The Iditarod Project 
Writing a Personal Response
Writing a Personal Response
A response is a reaction to something that has been experienced - something that has happened, something that was heard, seen, or done. In the same way, a Personal Response is a piece of writing that responds to something you have read, heard, seen, or done. The response is a discussion of whether or not you enjoyed it, what you enjoyed or disliked about it, and the reasons for your position.
There is no one "right" way to write a Personal Response, and as you write more of them, you will find that you write different kinds of things, depending on what you are responding to. What is important is that you respond as fully as possible, and that you back up what you are saying with examples. It is also important that you, in some way, connect the story to your life. In general, a Personal Response should be at least 300-400 words.
Personal Responses are full of “I” statements, such as: It made me angry when the writer said that … I think … It seems to me that … I can’t stand it when … I felt … If I was the (character) I would have … I experienced similar feelings when … The more you can connect with the ideas in the story, the more successful your Personal Response will be.
Before you start writing, create an outline. By making an outline you can plan what you want to write about in each section, and that will help the flow of the writing.
The response is divided into four parts: a summary, your reactions, how the story (play, music, movie…) connects to your life, and the message or moral of the story.
The Summary
The summary is a brief description of what the book (story, play, movie…) is about. The purpose of the summary is to inform the reader what he or she will be reading about. It focuses only on the plot, and should be no more than two paragraphs in length.
Personal Reactions
These are your reactions to the piece. A good way to start is by saying generally whether or not you enjoyed the piece or activity, and why or why not. For instance:
I enjoyed the story (book, play, show, concert) because it was… funny, exciting, full of action, suspenseful, made me feel good, challenged my thinking, was about something I could relate to …
or
I didn't enjoy the story because it was … dull, didn’t have enough action, I didn't understand what the author was saying, I don't care for that kind of story, found the writing uninteresting, the subject didn't interest me ...
It is not enough to simply say that you liked or disliked the story. You must expand your writing to say why you felt as you did and give examples from the story.
Expanding on your Reactions
Once you have a general start, you need to expand the response, add explanations and details about why you feel the way you do. Use examples from the story (book, play, concert, show…) that support your statement. For example:
One of the things I liked was the way the author used suspense in the story. She ended each chapter with a cliff-hanger that made me want to keep reading. I ended up reading all night so I could see how it ended! One of the best parts was when the hero had to make a terrible choice, and no matter what he did, it looked as though he would have to betray his best friend to the bad guys. The author kept putting off a conclusion, though, and so I found I had to keep right to the end to find out what happened.
There may be things that you enjoyed, and things that you didn’t enjoy. What were they? You must give the reasons for feeling the way you do – and that means using examples! This section should be at least two paragraphs long – and could be many more, depending on what you are responding to.
Life Connections
The next part of the response is about how the story (play, movie, novel…) connects to your life. Have you ever experienced anything similar to what the protagonist is facing? Sometimes you can't relate to the protagonist's actual experience, but you can relate to the kind of situation the protagonist is in, or to the ideas behind the protagonist's actions. For example, is the protagonist in this situation because he or she didn't listen to advice? Have you ever ignored advice and because of that gotten yourself into difficulties? Once you find a connection, write about it. Here are a couple of examples.
I was once in a similar position when a friend asked me to keep a secret – a secret that I knew I shouldn’t keep - and it looked like I was going to have to tell the secret to keep her safe. I know exactly how the hero felt because I had to make the same decision, and I didn’t know what to do, either. For me, it was like having to choose between cutting off your right hand or a leg… Whatever I did, I knew there were going to be bad consequences.
or
I've never had a car accident, so I don't really know what that's like, but I once nearly started a fire because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, and that's what caused the character in the story to have the car accident. Sometimes you don't think about what can happen if your concentration slips and as a result, disaster strikes! It sure taught me a lesson about thought before action.
Moral or Lesson
This part has to do with the message that the author has for the reader. Is there a lesson? Could the story teach you something about real life, or does it have some advice for the reader?
Other Ideas to Write About
Here are some other ideas you could use as springboards for your response:
- The genre (kind of writing) - article, fiction, non-fiction, mystery, romance, historical, biography (about a person's life, written by someone else), autobiography (a person's life, written by that person), fantasy, science fiction
The style of writing - casual, formal, descriptive, light, serious, ponderous ...
The structure - too long or too short, clear or unclear plot (story-line), good or poor climax (the peak of the story), how the climax resolves itself (was it a good ending?)...
Characterisation - the characters were believable or not, realistic or not (you feel that this character does or doesn't act or react like real people do), well developed (you really know what the character is thinking and feeling) ...
The setting or atmosphere - is authentic (real, well-developed, with lots of details), does or doesn't make you feel a certain way or feel like you're in a certain place ...
Relevance - you can or can't relate to the story or a character, you've had a similar experience, or you know someone who has had a similar experience ...