Exploring the Framework of Ideas: Writing About Personal Journeys (VCE SSCE English): Revision Notes
Exploring the Framework of Ideas: Writing About Personal Journeys
What is writing about personal journeys?
Writing about personal journeys involves exploring both the physical world and the internal experiences of ourselves and others. These texts offer opportunities to consider new places and perspectives, and to discover something fresh about who we are.
Personal journeys encompass stories that reflect a wide range of experiences. These include facing challenges, experiencing growth, and discovering new aspects of ourselves. When you write about personal journeys, you have a powerful opportunity to share your unique experiences with others.
Purpose of writing about personal journeys
Before you begin writing, consider why you are sharing this particular journey. Your purpose might be:
- To argue for change in society or attitudes
- To express or reflect on the thoughts and feelings connected to the journey
- To explain a phenomenon that others who haven't shared your experiences may not understand well
At their core, all personal journeys reflect something fundamental about life and the human experience. Understanding your purpose helps you shape your narrative effectively and connect with your readers.
Key questions about personal journeys
When examining personal journeys in texts, consider these important questions:
- Is the journey primarily physical, or is it an internal psychological or emotional experience? Or does it involve both?
- Does the journey take place in a real or imagined place?
- Is the journey goal-oriented and intentional, or does it happen accidentally?
- How is the protagonist or writer changed by their journey?
- Who else is changed or affected by the journey and its consequences?
- Over what period of time does the journey take place? How does the context shape its outcome?
- How might others relate to or learn from this journey?
These questions form a framework for deep analysis of any personal journey narrative. They help you understand not just what happens, but why it matters and how it transforms those involved.
Understanding personal journeys
The role of change
The most crucial element of any personal journey is that it involves some sort of change. In other words, the individual or group undertaking the journey is fundamentally altered by it. This transformation is what makes a journey meaningful and worth exploring in writing.
A personal journey might involve travel to a physical place, or it might centre on psychological or emotional growth. Often these two aspects are connected; a journey to a new place can lead to new discoveries and insights. Interior journeys may unfold over a long period of time or happen in response to a significant event.
Individual journeys
Personal journeys can be highly individual and specific. Everyone's story is unique, and each one is valuable and can offer insights to others. The key is how you relate the personal journey to transform it into something universal and impactful.
Whenever someone travels some distance—whether literally and geographically, or metaphorically and imaginatively—they gain new knowledge or understanding of themselves and the world around them. Sharing these insights in ways that are meaningful to others is central to studying this key idea.
Some journeys involve an individual person's experience. Their journey might be epic and arduous, or it might involve small, incremental change. What matters is the transformation that occurs.
Worked Example: Identifying Individual Transformation
Consider a student's first day at university:
- Before the journey: Nervous, uncertain, dependent on familiar support systems
- During the journey: Navigating new spaces, meeting diverse people, encountering challenging ideas
- After the journey: More confident, independent, with broadened perspectives on the world
The transformation here is subtle but significant—from dependence to independence, from narrow to broad perspectives.
Shared journeys
When a group of people share a journey, they are likely to find themselves changed in some similar ways. For example, individuals who have endured a shared crisis, such as a natural disaster, or undergone a significant change, such as the birth of a child, might feel a bond or connection with those who have shared the experience. They might reflect on the ways such an experience alters people generally, focusing on what such responses to change reveal about being human.
However, despite these commonalities, there are also ways in which their journey is ultimately personal and unique. Everyone has their own set of prior experiences and personality traits that mean they will respond in their own particular way to a journey, even when experienced with others.
Personal journeys across time
All of us might be described as being on a personal journey through time, accumulating experiences and acquiring knowledge as we age. Think about the ways in which the passage of time alters people—both individuals and groups. Are there any universal experiences that result in predictable changes? Or is the passage through time different for every individual?
Time itself acts as a journey. Consider how you've changed from childhood to now, or imagine how you might continue to change in the future. These temporal journeys are just as valid and transformative as physical ones.
You might also imagine what it would be like to travel in time. How would you manage if you were taken on a journey either into the future or back into the past? What would be the greatest challenges? What would be most interesting or exciting? Are there particular time periods you would like to visit if it were possible? Why?
The Hero's Journey template
Many stories about personal journeys follow a pattern called the Hero's Journey. This is a common template in narrative texts that involve an individual (the hero) embarking on a journey that ultimately transforms them.
