—–From owlcation.com:——
1. Expository
Expository writing’s main purpose is to explain. It is a subject-oriented writing style, in which authors focus on telling you about a given topic or subject without voicing their personal opinions. These types of essays or articles furnish you with relevant facts and figures but do not include their opinions. This is one of the most common types of writing. You always see it in textbooks and how-to articles. The author just tells you about a given subject, such as how to do something.
Key Points:
- Usually explains something in a process.
- Is often equipped with facts and figures.
- Is usually in a logical order and sequence.
When You Would Use Expository Writing:
- Textbook writing.
- How-to articles.
- Recipes.
- News stories (not including opinion or editorial pieces).
- Business, technical, or scientific writing.
Example:
Many people associate the taste of pumpkins with fall. In October, companies from Starbucks to McDonalds roll out their pumpkin-flavored lattes and desserts. Here is how to make an easy pumpkin pie using only five ingredients. First, make sure you have all of the ingredients.
This writing is expository because it is explaining. In this case, you can already tell that the piece will be about how to make a pumpkin pie.
Non-example:
Everyone knows that the best part about fall is all of the pumpkin-flavored desserts. Pumpkin pie is the best fall treat because it is not only delicious but also nutritious. Pumpkin is filled with vitamin A, which is essential for a healthy immune system and good vision.
This is not expository because several opinions are stated, such as “Pumpkin pie is the best fall treat…” Although this excerpt contains a fact about pumpkin containing vitamin A, that fact is used as evidence to support the opinion. These opinions make this an example of persuasive writing.
2. Descriptive
Descriptive writing’s main purpose is to describe. It is a style of writing that focuses on describing a character, an event, or a place in great detail. It can be poetic when the author takes the time to be very specific in his or her descriptions.
Example:
In good descriptive writing, the author will not just say: “The vampire killed his lover.”
He or she will change the sentence, focusing on more details and descriptions, like: “The bloody, red-eyed vampire, sunk his rust-colored teeth into the soft skin of his lover and ended her life.”
Key Points:
- It is often poetic in nature
- It describes places, people, events, situations, or locations in a highly-detailed manner.
- The author visualizes what he or she sees, hears, tastes, smells, and feels.
When You Would Use Descriptive Writing:
- Poetry
- Journal or diary writing
- Nature writing
- Descriptive passages in fiction
Example:
The iPhone 6 is unexpectedly light. While size of its screen is bigger than those of the iPhones that came before, it is thinner, and its smooth, rounded body is made of aluminum, stainless steel, and glass. The casing comes in a whitish silver, gold, or a color the company calls “space gray,” the color of the lead of a pencil, with darker gray accents.
This is an example because it describes aspects of the phone. It includes details such as the size, weight, and material.
Non-example:
So you just brought home a shiny new smartphone with a smooth glass screen the size of your palm. The first thing you will want to do when purchasing a new cell is buy a case. Cracking your screen is an awful feeling, and protection is inexpensive when you compare it to the costs of a new phone.
Even though this example uses adjectives, you can tell that this is not an example of descriptive writing because the purpose is not to describe the phone—it’s to persuade you to buy a case.
3. Persuasive
Persuasive writing’s main purpose is to convince. Unlike expository writing, persuasive writing contains the opinions and biases of the author. To convince others to agree with the author’s point of view, persuasive writing contains justifications and reasons. It is often used in letters of complaint, advertisements or commercials, affiliate marketing pitches, cover letters, and newspaper opinion and editorial pieces.
Key Points:
- Persuasive writing is equipped with reasons, arguments, and justifications.
- In persuasive writing, the author takes a stand and asks you to agree with his or her point of view.
- It often asks for readers to do something about the situation (this is called a call-to-action).
When You Would Use Persuasive Writing:
- Opinion and editorial newspaper pieces.
- Advertisements.
- Reviews (of books, music, movie, restaurants, etc.).
- Letter of recommendation.
- Letter of complaint.
