A Moment in Time Project
In this project we were to select a moment in our lives that had changed or transformed us into the people that we are today, and then proceed to write a narrative about it. In this narrative we were permitted to bring our moment to life! So in the following weeks we learned many different strategies on how to make your words come alive! Though, the real challenge was that it had to be a page long. No more, no less.
Some of the things that I took away from this project were things like: why we tell stories, what the main “ingredients” are in a strong story, how writing about our experiences can transform them, and how narrative writing can help you grow as a writer. So, the ingredients to a strong story are, according to Aristotle: introducing the hero, when the hero struggles through trials and tributes, and when the character comes out changed. Though in order for all these things to “work” and actually make the story stronger, the writer also has to make you “care” about the characters and what's going on. They need to be able to feel all the emotions that the protagonist is feeling and struggle with them through all the trials and tributes. Furthermore, We tell stories because we want to pass on memories and lessons to the next generation. Just as, Sarah-Jane Murray states in her TED talk, that we're all hardwired for story and that a communities without stories are broken and incomplete. Without stories we wouldn't be as “intelligent” as we are today. We might not have been be able to be as creative and “aware”, as we are today. More along the project, we saw that when you write about your own experiences it really transforms them to become deeper and more meaningful. You really have to think about that certain moment in order to write it down, so you see things in a different way and really get to understand the situation and reflect on it. It almost makes it more real and memorable. Also, how I think narrative writing can help me grow as a writer in general is by increasing the use of better language and details. We learned a lot about “thought verbs” and how to imply things without using the actual word, I thought that was really beneficial to learn. Likewise, Practice makes perfect, so if you just keep on writing and “practicing” your gonna get good, and become more specific in your writing as well as good at getting the readers to think a certain way.
One of the things that really stood out to me was the concept of “thought verbs”. I really liked how we learned to let the reader do the work, letting their imagination run wild and not just the writer telling them things, the writer got to show them things. It really transformed my writing, making it more intriguing and detailed. So that was one thing that I will definitely take away from this project and try to strengthen. That might have been one of the funnest parts of this project, yet the most difficult part of this project was definitely the page limit. Without the page limit we could have been more specific and precise, as well as have more room to go in deeper into your moment. Though with it we had to take out so many things and make our moment shorter. Which also goes along with something I would like to change about the way I wrote my story. I should have changed where I started my story. The entire point of my story, as well as my favorite part of my story, was at the end. With the page limit I didn't get to put that part in. So, I should have probably started somewhere else, later into the story. So that I could get that part in.
The most important personal or social lesson that I learned in my moment was to never give up and that in the end everything will be okay, your family and friends will always be support you. At the end of the race, my team and I did land 1st place. Though, even if we didn't win I feel confident that we would have supported each other, and be supported by our family and friends, none the less.