- The document provides guidance on creating an outline for an autobiography, including starting with the earliest life events and organizing them chronologically. - The outline format involves numbering topics with Roman numerals and listing feelings/experiences with lowercase letters. - Some suggested techniques for beginning the autobiographical narrative include using "in media res" to start in the middle of an event or asking a "dramatic question" to hook the reader.

1. Creating your Outline
To write your awesome Autobiography!

2. Getting Started
So, you finished brainstorming your life
events. You listed the events and
completed the organizer with the
appropriate sensory details.
Now what?, you ask.

3. The Next Step
Now is the time to put those ideas into
an outline.
An outline is a road map that you will
follow so you don’t get lost as you write.

4. Begin at the Beginning
When you are writing an
autobiographical narrative, you need to
start with the earliest event and move
chronologically from there.

5. The Outline Format
The outline will be a simple thing to
construct.
First, start with a Roman Numeral to
indicate your topic paragraph:
I. The day I started School

6. Outline basics, con’t:
Next, you use a lower case alphabet
letter to indicate what your
feelings/experiences were during that
event:
I The day I started School
– a things I felt
– b things I did
– c things others did for/with me

7. Organization
The trick is to continue doing this,
chronologically, of course, until all of
your events are listed in the same way.
Now your road map is complete.

8. Where do I go from here?
That is a good question. The best thing
about a narrative is that you are telling
your readers a story, and an
autobiographical story is all about you!

9. Your story
In media res…One way to begin your
story is using what is called in media
res, or begin in the middle of the action.
This requires good writing skills and the
ability to use flashback. For an
example, look at the next slide.

10. In Media Res…Example
The sound of the piano calmed my fears and
made me feel secure. Until that point, I was a
trembling mass of frightened Jello, alone in a
sea of unfamiliar faces and left in the care of
a total stranger. But when that stranger
began to play the piano, those fears flew out
the window and I became a part of the group.

11. Catchy Hooks
A good lead in is called a hook. You
want to “hook” your audience with
something that will hold their interest.
When writing an autobiographical
narrative, the hook is called a
DRAMATIC QUESTION.

12. Dramatic Question
Starting your story with a question that
forces the reader to continue reading to
find the answer is how you use this
technique.
Look at a few samples on the next slide!

13. Dramatic Questions
Why do things like this always
seem to happen to me?
Did you ever fall for a person and later, had
your heart stomped on?
I can’t believe she would betray me like this,
can you?
Did you ever have one of those days when
you wish that there was a rewind and delete
button on your life?

14. The rest is easy!
Now that you have your ideas for a
strong beginning, the rest is a piece of
cake!

15. Remember….
Don’t forget to use figurative language
in your narrative to make your writing
more interesting and colorful!

16. Revise…
No one writes the perfect paper the first
time! Remember to revise it and edit it
so it shines even brighter.
Revise it a day or two after you write the
initial rough draft, then you will be able
to see more clearly.

17. Editing
Make sure your grammar, spelling and
punctuation are correct before turning in
the final paper.
Correct form is very important to any
narrative!

18. Now, you try…
Create your outline
Send it to your teacher
Make any changes that your teacher
recommends
Resubmit the final outline to the drop
box.