Including the "so what" factor
Don't leave your reader asking "so what?" at the end of your story.
Make sure the events in your story lead to a point, moral, or purpose at the end.
Make sure the events in your story lead to a point, moral, or purpose at the end.
Sample Narrative:
A janitor changed my life. I was at a low point, ready to quit everything – even when I had it all. I didn’t realize how lucky I was. When I looked at myself, all I could see were my limitations. At only five feet tall and 100 and nothing pounds, I was hardly your typical football player.
After two years of trying hard to prove that I was worthy of playing, I found out that I hadn’t made the dress list for our kickoff game. After fighting to be on the team and sweating through every practice, I was going to sit on the bench…again. So, I decided to call it quits. Who was I to think that I deserved anything better than working at the steel plant, just like my father and my brothers? If that life was good enough for them, why wasn’t it good enough for me?
As I stood there in section five, staring out at the empty stadium, I thought of how proud my dad would have been to see me out there on the field playing for the team we both loved so much. I felt so stupid. I wasn’t a football player. I was a bench warmer… nothing more. That’s when the stadium janitor found me standing there.
“Hey,” he said. “Don’t you have to be at practice?”
“Not anymore,” I said, annoyed. “I quit.”
“Why’d you quit? You don’t seem like the quitting type.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I just don’t see the point anymore.”
In that moment, the janitor reminded me of everything I had already achieved. Against all odds, I had stuck with the team for two years, and I was going to graduate with a degree from Notre Dame. What he said next drove his point home. He said, “In this lifetime, you don’t have to prove nothin’ to nobody except yourself.”
He had a point. I had already proven myself to everyone except for me. If I didn’t believe in myself… who would ever believe in me? Thanks to the janitor’s wisdom, I stayed on the team, and later that season I eventually played my first –and only– game. I proved to myself that I can achieve anything I set my mind to, despite my limitations.
After two years of trying hard to prove that I was worthy of playing, I found out that I hadn’t made the dress list for our kickoff game. After fighting to be on the team and sweating through every practice, I was going to sit on the bench…again. So, I decided to call it quits. Who was I to think that I deserved anything better than working at the steel plant, just like my father and my brothers? If that life was good enough for them, why wasn’t it good enough for me?
As I stood there in section five, staring out at the empty stadium, I thought of how proud my dad would have been to see me out there on the field playing for the team we both loved so much. I felt so stupid. I wasn’t a football player. I was a bench warmer… nothing more. That’s when the stadium janitor found me standing there.
“Hey,” he said. “Don’t you have to be at practice?”
“Not anymore,” I said, annoyed. “I quit.”
“Why’d you quit? You don’t seem like the quitting type.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I just don’t see the point anymore.”
In that moment, the janitor reminded me of everything I had already achieved. Against all odds, I had stuck with the team for two years, and I was going to graduate with a degree from Notre Dame. What he said next drove his point home. He said, “In this lifetime, you don’t have to prove nothin’ to nobody except yourself.”
He had a point. I had already proven myself to everyone except for me. If I didn’t believe in myself… who would ever believe in me? Thanks to the janitor’s wisdom, I stayed on the team, and later that season I eventually played my first –and only– game. I proved to myself that I can achieve anything I set my mind to, despite my limitations.
Assignment:
Re-read the writing you have done so far for your Unit 1 Narrative. Check to see if you answer the "so what?" question. Will the reader be able to see a point, moral, or purpose in your story? Do the events lead to something meaningful in the end of your story? Revise your writing to make sure you achieve the "so what" factor.
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