Personal Narrative Checklist

 

SETTING

1. where this is happening (relevant detail)

2. when this is happening  (relevant detail)

3. transitions when time or place change

 

CHARACTER

4. your age at the time it happened

5. relevant detail on self/other characters

6. your feelings about event (before, during, after)

7. what kind of person you were, and how this affected what happened

8. what kinds of people others were, and how they affected events

9. how this event changed you or them

 

PLOT

10. what "the usual" was for that time

11. foreshadowing

12. what started the action

13. what kept it going/made it worse

14. what else could have happened

15. details that help reader "experience" events

16. most detail at most crucial part

17. how it was all resolved

 

THEME

18. meaning/importance of event

19. what you learned, how you/others changed

20. why you remember it