This document provides guidance on writing effective introductions for personal narratives. It discusses the purpose of introductions, which is to catch the reader's attention and set up the story. Several strategies for writing engaging first lines are presented, such as starting in the middle of action, using humor or vivid imagery, or introducing a problem or conflict. Examples of successful first lines from famous novels are also analyzed. The document encourages avoiding simply stating what the story will be about and instead using natural, interesting language to draw the reader in.

1. Writing the Introduction
to a Narrative

2. In groups of 2-3, read the
example introductions and
discuss:
Which one is the BEST?
Why do you think it is the best?
Activity:

3. How did you determine which
one is the best?
Activity:

4. What is good?
What is bad?
How do you know that
one thing is better than
another thing?
The only way to know
if something is good
or bad is to define its
purpose!
Aristotle
(Ancient Greek Philosopher)
Born in 384BC

5. How do you know if this is a good cup?
What is the purpose of a cup?

6. How do you know if this is a good thief?
What is the purpose of a thief?

7. How do you know if you wrote a good personal narrative?
What is the purpose of a
personal narrative?
How do you know if you wrote a good introduction?
What is the purpose of a
narrative introduction?
In your table groups, make
a brainstorm web.

8. Purpose of a
Personal Narrative
In your table groups, make a brainstorm web about the
purpose of a personal narrative (what does a good
personal narrative do?)

9. To entertain and interest the reader
To show something true about the author’s life and
experiences
To help the reader clearly envision the story &
connect to the story
To show something unique or meaningful about you,
the author
What makes a good personal narrative?

10. To entertain and interest the reader
To show something true about the author’s life and
experiences
To help the reader clearly envision the story &
connect to the story
To show something unique or meaningful about you,
the author
To display your strengths: make you look good!
To show something that application forms and
resumes cannot
To be short (so the admissions committee can read
lots of stories)
What makes a good personal narrative?
(for an application)

11. Purpose of an
Introduction
In your table groups, make a brainstorm web about the
purpose of an introduction (what does a good
introduction do?)

12. Catches reader’s attention!!!
(Creates enough interest that
the reader will want to continue)
Introduces the reader to the narrator.
Establishes the tone of the story & point of
view.
Introduces or leads into the conflict you
plan on addressing in your story.
Is short in length
What makes a good intro?

13. Catches reader’s attention!!!
(Creates enough interest that
the reader will want to continue)
Introduces the reader to the narrator.
Establishes the tone of the story & point of
view.
Introduces or leads into the conflict you
plan on addressing in your story.
Is short in length
What makes a good intro?

14. Strategies:
(1) Start in the middle of the action:
“‘Breathe in and breathe out. Clear your mind by
thinking of something pleasant.' For five minutes, all
of us found ourselves sitting cross-legged on the floor
with a soft, sleepy look on our faces as we
subconsciously nodded to the soothing rhythmic
voice of our French teacher. It felt like my head was
wafting in the swirls of dreamland. Time moved by
swiftly and as class ended, we were forced to tend to
the grueling task of untangling our aching frames,
stiffened from prolonged yoga positions."

15. Strategies:
(2) Start with something shocking:
"When I was four years old I decided to challenge
conventional notions of the human limit by flying
through a glass window. My role-model was
Superman, whose exploits on television had induced
my experiment. Nine stitches and thirteen years later,
while I no longer attempt to be stronger than steel or
faster than a speeding bullet, I still find myself testing
my limits, mental and physical."

16. Strategies:
(3) Start with something misleading:
"I am an addict. I tell people I could stop anytime, but
deep inside, I know I am lying. I need to listen to music,
to write music, to play music every day. I can't go a
whole day without, at the very least, humming or
whistling the tunes that crowd my head. I sing myself
hoarse each morning in the shower, and playing the
trumpet leaves a red mouthpiece-shaped badge of
courage on my lips all day. I suspect that if someone
were to look at my blood under a microscope, they
would see, between the platelets and t-cells, little black
musical notes coursing through my body."

