Mark Darrah's Blog - Posts Tagged "personal-narratives"
The Least Important Word in Personal Narratives
I wanna talk about me
Wanna talk about I
Wanna talk about number one
Oh my me my
What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see
I like talking about you, you, you, but occasionally...
From "I Wanna Talk About Me" by Bobby Braddock
Figure it out?
The narrator serves as the central character of every personal narrative, whether memoir, autobiography, or simply a tale from the recalled past. Paradoxically, a story from one's life becomes more compelling the less the narrator intrudes.
If you write, or want to write, personal stories, avoid the word "I."
Why? Readers already know the narrator is in the story. Personal pronouns needlessly emphasize the fact.
Good writers try to keep from repeating words. First person stories can trap a storyteller into the overuse of personal references. That's why the work of beginning memoirists often feels flat and listless. Repetitive writing in any genre feels that way.
Suppose a storyteller writes a piece about his love of sports and tells about the first baseball game he attended. He could write:
"I saw Uncle Bob swing the bat, and the ball flew a million miles."
If the writer has already placed himself at the baseball game, the phrase "I saw" is superfluous and reminds the reader of the narrator's presence for no reason.
Here's a better version:
"Uncle Bob swung the bat, and the ball flew a million miles."
Sometimes the action in one's recollection is truly about the writer. If so, the story may require the use of the word "I."
Suppose a writer tells of her quest to discover why her comfortably middle-class mother had always been an enigma. The narrator remembers watching television news programs from the 1960's as a part of a college project. She writes:
"There on the screen, I saw my mother throw a Molotov cocktail at the administration building at Berkeley."
In this example, what the storyteller saw answers the question the narrative poses. The important point is what happened to the narrator, not to what happened to the baseball.
In short, write your personal stories as you would tell them out loud to friends. Set aside the writing for a few days, and then rewrite what you've done to eliminate as many "I's" and "me's" as you can.
Your stories will read much, much better.
I promise.
Best wishes,
Mark Darrah
Author of A Catalogue of Common People
Wanna talk about I
Wanna talk about number one
Oh my me my
What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see
I like talking about you, you, you, but occasionally...
From "I Wanna Talk About Me" by Bobby Braddock
Figure it out?
The narrator serves as the central character of every personal narrative, whether memoir, autobiography, or simply a tale from the recalled past. Paradoxically, a story from one's life becomes more compelling the less the narrator intrudes.
If you write, or want to write, personal stories, avoid the word "I."
Why? Readers already know the narrator is in the story. Personal pronouns needlessly emphasize the fact.
Good writers try to keep from repeating words. First person stories can trap a storyteller into the overuse of personal references. That's why the work of beginning memoirists often feels flat and listless. Repetitive writing in any genre feels that way.
Suppose a storyteller writes a piece about his love of sports and tells about the first baseball game he attended. He could write:
"I saw Uncle Bob swing the bat, and the ball flew a million miles."
If the writer has already placed himself at the baseball game, the phrase "I saw" is superfluous and reminds the reader of the narrator's presence for no reason.
Here's a better version:
"Uncle Bob swung the bat, and the ball flew a million miles."
Sometimes the action in one's recollection is truly about the writer. If so, the story may require the use of the word "I."
Suppose a writer tells of her quest to discover why her comfortably middle-class mother had always been an enigma. The narrator remembers watching television news programs from the 1960's as a part of a college project. She writes:
"There on the screen, I saw my mother throw a Molotov cocktail at the administration building at Berkeley."
In this example, what the storyteller saw answers the question the narrative poses. The important point is what happened to the narrator, not to what happened to the baseball.
In short, write your personal stories as you would tell them out loud to friends. Set aside the writing for a few days, and then rewrite what you've done to eliminate as many "I's" and "me's" as you can.
Your stories will read much, much better.
I promise.
Best wishes,
Mark Darrah
Author of A Catalogue of Common People
