Snapshots in Personal Writing

English III

What is a Snapshot?

• Writers are like photographers with giant zoom lenses, observing life in incredibly fine detail, pulling back to make sweeping generalizations, then zooming in again to make those generalizations come alive with detail.

• A Snapshot is when an author creates such a vivid, rich, and detailed image that it feels like the reader is looking at a picture.

Example• Maniac had seen some amazing things in his

lifetime, but nothing as amazing as that house. From the smell of it, he knew this wasn’t the first time an animal had relieved itself on the rugless floor. In fact, in another corner he spotted a form of relief that could not be soaked up by newspapers.

• Cans and bottles lay all over, along with crusts, peelings, cores, scraps, rind, wrappers—everything you would normally find in a garbage can. And everywhere there were raisins.

Equiano and Snapshots

• Go back to The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Look for snapshots in the text, and record them on your reading guide.

Snapshots in Personal Writing

• Using your personal piece brainstorm, create three snapshots to use in your personal piece. Also, be sure to name the emotion you want to leave the reader with when they read the image.