- Cover letters
Example:
Following the 2012 Olympic Games hosted in London, the UK Trade and Investment department reported a £9.9 billion boost to the economy. Although it is expensive to host the Olympics, if done right, they can provide real jobs and economic growth. This city should consider placing a bid to host the Olympics.
This is persuasive writing because the author has a belief—that “this city should consider placing a bid to host the Olympics”—and is trying to convince others to agree.
Non-example:
According to legend, the Olympics were founded by Hercules. Now almost 100 countries participate in the Games, with over two million people attending. So cities from Boston to Hamburg begin considering their bid to be a host city more than 10 years in advance.
All of these statements are facts. Therefore it’s expository. To be persuasive writing, you must have an opinion that you’re trying to persuade people of—then, of course, you will support that opinion with evidence.
4. Narrative
Narrative writing’s main purpose is to tell a story. The author will create different characters and tell you what happens to them (sometimes the author writes from the point of view of one of the characters—this is known as first person narration). Novels, short stories, novellas, poetry, and biographies can all fall in the narrative writing style. Simply, narrative writing answers the question: “What happened then?”
Key Points:
- A person tells a story or event.
- Has characters and dialogue.
- Has definite and logical beginnings, intervals, and endings.
- Often has situations like actions, motivational events, and disputes or conflicts with their eventual solutions.
Examples of When You Would Use Persuasive Writing:
- Novels
- Short stories
- Novellas
- Poetry
- Autobiographies or biographies
- Anecdotes
- Oral histories
Example:
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Jaelyn.
“You never used to be such a girl!” retorted Orin, pushing open the door.
Reluctantly, Jaelyn followed.
This is a narrative because it’s telling a story. There are different characters conversing, and a plot is unravelling.
Non-example:
Cutting Edge Haunted House holds the Guinness World Record for the largest haunted house on earth. It’s located in a district in Fort Worth, Texas known as “Hell’s Half Acre” in a century-old abandoned meat-packing plant. The haunted house takes an hour to complete, winding through horrific scenes incorporating the factory’s original meat-packing equipment.
While this would serve as a worthy setting for a story, it would need a plot before it could be called a narrative.
——-From marketing91.com——-
5) Objective writing :
This type of writing includes writing something which you can support with facts and shreds of evidence. The information provided should be well research and correct statistically and scientifically. An author should remain neutral and unbiased and let the readers make their own opinion. Objective writing is a formal way of writing. Therefore, rather than writing “men and girls” write ‘men and women”.
This type of writing is “to the point of writing”, therefore, a writer should not intensify anything by using words like always, very, never etc. It is right to say that objective writing is fact driven.
6) Subjective writing :
This type of writing is opinion driven writing. An author writes his own feelings, opinions, beliefs, and perspectives. The author does not bother about the correctness of the material. Subjective writing is originated from authors own experiences and observations. Subjective approach is important because it gives the reader an insight into the author’s thinking process. This type of writing gives freedom to the reader to imagine things from their own unique perspective.
7) Creative writing :
Creative writing is an art of making things up. This type of writing is far different from professional writing. Writing fiction, non-fiction, horror, crime, biographies, screenwriting, scriptwriting, short stories, and playwriting all fall under this category. Basically, any writing which origin from the imagination of one person is called creative writing.
There are plenty of jobs available in the market which requires creative writing. Other than that, many people are running successful websites, blogs, YouTube channel because of their creative writing. Creative writing has become the need of the hour these days. Many people are taking classes to improve their creative writing skills.
8) Review writing :
Reviewing things has become a trend these days. People review everything like restaurants, food, cosmetic products, books, movies, and even mobile phones and laptops. Tech savvy people read the review of things online before making any purchase. Therefore, it has become so important that many companies pay people to review their products. Review writing is art.
It requires both persuasive writing skills as well as descriptive writing skills.
https://www.marketing91.com/8-different-types-of-writing/
——From self-publishingschool.com:—–
What is narrative writing?
