Prewrite

I remember--generate as many stories as possible in as much detail as possible

Focused Prewrite

Identify one story that is emerging and generate additional details about that story

What is missing? What will the person seated next to me need to know in order to understand this story?

Why is this important to me?

What changed as a result of this experience?

Creating a first Draft

Generating a thesis

Write a single sentence that explains what has changed as a result of this experience.

Write a single sentence that explains the importance of this story.

Write the whole story in a single sentence.

Using these sentences, write a new sentence where the subject of the sentence is the topic of the paper and the remainder of the sentence explains what has changed as a result of this experience or explains the reason for telling about this experience. Be sure there is only one reason or change. If there is more than one, choose the one which seems most important or significant. This will be the thesis.

Structuring details around a thesis

Prewrite any additional details needed to make the thesis clear.

Eliminate any details that do not develop the reason for telling this story or that are not needed as background for understanding what is going on.

Organize the details in chronological order.

Write out the story in chronological order. Place any background details (setting) before the thesis. Place details which develop the thesis after the thesis.

Ending the draft

End with a brief explanation of what has changed and why that is significant or important.