ANECDOTAL WRITING How To Craft an Anecdote If

ANECDOTAL WRITING How To Craft an Anecdote If you are going to try an anecdote in your essay, here are some of the common elements that my student used in hers–and you can use them in yours, too. My student: told about one experience, which only lasted over the course of several minutes. Most anecdotes only capture a little moment in time. chose a moment that was an example of the larger point of her essay. In this case, this moment showed us the type of silly interactions that seal their friendship. set the scene using descriptive language and details (blueberry pancakes, IHOP, crayon); and told us the 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, and why). included a little snippet of dialogue to give it a fiction-like style. described a moment that had some action, and involved a problem (the crayon hit a stranger) to create drama. wrote in the first-person (I, we, us). These are not easy to write. They take practice. The best way is to write out an account of the moment, and then go back and try to trim it down to a paragraph or two, leaving only the details that you need to recreate the moment. One of the best ways to learn how to write anecdotes is to read them. A great source are newspaper and magazine articles, especially feature stories, and other sample college essays.

AN EXAMPLE: On the flight to Raleigh, I sneezed, and the cough drop I’d been sucking on shot from my mouth, ricocheted off my folded tray table, and landed, as I remember it, in the lap of the woman beside me, who was asleep and had her arms folded across her chest. I’m surprised that the force didn’t wake her—that’s how hard it hit—but all she did was flutter her eyelids and let out a tiny sigh, the kind you might hear from a baby. See how his anecdote uses all the same elements that my student’s did? Starts in the middle of the scene, lets us know the 5 Ws, includes a little action, is an example of the larger point (if you read the entire piece you will see this), and describes a moment that only lasts a minute or so. And that they both were funny sure never hurts when you are trying to “grab” your reader!