Narrowing Your Focus

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

There are four components of a compelling personal narrative.

The first is a narrow focus or topic.

Narrowing your focus when writing a personal narrative lets you give your reader super-specific details about your story. The more finely tuned you are to an exact moment, the better you can describe that moment.

Think about it.

• What could you describe with greater detail, an entire zoo or one specific animal that caught your attention?

Selecting one particular moment as your topic allows you to fully develop your story and make your readers feel they are experiencing the event as they read your words.

As you watch the following video, think about how you can narrow your focus when writing a personal narrative.

• Do you understand the difference between a watermelon topic and a seed story?

Complete this quiz to find out!

• How did you do?

Remember, watermelon stories are significant events that may have occurred over a few days. Seed stories are small, focused events focusing on short periods.

In the Got It? section, practice creating seed stories from watermelon topics.