Narrative writing is writing that has a story, characters, conflict, and other essential parts of a story. Narrative writing is often synonymous with a story.
And this differs greatly compared to other forms of writing, like in textbooks and certain nonfiction books.
However, if you’re writing a story of some kind, that is narrative writing, where a narrator is telling the story.
Parts of Narrative Writing
Narrative writing is made of specific parts. These parts of a book end up completing the whole, and are necessary for writing a good novel.
Character – The characters are essential. It’s extremely difficult to tell a story without them, as character development is one of the best parts in narrative writing. Think of your characters as the driving force of the narrative.
Conflict – This part of narrative writing is where the tension comes from. Conflict of any form, whether it’s between characters, between elements in your setting, or even in your plot, is essential for not only a good book, but for narrative writing.
Plot – This is the main point of your story. Where is it all going and what’s happening while we get there? This can often include any conflict, but is usually a bigger “main” portion of your story, and therefore the narrative.
Setting – The setting of a story is really what determines its genre as well as its learning curve. The learning curve refers to how much readers need to learn about the world, aka, how different it is from our own. The setting adds to this extensively because if your book is in a new world, more worldbuilding is necessary, which means it will bleed heavily into your narrative.
Theme – These are embedded into your story even if you’re not trying to. Narrative writing tells a story and with any stories, lessons are learned and these become the themes of your story. Whether you mean to or not, your own thoughts about the world and important values bleed into your work within the narrative writing.
Narrative Writing Arc – This is the story structure the narrative takes. This includes things like the inciting incident, key milestones like the first slap and second slap, the climax, the resolution, and even nuances like the character arc.
https://self-publishingschool.com/narrative-writing/#what
—–From self-publishingshool.com:—–
Story Structure #1 – The 3 Act Play
The most basic of story structures, very popular in Hollywood style films, is the 3 Act Play.
Many world-famous novels use this structure, including:
- Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
This structure relies on a total of five elements which includes the acts themselves, composed of various scenes, and two key transitions, referred to as “pinches” here.
Here is the three-act structure broken down:
- Act 1: Setup – We’re introduced to the main players as well as the main conflict. We understand the voice, tone, and direction of the story.
- Pinch 1 – This is when the initial conflict arises (sometimes known as the inciting incident).
- Act 2: Confrontation – We’re in the thick of the main conflict here, along with some secondary conflicts. We’re faced with difficult (seemingly impossible) odds to overcome.
- Pinch 2 – The conflicts addressed in Act 2 come to a head, and decisions need to be made. This is often the moment where all hope is lost for your protagonist.
- Act 3: Resolution – Everything boils down to this act. All of the conflict, subplots, and challenges arise and the climax kicks off, shortly followed by the resolution of the story.
In the past, plays were structured with five acts, with two of the acts serving as long-form versions of the modern transitional elements of Pinch 1 and 2.
These have faded, partially because audiences have adapted to storytelling tropes and don’t need them spelled out. Also, stage tech, at least in plays, has advanced, requiring less busy work on the fringes to enact scenery changes for the more crucial acts.
Act 1 – The Setup
The first act introduces the characters with some mild character development and sets up the conflict. Take Romeo and Juliet (a fine example because we can discuss both the play’s 5 act structure and the films 3 act version).
The major players are all introduced in the first act and then attend a party. This gives us further information about each character in how they rep and participate in the party. We also see their conflicting social dynamics.
We set up an additional set of character dynamics between Romeo vs Paris as parties interested in Juliet and Mercutio and Tybalt as loyal but antagonistic figures.
Pinch 1 occurs at the end of the first act, introducing the conflict of the young couples’ love for each other.
Act 2 – The Confrontation
In the play this is developed through the second act as the stakes for the lovers is spelled out. They marry in secret and that forms the end of the major plot point, the star-crossed lovers are not just passingly at odds with their society.
Within the 3 act structure, this is a single plot point. We get that they love each other, and that love means marriage.
Then, the middle act is the apprehension of their actions bringing about unintended, but not unforeseeable consequences.