The Hero's Journey: A Universal Template
The basic stages of the Hero's Journey include:
- The departure: The point at which the hero leaves their familiar world
- The initiation: When the hero faces challenges in, and comes to understand, an unfamiliar world
- The return: The point at which the hero returns to the familiar world, changed by their experiences
This template can help you structure and understand personal journeys in both the texts you read and the texts you create.
Consider whether you can apply this pattern to a journey of your own or to journeys you encounter in literature and film.
Strategies for writing about personal journeys
Identify significant journeys in your own life
Think about both physical and psychological journeys you have undertaken. Try making a list of three to five of the most important journeys you have been on. These could be to a familiar or unfamiliar place, or they might involve a metaphorical journey—from ignorance to knowledge, for example. What did you learn? What aspects of the journey enabled this learning?
Think about stories you know well
Consider the plots and themes of novels, plays and films. How does the protagonist change during the text? What are the key events and turning points that lead to this change? What commonalities can you identify in terms of the sorts of events or situations that lead to change?
Look for patterns across different stories. You'll often find that challenges, conflicts, and moments of crisis are what catalyze the most significant transformations in characters.
Research real-life journeys
Find out about some well-known journeys about which others have written. People to consider include:
- Early Australian explorers such as Ludwig Leichhardt, Charles Sturt, and Burke and Wills
- David Livingstone, who explored large parts of Africa
- Gertrude Bell, an influential traveller in Iraq and Jordan
- Undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau
- Chef and travel writer Anthony Bourdain, who connected with those from other cultures through food
- Writer Robyn Davidson, who trekked through central Australia with camels
- Scottish man Dean Nicholson, who has become famous for cycling around the world with a stray cat
What are the individual aims of these people? Do they achieve them? Do they achieve something else as well as or instead of their primary goal? Did their journeys go as planned? If not, why not?
Exploring personal journeys through mentor texts
When analysing how authors write about personal journeys, follow this six-step process:
Step-by-Step Process for Analyzing Mentor Texts
Step 1: Annotate the text Closely read the text and annotate to show any references to personal journeys, including physical and metaphorical journeys. For an audiovisual text, write notes and record the relevant time codes.
Step 2: Identify the forms of personal journeys Identify the different forms of personal journeys presented in the text, such as everyday journeys, journeys through time, and journeys towards new understandings.
Step 3: Analyse the purpose of personal journeys Consider why the author chose to include these types of personal journeys. Which characters or individuals are travelling? What is the purpose of the journey? What are the outcomes?
Step 4: Brainstorm connections How do the elements of personal journeys connect to the overall theme and message of the mentor text? How do they help the author achieve their purpose?
Step 5: Reflect on personal experiences Write a short reflection on your own experiences with personal journeys and how they relate to those described in the mentor text. Think about differences as well as similarities.
Step 6: Synthesise your findings Combine your observations and reflections in a short written piece. What did you learn about personal journeys—your own and those of others—and how they relate to the mentor text? How can you apply what you learned to your own writing?
Developing ideas about personal journeys
Use the Hero's Journey template to map personal journeys
Consider the Hero's Journey narrative structure. Try mapping a personal journey of your own against this template:
- Identify the starting point of your story: the familiar world or place you left (whether literally or figuratively)
- Identify the unfamiliar place to which you travelled. What is this place like? Why did you go there? Is it a literal place, or is it better understood as a state of mind or new emotional territory?
- In what ways did your journey transform you? What lessons might others learn from your experiences?
Delve into your past
Look at old photographs and diary entries if you have them. Consider how you have changed over time, and what has caused these changes.
Speaking to others who have known you for a long time can reveal transformations you might not have noticed yourself. Their external perspective can provide valuable insights into your personal journey.
Speak to your parents or others who have known you for a long time. Ask them to identify ways in which you have come a long way since they first knew you. What do they attribute these changes to?
Do others' perceptions of the literal and metaphorical journeys you have undertaken match your own? If not, why might this be?
Interview others
Personal journeys are universal—everyone has undergone one, and likely more than one. Talk to family members, friends and acquaintances about their most significant personal journeys and how they were changed by them. Keep your questions open-ended to allow your interviewees to interpret personal journey and change in whatever way they like.
Take notes as you interview. Later, you could compile these into a report or set of observations about universal aspects of personal journeys.
Reflect on how your own understanding of the idea of a personal journey has been expanded by your conversations with others.
Explore images
Do an image search for personal journeys and choose one image that you find especially evocative. Brainstorm all the words and phrases the image calls to mind. This can contribute to a vocabulary list that will be useful in your writing about personal journeys.
