Write about your loves both fantasy and real.
4. Tell about a disappointment you had and how you handled it.
5. Discuss something that is absolutely new in your life.