Personal writing

1. Personal writing

2. Goal • To be able to write reflectively about a personal experience

3. List times you’ve felt disappointed

4. Disappointment • Next to each time, identify the cause and your reaction.

5. Reflective writing • Shares a universal human experience • BUT has a clear, personal context • Demonstrates the cause and effect of that moment • AND the long term consequences/significance of that moment • Including what the writer learned about himself, herself and the world • A change in relationships

6. Life experiences • A reflection should put the moment into a wider context of the writer’s life experiences Key moment

7. There are different ways to do this… • Framed narrative or flashback • Starts in the present, something triggers a memory • Memory is reflected on in depth. • Closing comments explain the significance of that moment. • Chronological memoir • Story is told in order from past to present. • Can be reflections from the ‘present’ inserted in.

8. Tone • Nostalgic • Positive “I loved those days…” • Regretful • Negative “I wished I never…” So yes, TRF is a model for this style of writing. But do NOT use TRF as a source for ideas.

9. Creative elements • Use of metaphors, similes • Strong emphasis on descriptive language that ‘shows, not tells’ • Use of allusions to relevant literary sources • Use of first person (or occasionally second person) perspective • An authentic voice • Variation in sentence lengths

10. Example - comment on writing craft I believed everything he told me. “Son you’ll be a star”, he said. Every Saturday we would head to the oval to kick around the footy. Those were the moments I miss most. There was no roaring crowd, no tooting car horns, no scoreboard. Just dad and I and a footy. On the way home he would tell me I was going to “be somebody.” I believed him. The Sunday game would come around and it was different. He was possessed. Focused. He was a general. He’d send me to the opening bounce and expect me to pounce. I was good. As the coach he made sure everyone knew it. I never once came off.

11. Example And then one cold, wet Sunday afternoon my knee popped. Like I’d been hit by a sniper from the heaven’s above. The second most incredible pain of my life. I wasn’t a star. I was a cripple. Dad was optimistic. He told me everyday I would come back. Like that Malcheski bloke from Sydney. He mortgaged the house so I could get LARS surgery. He gave up everything. But I didn’t have it in me. I tried alright. But my knee didn’twant to kick winning scores anymore. Sure I played a few years of local footy, but I wasn’t a star. I wassomeguywith the wideeyedfatherwhocheeredevenwhen I fell over. His reality wasdistorted by mypotential as a youth. Mykneewentagainwhen I was 22. I couldn’t finish Uni. My mates all had full time jobs and I wasresponsible for Daddefaulting on hisloan. That was the moment I knew I couldneverrepaywhathe’dsacrified. I think in the end that was what killed him. A lifetime of waiting for me to be a star. I’ve got a boy of my own now. We kick a footy on Saturday. He doesn’t need to be a star, he just needs to enjoy time with his dad.

12. Your piece • 1st paragraph: Expand one of the ‘moments’ you identified • 2nd paragraph: Explain what this moment means to you now • What did you learn? • How did it change your reality? • What were the consequences for others? EXTENSION: How can you include academic, literary or world event references?