Entry 20: Effective Anecdotes

F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "When you tell an anecdote, tell it so your listeners can actually see the people you are talking about." A good way to do this is to close your eyes and visualize how a scene would look and sound if you were recording it with a video camera. Think of an anecdote related to your influential person and describe it as a scene that is being recorded with a video camera. Imagine the "frame" of the picture and what is in it. Does the frame move during the scene? If so, how? Does it jump back and forth between speakers? Does it pan around? Zoom in or out? What sound do you hear? Do they come from something inside the frame, or outside it? The scene you choose does not have to be part of your essay, but it should be related to it to help you build background.

• The anecdote that I thought of relating to my influential personal was the story about him doing his college applications. Because he kept on procrastinating, he had a hard time convincing his parents (in this case my parents as well) to let him go to college. The frame of the scene would be panning from my brother to my mother (for example, when they are arguing about something). It would also zoom in on their expressions when they were arguing, and zoom out on their expressions to get both expressions of my mother and my brother. The sound I hear is the sound of arguing as well as yelling, and it comes from within the frame (since if something outside of the frame made a sound, they would be yelling at it and telling it to shut up). This anecdote helps to show results of not making an effort for the future - you might not be recognized and others may not want to help you achieve your goal (in this case, to go to college). My influential person's parents thought that he wasn't showing enough effort. So I learned that when I think about my future, I must take into consideration that if I want anything that I want to be done, I have to show effort and convince others that what I want is the best thing so that they would support me and my cause.