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5. Describe a time in your life when you lost control or acted differently than normal
and explain why.
6. Write about an important “first” in your life and what you learned from the
experience: first time camping, first day of high school, first time off the high dive, writing workshop
for example.
7. Describe a time when you had to make a tough decision in school, on an athletic
field, with a friend, or other times. /
8. Write about a time when you had to face one of your greatest fears, or maybe
when you avoided facing it.
9. Write about a time when you were unprepared for a situation. Writing a Narrative
10. Describe a time when you failed at something and explain what you learned from
the experience.
11. Describe a time when you challenged authority, even in the smallest way.
12. Describe a time when you realized that someone you admired was imperfect.
13. Describe a time when you said something you wish you had not, or when you
wished that you had said something but didn’t.
14. Describe a time when you received a gift that was meaningful to you.
15. Write about a time when you took a chance.
16. Write about a time when you left the safety of a place or situation to explore or to
try something new.
17. Describe a time when you faced a moral dilemma, even in the smallest way.
18. Describe the time you first met someone who later became very important to you.
19. Write about a time when you had a conflict with a close friend or family member.
20. Describe a time when you were treated unfairly and how you handled the situation.
21. Describe an experience when you should have said no but did not.
22. Describe a time when you experienced racism, sexism, homophobia, or other
prejudice.

Now, select one of your responses that seems most promising; you will use this one
for the remainder of this workshop. If you ever find yourself unable to complete any of
the activities that follow based on the response you chose, return to this list of prompts
and select a different one.

Step 2. Your Narrative — Characterization

Now that you have an event that will likely work well for your narrative, the next
thing for you to consider is how to communicate the story to the reader. Ineffective
narratives are those that merely recall the individual pieces of the event (“First I got
on the plane, then we landed, and then we had a great time at Disneyland.”) without
revealing much about the narrator. Narratives are almost always written in the
first person, so it can seem awkward to describe yourself, but that is exactly

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