Criteria for Remembered Event Essay
1. Using the criteria we have established in class for this genre, type your 750 word minimum (2-3 page paper), double-spaced, in a 12 point font in MLA format as shown in your textbook in Chapter 15, p. 481. Make sure that your page margins are set at 1 inch all the way around, that you have a running header and an ID block as illustrated. Remember: no extra spaces anywhere! Look at the sample paper.
2. Your story should begin with a creative title and your narration should address each of the 7 points of the plot pyramid: Exposition; Discriminating Incident; Rising Action: Climax; Falling Action; Resolution (where you communicate autobiographical significance); and, Conclusion (where you show life has, or will, move(d) on and craft a provocative parting shot. Here you may try irony, or perhaps humor, if it's appropriate).
3. Be sure to incorporate a broad spectrum of the literary devices we have discussed, e.g. sensory description, allusion, temporal transitions, paradox, similes or metaphors. You should also consider incorporating dialogue, but only if the dialogue is particularly interesting, memorable, or serves to advance the plot. You might also consider whether a framing device would work with your story, or if specific narrative action (strong verbs!) is needed because there is a lot of movement in your story.
I am offering 3 extra credit points for each effective use of allusion --- to a current event, a literary work (from fairy tales and fables to novels), a song, etc. But remember: the allusion has to really connect in an interesting way to that moment in your story.
4. Your papers should be relatively free of grammatical and punctuation errors. Additionally, remember to stay in the past tenses until you are in the Resolution and you are reflecting with some distance on the situation as to what you know now, e.g. "This much I realize now . . ."
Remember, these stories must address an event from your childhood that occurred over a brief span of time, an event that is suspenseful, that relies on temporal transitions and sensory description, and that communicates autobiographical significance (the Resolution). Additionally, don't forget that you must write in the past tense, except when you are stating the autobiographical significance.