17. Strategies:
(4) Withhold information. Create mystery:
"I had a mental image of them standing there, wearing
ragged clothes, hot and depressed, looking upon us as
intruders in their world. They would sneer at our audacity.
We would invade their territory only to take pictures and
observe them like tourists.
We climbed out of the van and faced eleven men
assembled in the shade. My class, consisting of twelve
primarily white, middle-class students, felt out of place.
Our class at the Governor's School summer
environmental program included an interview with migrant
workers.”

18. Strategies:
(5) Introduce a problem:
"I have often wondered whether the United
States has an obligation to get involved in the
internal conflicts of other countries. When does
the power to intervene become an obligation to
act? I gained some insight into this dilemma
when a small part of the Bosnian war spilled
into my home last year."

19. Strategies:
“I hate clowns. I hate vines. I hate fuzzy caterpillars. But most of all,
I hate leeches. They are full harbors of evil on Earth. Their zombie-
like way of crawling, as if their life is turned on for one second to
create that signature hump of a worm, and then quickly turned off,
instantly flattening out, dead, brings me to tears. Before long they
are up again, repeating this pattern; their black covering sparkling,
creating the most shocking juxtaposition of attempted beauty on a
creature so wicked. They are shown falling from leaves, free as
children on monkey bars, their intentions seemingly unknown to the
deranged cameraman filming them. When they find that next prey
they are spellbound, burrowing their fang-rimmed faces into the leg
of an unsuspecting hiker… Despite my aversion to the leech, I am
still planning on joining the Peace Corps.”
(6) Use vivid imagery and description:

20. Strategies:
“In college, I dated a guy named George. When he friend
requested me on Facebook many years later, I accepted.
Eager to find out what he'd been up to, if he got married,
had kids, if he was still single and if he ever found himself,
I checked his Facebook wall, only to discover that he was
maybe, kind of, sort of... dead. I wasn't sure, so I emailed
and asked.
Hey, George, Thanks for the friend request. Quick
question, are you dead? I'm asking because your wall is
littered in posts from friends alluding to your demise. Hit
me back in spirit or via email. —Katie"
(7) Use humor:

21. The First Line:
Even just the first line of your introduction
should catch a reader’s attention! Read
the following list of famous first lines, and
vote on the ones that make you want to
continue reading the most…
There will be two rounds.

22. 1. A screaming comes across the sky. —(Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's
Rainbow)
2. Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano
Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took
him to discover ice. —(Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years
of Solitude)
3. Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its
own way. —(Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina)
4. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
—(George Orwell, 1984)
5. I am an invisible man. —(Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man)
6. Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without
having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested. —(Franz Kafka,
The Trial)
7. You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a
winter's night a traveler. —(Italo Calvino, If on a winter's night a traveler)

23. 1. If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to
know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and
how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that
David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you
want to know the truth. —(J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye)
2. This is the saddest story I have ever heard. —(Ford Madox Ford, The
Good Soldier)
3. Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that
station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. —
(Charles Dickens, David Copperfield)
4. Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife,
Shuyu. —(Ha Jin, Waiting)
5. The moment one learns English, complications set in. —(Felipe Alfau,
Chromos)
6. I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally
happens in such cases, each time it was a different story. —(Edith
Wharton, Ethan Frome)

24. Good or bad first lines?
“This is the story of the time I went on a hero’s
journey and learned that friendship is more
powerful than sadness.”
“One day, a conjectural anecdote resulted in a
most calamitous insurrection directed at my
nostrils.”
“Do you have a hobby so important to your life
that you feel you can’t live without it?”

25. Good or bad first lines?
Don’t re-state the prompt. Don’t directly tell the
reader what the story is going to be about.
Use your own natural language: don’t use “big
words” that you don’t understand as a way of
making your writing sound smarter.
Avoid boring, simple questions.

26. What NOT to do:
Don’t summarize what you plan on
talking about in the rest of your story.
Don’t include any form of the phrase, “I
am going to write about”…
Don’t use slang.
Don’t start with a definition (this is cliche)

27. Trade your story introduction with
someone at your table group. (Do a
3-way trade if necessary).
Read your partner’s introduction, and
decide whether or not it is catchy.
Does it make you want to read on?
Share your opinions with your partner.
Activity