The second act is often the longest as it is the place where elements move and forces muster. Everyone has to get into further trouble, further develop their roles, and gain power toward a resolution.
Act 2 ends shortly after a complication that brings the elements to a head. No longer able to maintain the secret, Romeo is confronted with a duel and his actions result in the death of his friend which then results in his banishment once he kills Tybalt.
Act 3 – The Resolution
Act 3 then begins with the fallout of these actions.
With Romeo headed to banishment, Juliet seeks a drastic plan to keep him around. She fakes her death to bring out the true feelings of the interested parties.
Since it is a tragedy, Romeo to get the clever reveal of the ruse and kills himself rather than being alone, though your story structure doesn’t have to follow this specific tragic ending.
Juliet then has to kill herself in turn and we end up with a high body count to bring the story to a close.
Story Structure #2 – Hero’s Journey
While the 3 Act structure works well for simple, straightforward stories, it doesn’t have the necessary oomph to underpin more nuanced tales.
When the good guys and bad guys are less black and white, you need to reach for the ancient wheel that is the Hero’s Journey.
The journey typically consists of 12 steps. It is the backbone of traditional storytelling, except it works and is a joy to take part in.
Older versions of the structure had more steps, the Tarot stemmed from an early understanding of this story structure starting with the fool (our hero) and ending with the world (resolution or complete understanding).
Here are the 12 steps of the hero’s journey:
- The Ordinary World
- Call to Adventure
- Refusing the Call
- Meeting a Mentor
- Crossing the Threshold
- Tests, Allies, and Enemies
- Approach the Innermost Circle
- The Ordeal
- Seizing the Talisman
- The Road Ahead
- Resurrection
- Return with the Elixir
These steps explain, in detail, the trajectory of the story while leaving room to put in differing characters and pursuits of different ideals. While many contemporary stories still follow this structure, it is easiest to see it in the light of an epic.
We’ll use Lord of the Rings as an example of this story structure. While the entire story follows the structure multiple times, we’ll stick to Frodo’s arc.
Step 1 – The Ordinary World
The Lord of the Rings story begins, rather appropriately, in the most banal land in Middle Earth. The Shire is a pure ordinary world where nothing too much happens, and everyone lives without any idea that better or worse things exist outside its borders. (Well, they have some idea, but go the cognitive dissonance route to ignore it.)
Step 2 – The Call to Adventure
The Call to Adventure comes when Gandalf shows up in search of the One Ring.
He tells Frodo a quest needs to be taken up but doesn’t give the full details. This bleeds into Refusing the Call as Frodo accepts part of the responsibility, without understanding the rest.
Step 3 – Refusing the Call
Refusing the Call is about seeing what has to be done and deciding there has to be someone else.
A good hero, like a proper Platonic philosopher-king, needs to reject the call first to be more worthy of it. Frodo will finish Refusing the Call later in Rivendell as he tries to bargain that others are more capable.
Step 4 – Meeting a Mentor
Though Gandalf served as a Mentor in The Hobbit, Aragorn (as Strider) is the Mentor here.
Meeting him gets the four hobbits along the correct path and out of the shying away into the real journey. The Mentor often brings insight, training, or purpose to a hero.
Step 5 – Crossing the Threshold
Crossing the Threshold reflects the hero facing a challenge and realizing they can make a difference.
For Frodo, this occurs twice, the first time as he faces the barrow wraiths and rescues his friends, the second is surviving the orc attack in Moria. Both thresholds show the power of gifts he received from Biblo but also hint at how friendship will play a role in his other tests.
Step 6 – Tests, Allies, and Enemies
Tests, Allies, and Enemies is a larger middle section of the Hero’s Journey which winds through other elements.
The gathering of the fellowship is a gaining of allies, their journey is a test, the fellowship mirrors the numbers of the enemy Ring Wraiths.
This step might not necessarily be a solid, definable moment, but rather something that has been happening throughout the story until this point.
