“Write. Rewrite. When not writing or rewriting, read. I know of no shortcuts.”
—Larry L. King
—Larry L. King
Kernel Essay Structures
Kernel essays are a simple, fast, and fun way of seeing if we have a story worth telling. If our kernel essay gets readers hungry for more, you know you have a story that you should tell.
Here's a list of the kernel essay structures that we've learned so far:
. . .
Here's a list of the kernel essay structures that we've learned so far:
. . .
A Memory:
1. Where were you? 2. What happened first? 3. What happened next? 4. What happened last? 5. What did you learn/realize? (Truism) |
Story of My Thinking:
1. What I used to think... 2. Why I thought this... 3. Then this happened... 4. Because this happened, I thought... 5. So now I know...(Truism) |
Discovering a Lie:
1. Someone told me (the lie) 2. So I believed/thought 3. Then I found out... 4. So now I think... (truism) |
Life Lesson: Past and Future
1. What the life lesson is (Truism) 2. What it means to you 3. How it affected your life in the past 4. How it will affect your life in the future |
A Box of Chocolates
1. What happened... 2. What I expected to happen... 3. What I really got... 4. How I reacted... 5. What I learned...(Truism) |
Truisms--a simple way to make your writing even more awesome!
Have you ever read something, or heard a character in a movie or TV show say something, and thought, "Wow, that's so true."
That's called a TRUISM--a statement about life that's true for just about everyone. It shows us something about life and how the world works.
Like these:
Hope can make people go forward. –Linda L.
Failure is a lesson of success. –Benson L.
Sometimes you do something not because you want to do it, but to challenge yourself. –Steven C.
If you want to do something, you shouldn’t care about what other people say. –Andre
That's called a TRUISM--a statement about life that's true for just about everyone. It shows us something about life and how the world works.
Like these:
Hope can make people go forward. –Linda L.
Failure is a lesson of success. –Benson L.
Sometimes you do something not because you want to do it, but to challenge yourself. –Steven C.
If you want to do something, you shouldn’t care about what other people say. –Andre