Instructions
This exercise will help you develop a variety of options for your story, considered especially in the context of your entire life trajectory.
First, brainstorm at least ten moments or experiences that you consider influential—moments that in some way impacted your identity, your friendships, your worldview—for the better or for the worse. Then, rate those experiences on a degree of “awesomeness,” “pleasurability,” or something else along those lines, on a scale of 0 – 10, with 10 being the hands down best moment of your life and 0 being the worst. Record them in a table below like the one below. If you cannot make a table in your document, then just write each of the ten experiences like these two examples below:
8 years old / My brother being born / Awesomeness factor: 10
24 years old / Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in debt / Awesomeness factor:
Your Age
Event, Moment, or Experience
Awesomeness Factor (0-10)
Next, take a moment to look at what you have written for your experiences and their awesome factor. Choose three experiences from your list of ten experiences. Choose whichever three you would like. They do not have to have similar awesomeness factors. For instance, someone might choose three experiences with the highest awesomeness factors while someone else might choose three experiences with the lowest awesomeness factors. Yet, someone else might choose three experiences that are across the spectrum: one experience with a high awesomeness factor, one with a low awesomeness factor, and one with an awesomeness factor in the middle. It is truly up to you to determine which three experiences.
Skip a line below your ten experiences, and then write the three experiences you chose beneath the list of ten experiences. After that, skip another line and free-write about each of the three experiences you chose for at least five minutes each (which would be at least fifteen minutes altogether).
Submission Guidelines: Submit a .docx or .pdf file in MLA format that lists your ten age, experiences, and awesomeness factor chart or list as well as identifies the three experiences you want to free-write about. The document should also include those three free-writes. This assignment will likely be approximately one to two pages long when double-spaced. You may write more than one to two pages if you need to.