Step 7 – Approach the Innermost Circle
Approach the Innermost Circle is a great danger, if not the greatest danger, a hero faces.
Within Frodo’s journey, this is when he attempts to leave the rest of the group behind, going alone on the river because he fears what will happen if he keeps with the group.
This moment in your story should be high tension, with consequences that impact the overall plot.
Step 8 – The Ordeal
The Ordeal is what takes place inside the Innermost Circle.
In the wastes of Mordor, Frodo must hold out against the weight of the One Ring. It is a prolonged Ordeal but well within the idea of the step.
This is another step that can fall within a previous step.
Step 9 – Seizing the Talisman
Seizing the Talisman is about gaining an object of power that will turn the tide for the hero.
Tolkien has many of these for other characters, usually in the form of legendary or magical weapons they acquire. For Frodo, the specifics of the talisman are in his pity on Gollum.
Step 10 – The Road Ahead
The Road Ahead takes the hero from the talisman to a final conflict.
In this case, Frodo is betrayed by Gollum and nearly killed by Shelob, saved only by the friendship with Samwise.
The consequences of Seizing the Talisman are usually a downward turn, comparable with Pinch 2 from the 3 Act structure.
Step 11 – Resurrection
Resurrection often involves a person, or entity returning after being thought dead.
Gandalf becomes the white, Luke comes back with a mechanical hand, Frodo fails to discard the ring and has to be attacked by Gollum.
Frodo’s resurrection is being saved at the last moment by his previous good decisions, often a resurrection succeeds because of past decisions by a hero and rarely the actions they take in that moment.
Step 12 – Return with the Elixir
Finally, the hero must Return with the Elixir, taking everything they have learned and accomplished back to the Ordinary World they once inhabited.
Frodo and Sam arrive to take on Saruman, showing their knowledge and skill acquired through the Journey to return the land to peace.
This is often the last chapter, showing your character/s returning to their life or beginning to create their new life.
Story Structure #3 – The 5 Milestones
If the previous two structures seemed restrictive or overly elaborate (the Hero’s Journey is 12 freaken steps, after all) then the 5 Milestones structure is for you.
This structure keeps it simple by focusing on five plot points, usually one or two scenes each, that create the scaffold of the story. These Milestones have to go in order, but the space between them can be adjusted quite a lot.
Here are the 5 Milestones for this story structure:
- Setup
- Inciting Incident
- 1st Slap
- 2nd Slap
- Climax
We’ll use the Hunger Games to rundown this structure.
Milestone 1 – The Setup
The first Milestone works just like the 3 Act and the Ordinary World. It shouldn’t be surprising as beginnings all need to do the same thing.
Collins sets her premise up by explaining the reason there are districts, why the Games exist, and introducing Katniss as the protagonist.
We know, rather quickly, that the world is dystopian and unfair, and we know the main character has the skills to make an impact.
Milestone 2 – The Inciting Incident
This leads to the Inciting Incident, the kickoff to the main plot and conflict in your novel.
In this case, Katniss’ own sister is chosen to take part in the Games. A task she is not ready for and will likely not survive. Not only that, it will spell disaster for the rest of the District if or when she fails.
That specific moment is the inciting incident because it leads to Katniss’s next decision, which kicks off the entire point of the book: Katniss volunteers to be the tribute.
This sets the rest of the plot in motion while also anchoring the reader to the motives of the hero.
Milestone 3 – The 1st Slap
The 1st Slap, much like Pinch 1, sets the stakes and introduces the larger plot.
The Inciting Incident is often character motivating and motivated. The 1st Slap is usually external, a factor within the world that must be overcome.
The opening of the Games sets the stakes and shows the danger Katniss will face. This parallels Crossing the Threshold in the Hero’s Journey story structure, where first blood is drawn and the hero, as well as the reader, see the reality of the dangers.
Rather than simply being told “there be dragons”, they see one firsthand.
The 1st Slap also makes good on the promise of adventure by putting the hero into the middle of a peril that they must escape. There is no turning back, only moving forward.
