Autobiographical Incident

1
Autobiographical Incident

• An autobiographical Incident tells the story of
  one incident in your life.
• It has descriptive paragraphs using all 5
  elements of creative writing as well as
  dialogue.Be sure to have a balance between these
  two elements
• It has a plot as well as a point of view.

2
Autobiographical Incident

• Point of view will be first person
• Elements of plot
• Lead-up
• Cause
• Complicate
• Solve
• End with what you
• learned

Basic Situation Characters and conflict
Series of Events including complications
Climax
Resolution
3
Lighting the candles, I stand back to sense the
bug repelling aroma of citronella. I stare at the
shrinking flames flickering in the wind. Not
wanting them to blow out, I throw some dry leaves
in the flames and they revive with burning life.
Quickly throwing in more leaves my heart beats
like piston in a car for fear of getting in
trouble. Innocently walking over to me, my sister
throws some leaves in and the fear diminishes.
The towering one foot flames cover two barrels of
sixteen and a half square inches of melted
wax. Those are hot fires! my dad exclaimed
with his drink in his hand. Out of leaves the two
candles burn stronger than ever. Wondering with
my head scrunched I question, How are they
burning without leaves or wicks? Taking a sip
of his beverage my dad answered, The wax in the
candles are on fire. The heat separated the wax
from the liquid in it. Incredibly hot, the
boiling water does not evaporate in the
flames. Boiling hotter and hotter the liquid wax
tries to reach the top of the candle.The flames
appear to grow being lifted by the matter beneath
them. Viciously shooting for the volcanos
crater, the raging lava prepares to erupt from
the candle. It tries to reach its climax and
fails. The wax sluggishly alights from its failed
mission.
4
Wow! How did it do that?! I exclaimed with
wide eyes. Still amazed at the event I just
witnessed, I notice the other candle doing it
also. Slowly ascending up the barrel the
seething wax climbs to its destination. The
candles raging flames reach for the sky pulling
and pulling up their bubbling fuel. The
percolating, churning wax reaches the goal of its
treacherous journey. Quickly rolling down the
sides of the candle pot, the burning wax falls to
the wooden deck. On impact a fiery rocket of
flames shoots to the sky. The singed leaves turn
away from the six foot tall flame tower. The
moment froze in my mind. For at that time, I
thought I had just started the next San
Bernardino Mountain forest fire. Everyone jumped
out of their seats and my dad yelled, Oh
crap! Turning away from the phenomenal sight I
bolted inside the cabin. I reach my destination
after tripping and falling over things, and I try
to rip it of the wall. It grasps the refrigerator
with all its might. In all of the pandemonium I
forgot to unbuckle it. Grabbing the extinguisher
and running outside, I get ready to douse the
flames. With wax all over the floor I realize
that it had already been put out. Sitting down
we all examine the battle scene and the remaining
candle. With my forehead scrunch I question, How
did you put it out? That cup had water in it,
answered my mom pointing at the
cup. Disappointed that I didnt get to see the
fire go out, I sit down and get back up
suggesting, We better put that other candle
out.
5
On TV and in school I always see something about
fire safety. I learned from this experience why
people shouldnt play with fire.
6
Lighting the candles, I stand back to sense the
bug repelling aroma of citronella. I stare at the
shrinking flames flickering in the wind. Not
wanting them to blow out, I throw some dry leaves
in the flames and they revive with burning life.
Quickly throwing in more leaves my heart beats
like piston in a car for fear of getting in
trouble. Innocently walking over to me, my sister
throws some leaves in and the fear diminishes.
The towering one foot flames cover two barrels of
sixteen and a half square inches of melted
wax. Those are hot fires! my dad exclaimed
with his drink in his hand. Out of leaves the two
candles burn stronger than ever. Wondering with
my head scrunched I question, How are they
burning without leaves or wicks? Taking a sip
of his beverage my dad answered, The wax in the
candles are on fire. The heat separated the wax
from the liquid in it. Incredibly hot, the
boiling water does not evaporate in the
flames. Boiling hotter and hotter the liquid wax
tries to reach the top of the candle.The flames
appear to grow being lifted by the matter beneath
them. Viciously shooting for the volcanos
crater, the raging lava prepares to erupt from
the candle. It tries to reach its climax and
fails. The wax sluggishly alights from its failed
mission.
Lead up and cause
7
Lighting the candles, I stand back to sense the
bug repelling aroma of citronella. I stare at the
shrinking flames flickering in the wind. Not
wanting them to blow out, I throw some dry leaves
in the flames and they revive with burning life.
Quickly throwing in more leaves my heart beats
like piston in a car for fear of getting in
trouble. Innocently walking over to me, my sister
throws some leaves in and the fear diminishes.