Visual analysis can unlock new perspectives on personal journeys. Images often capture emotional and symbolic elements that words might miss, making them powerful tools for brainstorming and inspiration.
Swap images with a partner and take turns discussing each image and your interpretation of it. What ideas do you think each conveys about a personal journey? How do your and your partner's interpretations differ and in what ways are they similar?
Compose a text in any form that explores the thoughts and feelings your chosen image evokes about personal journeys.
Types of personal journey writing
Country as a shaper of identity
Write an open letter to be published in a national newspaper, expressing your point of view on the ways in which accepted ideas about the Australian national character and Australian values do or do not reflect your own ideas and experiences. Consider the perspectives of other groups in Australia who might feel either included or marginalised by dominant ideas about national identity.
Country as a travel or migration destination
Write a series of travel diary entries exploring how a trip to an unfamiliar place changed your understanding of both yourself and the wider world. Include sensory detail that will bring this place vividly to life for the reader and allow you to examine how it affected you emotionally and socially.
Country as a metaphor
Write a short story in which the concept of country is used as an extended metaphor. The country you explore might be a relationship, an enclosed environment such as a hospital or prison, a social group or an emotion such as grief or joy. Think carefully about the connections between a physical country and the subject you are exploring.
Imagined countries
Write a scene from a dystopian film in which civilisation has been changed utterly by a cataclysmic event. What are the consequences for those who remain in this world? How might they go about rebuilding society? What changes might they want to make so that such a crisis doesn't occur again?
Interior landscapes
Write a monologue in which the protagonist of a play reflects on the ways in which their interior landscape has changed, perhaps over a number of years or as the result of a significant life event. Your protagonist should share what they have learned, as well as specific events, relationships and situations.
Writing ideas for different types of personal journeys
Writing Prompts for Various Journey Types
The following prompts offer different approaches to exploring personal journeys. Choose the one that resonates with your experiences or challenges you to explore new territory.
Regular journeys, such as to and from school Write a personal reflection on the ways in which a regular journey has helped to shape your days and your self. Explore the connections between place, identity and a sense of belonging, considering how we are influenced by the physical spaces in which we spend time and between which we travel.
Travel to a different place Write a persuasive speech about the merits of travel. Choose a specific target audience and shape your speech accordingly, including appropriate argument and persuasive language techniques. Focus on the ways in which experiencing new places can lead to personal growth as well as an enriched understanding of the wider world. Alternatively, you might write a speech arguing the opposite—that a person can gain insight, access to different perspectives and broad knowledge of the world without ever leaving their home.
Journeys through time Write a speculative fiction piece in which a character travels either to the distant future or the distant past. Explore what this journey teaches them about the inherent and unchanging aspects of humanity and the ways in which particular historical and cultural settings shape human behaviour and thought.
Journeys of self-development Write a fictional memoir from the point of view of someone looking back on events. Perhaps they made a decision or took an action (or failed to act) in some way that they now regret. Consider how they have developed and changed due to the passage of time and their life experiences.
Journeys of groups of people Write a feature article about the experiences of a migrant diaspora. Include interviews with a range of people from this group and showcase a variety of experiences. Reflect on the broader insights these people's experiences offer about the impact of significant journeys.
Spiritual journeys or quests for meaning Write a scene from a satirical play in which the main character—perhaps an influencer or public figure—searches endlessly for meaning in many different ways and places, yet fails to find it due to their inability to look within themselves, rather than at their external world, in order to find satisfaction.
Exam tips
Critical Points for Writing About Personal Journeys
- When writing about personal journeys, always focus on the element of change. What has shifted for the character or individual?
- Use specific details to make journeys come alive for readers. Include sensory details, emotional responses and concrete examples
- Consider both the physical and emotional aspects of a journey, even if one is more prominent
- Think about how your personal experiences can be made universal and relatable to others
- Use the Hero's Journey template as a guide, but remember that not all journeys will follow this pattern exactly
- When analysing texts, look for both stated and implied changes in characters or individuals
- Remember that journeys can be large or small, epic or everyday—all are valid subjects for writing
Remember!
Key Points to Remember:
- Personal journeys involve change—this is the most important element
- Journeys can be physical, psychological, emotional or a combination of these
- The Hero's Journey template includes departure, initiation and return
- Writing about personal journeys allows you to share unique experiences and insights
- Both individual and shared journeys are valuable subjects for exploration
- Consider your purpose when writing: to argue for change, express feelings or explain phenomena
- Everyone's journey is unique, but finding universal elements makes writing impactful