Below you will find the structure that we discussed as a class. Autobiographical stories have their own distinct markers and below you will find a description of some of these elements.
Structure
Hook the audience in. Think of a strong first line for your story that has impact. Consider ways to foreshadow the major problem of the story, maybe shift time so that you start the story in the beginning of the action, pose a question to your audience that hints at the action to come. When we discussed this, we looked at the opening line of some books and considered how the ‘hook’ their reader:
“If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.”– A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket
“‘Where’s Papa going with that ax?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.“- Charlotte’s Web, E.B White
“The way I see it, everyone gets a miracle.”- Paper Towns, John Green
Introduce key information. Make sure you establish the setting where your story takes place and develop some of the personality traits of the characters. Ensure your audience knows the possible problems
Build to the climax. Link the events leading up to the main turning point or point of action with the most tension. Think of the events as ’cause and effect’ and show how one leads into the next until things hit ‘breaking point’.
Bring it all together and resolve the story. Make sure you tell the audience how it all ends up. Take time to deliver your message about how we could/should live our lives.
Autobiographical Story Elements
Draw in your audience by addressing them with the pronouns ‘you’ and ‘we’. Use what is called an ‘aside’ during key moments in your story to break tension or prolong it. Using an aside also makes the audience feel intimately connected with your story as you are involving them in the presentation.
Foreshadow the ‘complication’. Making sure you hint at what is to come is a great way for people to stay hooked on your story. Think about commenting on ‘foreboding’ warnings or ‘that gut feeling’ are classic ways to let your audience know that more is coming and it is worth sticking around for.
Paint them the picture and make your setting really clear for them. Make a point at the beginning of the story and throughout if the setting changes, to ‘observe the details’. Be explicit with things like the location, time, date, weather etc. Use strong language and even the occasional figurative device to do this.
Appeal to sound by using onomatopoeia. Often when we relay stories, we include sound details for our audience. Sometimes, these sounds don’t have a proper word and we just make the noise to fill the gap. Often though, we use onomatopoeia without even thinking about it. This is a signal to actively think about your sound words.
Make time to expand the details. People want to know the full story and part of that is the minor details that you may not think are important. Give your audience that insight, make it intimate by ‘zooming in’ on the details of the story.