The towering one foot flames cover two barrels of
sixteen and a half square inches of melted
wax. Those are hot fires! my dad exclaimed
with his drink in his hand. Out of leaves the two
candles burn stronger than ever. Wondering with
my head scrunched I question, How are they
burning without leaves or wicks? Taking a sip
of his beverage my dad answered, The wax in the
candles are on fire. The heat separated the wax
from the liquid in it. Incredibly hot, the
boiling water does not evaporate in the
flames. Boiling hotter and hotter the liquid wax
tries to reach the top of the candle.The flames
appear to grow being lifted by the matter beneath
them. Viciously shooting for the volcanos
crater, the raging lava prepares to erupt from
the candle. It tries to reach its climax and
fails. The wax sluggishly alights from its failed
mission.
Complicate
8
Wow! How did it do that?! I exclaimed with
wide eyes. Still amazed at the event I just
witnessed, I notice the other candle doing it
also. Slowly ascending up the barrel the
seething wax climbs to its destination. The
candles raging flames reach for the sky pulling
and pulling up their bubbling fuel. The
percolating, churning wax reaches the goal of its
treacherous journey. Quickly rolling down the
sides of the candle pot, the burning wax falls to
the wooden deck. On impact a fiery rocket of
flames shoots to the sky. The singed leaves turn
away from the six foot tall flame tower. The
moment froze in my mind. For at that time, I
thought I had just started the next San
Bernardino Mountain forest fire. Everyone jumped
out of their seats and my dad yelled, Oh
crap! Turning away from the phenomenal sight I
bolted inside the cabin. I reach my destination
after tripping and falling over things, and I try
to rip it of the wall. It grasps the refrigerator
with all its might. In all of the pandemonium I
forgot to unbuckle it. Grabbing the extinguisher
and running outside, I get ready to douse the
flames. With wax all over the floor I realize
that it had already been put out. Sitting down
we all examine the battle scene and the remaining
candle. With my forehead scrunch I question, How
did you put it out? That cup had water in it,
answered my mom pointing at the
cup. Disappointed that I didnt get to see the
fire go out, I sit down and get back up
suggesting, We better put that other candle
out.
Complicate
9
Wow! How did it do that?! I exclaimed with
wide eyes. Still amazed at the event I just
witnessed, I notice the other candle doing it
also. Slowly ascending up the barrel the
seething wax climbs to its destination. The
candles raging flames reach for the sky pulling
and pulling up their bubbling fuel. The
percolating, churning wax reaches the goal of its
treacherous journey. Quickly rolling down the
sides of the candle pot, the burning wax falls to
the wooden deck. On impact a fiery rocket of
flames shoots to the sky. The singed leaves turn
away from the six foot tall flame tower. The
moment froze in my mind. For at that time, I
thought I had just started the next San
Bernardino Mountain forest fire. Everyone jumped
out of their seats and my dad yelled, Oh
crap! Turning away from the phenomenal sight I
bolted inside the cabin. I reach my destination
after tripping and falling over things, and I try
to rip it of the wall. It grasps the refrigerator
with all its might. In all of the pandemonium I
forgot to unbuckle it. Grabbing the extinguisher
and running outside, I get ready to douse the
flames. With wax all over the floor I realize
that it had already been put out. Sitting down
we all examine the battle scene and the remaining
candle. With my forehead scrunch I question, How
did you put it out? That cup had water in it,
answered my mom pointing at the
cup. Disappointed that I didnt get to see the
fire go out, I sit down and get back up
suggesting, We better put that other candle
out.
Solve
10
On TV and in school I always see something about
fire safety. I learned from this experience why
people shouldnt play with fire.
End with what you learned
11
Assignment

• Write an autobiographical incident that tells the
  story of one incident in your life. It should be
  an est moment. For example, scariest, most
  embarrassing, funniest, etc.
• Be sure to have all the parts and use the 5
  elements of creative writing and dialogue rules.
• Your finished final draft will be approximately 2
  pages typed.

12
Find and label the lead-up, cause, complicate
(this should be the longest), and solve,
Highlight the end with what you learned. In
descriptive paragraphs cross out any passive
verbs and sense words, underline variety of
sentence structure, box any boundary breakers. In
dialogue underline variety of tag order, circle
motion in tag. Check that each speaking person
gets their own line. Check punctuation. Check
point of view is it in first person? Check
balance between description and dialogue.
13
Prompt
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, You must do the
thing you think you cannot do. Write an
autobiographical incident about a time when you
did something you thought you could not do. Be
sure to include specific details so that a reader
can follow your story.