Soule Papa Blog Entries - Examples of Excellence in Personal Narrative Writings

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It is also a good way to expand your personal writing style.

With that in mind, I have pulled selective entries from a blog that I read often. I picked them because I think the writing is really lovely and effective. I selected them to show that you don't have to be a professional writer to be good at composing. I also think they are excellent examples of how your voice and personality can come through in a short piece. We will be reading them, examining them with the hopes of finding techniques and ideas that you can make your own twist on them. And finally, I hope you enjoy them. We'll read them. Discuss them and then try to write our own. We will be doing three rounds, each with a different focus. I will be asking you to create three pieces of writing, but only in the draft form for now. Later I will ask you to pick one and perfect it.



Part 1: Snapshots and Personal Inventories
Lovely examples of how a snapshots in time or an inventory of something personal can lead to a powerful piece of writing:

Soule Papa's Note to Self

Soule Papa's My Little Pony

Soule Papa's Loose Change

Soule Papa's Since Last We Met

Soule Papa's Get Trained


Your Assignment: Write a piece similar to the ones we just read. They could be some sort of snapshot with your response to the event or a personal inventory that represents some aspects of who you are.

Part 2: Capturing Your Response
Well Crafted pieces that illustrate how capturing your response to a moment, event or situation can be a lens that shows your personality:

Soule Papa's Finding the Beat

Soule Papa's The Wearing Away

Soule Papa's Upon Arrival

Soule Papa's A Fortress in Time


Your Assignment: Consider a time where your response to the event, the moment elicited a strong, thoughtful, deep or unusual response and write about it. Use the entries we just read as a guide for how to craft such a piece of writing.

Part 3: In Response to a Time or Place

Examples of how a description of how you respond to and what you think about an event captures a part of the essence of who you are:

Soule Papa's In the Corners

Soule Papa's Out of Somewhere

Soule Papa's In the Clutches

Soule Papa's Something Scary

Your Assignment: This last set of writing focused more on the writer's response to places and time, with a lesser focus on the who. Find something that strikes a cord for you along those lines and write about it.