Milestone 4 – The 2nd Slap
This takes us into the 2nd Slap. Here, we see things get worse like a Pinch 2, but we see the hope on the horizon.
We know the Talisman, as seen in the Hero’s Journey story structure, is out there to be seized.
In The Hunger Games, this is seen by Katniss working out a plan to fake a relationship with Peta to get support from the outside; a means of survival.
She needs to keep him alive for his sake, and for hers. He is dying from an infection and she is told there will be an item she needs at the feast.
The feast is a huge risk, but it offers hope. She must take the chance. Things go badly, of course, and the hope teeters her on ruin.
Milestone 5 – The Climax
All of this creates the landscape for the final Milestone: The Climax.
With the Games coming down to just Peta or Katniss, we go back to the events of the Inciting Incident and loop that motivation into how the hero wins.
Frodo helped Gollum, who saves him in return (not out of good intent, but it gets us there). Katniss has a need to protect others, all her actions follow that desire.
She sees a way to save Peta by threatening herself. This kind of character-driven resolution makes for a rewarding story and makes it easy to weave the details of your final victory throughout.
Your readers stay looped into the triumph because they root for the character because they like them, not because the plot says that they win.
https://self-publishingschool.com/story-structure/
—–From scriptmag.com:—–
Types of Conflicts Include:
- Human vs. self
- Human vs. human
- Human vs. nature
- Human vs. environment
- Human vs. technology (machine)
- Human vs. supernatural
- Human vs. god
Usually there’s a human involved, but conflict can certainly be animal vs. animal, etc.
In Christopher Booker’s, The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, the 7 plots are:
- Overcoming the monster
- Rags to Riches
- The Quest
- Voyage and Return
- Comedy
- Tragedy
- Rebirth
Blake Snyder shoots for 10 basic plot types in his, Save the Cat! The last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need:
- Monster in the House
- Out of the Bottle (Wishes and curses)
- Whydunit
- Golden Fleece (Quest; Journey)
- Rites of Passage
- Institutionalized
- Buddy Love
- Superhero
- Dude with a Problem
- The Fool Triumphant (Underdog)
Meanwhile, Ronald Tobias doubles 10 to 20 in, 20 Master Plots: And How to Build Them:
- Quest
- Adventure
- Pursuit
- Rescue
- Escape
- Revenge
- The Riddle
- Rivalry
- Underdog
- Temptation
- Metamorphosis
- Transformation
- Maturation
- Love
- Forbidden Love
- Sacrifice
- Discovery
- Wretched Excess
- Ascension & Descension
Georges Polti ups the ante, The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations:
- Supplication
- Deliverance
- Crime Pursued by Vengeance
- Vengeance taken for kindred upon kindred
- Pursuit
- Disaster
- Falling Prey to Cruelty of Misfortune
- Revolt
- Daring Enterprise
- Abduction
- The Enigma (temptation; riddle)
- Obtaining
- Enmity of Kinsmen
- Rivalry of Kinsmen
- Murderous Adultery
- Madness
- Fatal Imprudence
- Involuntary Crimes of Love (Incest)
- Slaying of a Kinsman Unrecognized
- Self-Sacrificing for an Ideal
- Self-Sacrifice for Kindred
- All Sacrificed for Passion
- Necessity of Sacrificing Loved Ones
- Rivalry of Superior and Inferior
- Adultery
- Crimes of Love
- Discovery of the Dishonor of a Loved One
- Obstacles to Love
- An Enemy Loved
- Ambition
- Conflict with a God
- Mistaken Jealousy
- Erroneous Judgement
- Remorse
- Recovery of a Lost One
- Loss of Loved Ones
Some of the listings, going by title alone, are a bit obscure, and require reading the book to understand in greater detail.
