Writing Vivid Vignettes

Everybody has stories to tell about their life, whether it is a memorable episode of growing up, important happenings in their family, or even an unusual episode about people in their neighborhood. Sharing the stories of our life can help us discover who we are and what’s important to us.

We've read three vignettes - or brief, insightful stories - from The House on Mango Street, a short novel which tells the story of a young Latina girl struggling for acceptance and looking for her own identity in the ghettos of Chicago during the 1970s. The narrator of those stories recalled some vivid memories of her own life and used interesting, creative ways to get her story across.

Your task is to write your own personal vivid vignette that illustrates one aspect of your life or that paints a picture of you and what’s important to you. Like Cisneros, you will be required to use strong, vivid writing to convey your ideas.

Requirements: Your vignette must:

• Be between 350 to 450 words (or not much longer...).
• Tell a distinct story with specific details.
• Use at least four (4) grammatically correct present participles phrases as part of your writing.
• Be written with minimal grammatical and mechanical errors.

Due dates:

Rough draft of vignette due ________

Final draft of vignette due ____________