Want More Types of Stories, Plots, Genres, and Themes?:
- Anecdote
- Apologue
- Bedtime Story
- Captivity
- Chivalric romance
- Creation myth
- Etiological myth
- Fable
- Factoid
- Fairy tale
- Farce
- Fish-Out-Of-Water
- Folklore
- Folkloristics
- Ghost story
- Joke
- Legend
- Myths
- Oral tradition
- Parable
- Political myth
- Popular belief
- Popular misconception
- Satire
- Short Story
- Tall tale
- Tales around the campfire
- Urban legend
Clearly there’s a fair amount of overlap in these lists. Genres are similar to story type, or more accurately, types of stories fall within certain genres:
- Action
- Adventure
- Animation
- Biography
- Comedy
- Coming of Age
- Courtroom
- Crime
- Epic
- Erotica
- Fantasy
- Film Noir
- Historical
- Horror
- Mystery
- Philosophical
- Political
- Religion
- Romance
- Saga
- Satire
- Science fiction
- Slice of Life
- Spy
- Supernatural
- Thriller
- Urban
- War
Well, there are actually hundreds of film and TV genres, criss-crossing fiction genres and maybe a few music genres as well. Obviously it would take a book to go into all the various types in detail, so I’ll focus on just a few less obscure ones.
Themes are equally numerous. The more common types of themes include:
- Redemption
- Resurrection
- Prodigal Son
- Transformation
- Vengeance
- Innocence
- Justice
- Sacrifice
- Jealousy
- Friendship
- Fate
And the biggest one of all: Love.
https://scriptmag.com/screenplays/what-is-story-story-types-plot-types-themes-genres
—–From The Inside of An Ice Detention Centre Is As Horrific As You Think on Torontolife.com:—-
Here’s an uncomfortable fact. People like me aren’t supposed to go to law school. And that’s not just because I’m a black kid from a poor family. Or because my parents are Muslims from Nigeria. It’s also because I sold a lot of pot and got caught. That fact still tortures my parents.
My father was an imam, strict and principled, and my mother was a teacher and the main caretaker of me and my three siblings. My parents believed strongly that hard work leads to success. When I was three, they decided to leave our small market town in Nigeria and look abroad for opportunity. My dad landed a job at a mosque in Toronto near High Park. We settled into a basement apartment in Little India. I was the only black kid in my class, and I quickly made some friends, but the sense of belonging was fleeting: we soon moved into a two-bedroom apartment across town. At school, I was once again the new kid. When my mom got a job as a nurse’s assistant at a senior’s residence, we moved again.
My mom stretched our family’s tiny income impressively. We took the bus everywhere. My clothes were hand-me-downs from my brother, and his clothes were bought on sale from Zellers or Honest Ed’s. At home, my mom would make massive, rich pots of Nigerian staples like obe ata, a meat stew, and pounded yam, called iyan. She eventually adopted new dishes like chicken biryani and pizza, except her version included tuna as a topping. Today, if I close my eyes, I can smell her jollof rice, light and aromatic.
Our existence was modest and our family dynamic unemotional. There weren’t many hugs or I love yous. In Nigerian culture, you show love not with words or affection but with work and devotion. And if that meant moving constantly in search of the next step up, then so be it.
In 1993, we had been in Canada long enough to become citizens. Four years later, my dad was hired as an imam at the State Correctional Institution at Graterford in Pennsylvania. That meant a good wage with benefits, so, at the age of 13, I once again said goodbye to my friends and we packed everything into my dad’s rusty Sentra and moved to Philadelphia. I had no idea that the next time I crossed the border back into Canada, I’d be a convicted felon and an embarrassment to my family…
Read the full article at: https://torontolife.com/memoir/the-inside-of-an-ice-detention-centre-is-as-horrific-as-you-think-i-know-because-i-spent-45-days-in-one/
—
What do you think? What kind of writing are you interested in? What was the structure of The Inside of An Ice Detention Centre Is As Horrific As You Think?
Visit the discussion section of the KC Storytellers Meetup page (https://www.meetup.com/Kansas-City-Storytellers/discussions/) to discuss or leave a comment below.
KC Storytellers 