A Brief Story On Had I Known

A brief story on Had I Known is a published narrative in the mid-20th century. The article shows how hindsight can influence your decisions in the present. 

The author, Barbara Ehrenreich, a female new yorker writer, wrote this short story to help individuals understand how their choices in the present affect their own lives future. Yes,  the research period is unique and unusual, but a  brief story on had I known reviews daily events.

Further, it shows how people doubt themselves and their choices based on the outcome. The best catch here is to trust yourself and the decision you make in your own life, no matter what happens. The author of the story, Barbara Ehrenreich, is an American writer known best for her magazine articles, essays, and books.

Ehrenreich’s writing has impacted many people’s lives ranging from the lower class to the middle class. Lastly, her works help people understand what struggles other people can experience in their lives and how they cope with them. She is remembered by the very pointed remarks on the Washington Post.

A Brief Story on Had I Known Meaning

A brief story on had I known is an experience that you would have done differently. “Had I known” is when someone has done something in the past and wasn’t aware of the immediate consequences?

It means that in the past, you did something, and when you found out what happened, it brought on so much regret—a prevalent saying in the present.

You can also use had I known as a phrase when you have been through a situation in the past, and you wish you had learned something. The following two examples will help illustrate further:

• “Had I known she didn’t like what I was planning, I wouldn’t have gone through with it.”
• “I had no idea my parents were going to make me pay for college. I would have saved a lot more money if I knew.”

The quote “Had I known”  is a universal phrase used in the present to indicate that something was unknown to the speaker at the time of earlier action.

What is the Difference Between “If I Knew” and “Had I Known,” and when do we use them?

‘If I had known’ and ‘Had I known’ are used to talk about something that never occurred or an event where a different decision was made.

Both of them mean a loss of opportunity due to an unexpected event. However, they have different meanings and usages in some cases.

When do we use ‘Had I known…’

If the speaker had known about something earlier, he would have done something different. The speaker wants to use the past tense to emphasize the past.

Note: We usually use ‘wish’ for present or future reference and ‘regret’ for past reference. (example, “I wish I had more time.” vs. “I regret that I didn’t have time.” )

  Examples;

• Had I known you were coming, I would have baked a pie (but now it is too late because you are already here).
•   If only I had seen the report before my presentation, I wouldn’t have had to wing it.

When do we use ‘If I Knew…’

If a speaker uses ‘If I knew…,” it usually means that the information will be new to us, too. It is not in the past, so we don’t use ‘regret’ and ‘wish.’ The speaker talks about something that hasn’t happened yet.

Note: ‘If’ is a subordinating conjunction that links two clauses of unequal, for example, it. It often suggests that the condition described in the subordinate clause (“if I knew”) is unlikely or untrue.

Examples;

• If I knew how to fix my car, I would do it myself (but I don’t know how to fix it).
• If only I knew where she was going, maybe I could help (but unfortunately, I don’t know).

How to Write a Brief Story on Had I known

Short stories can be powerful tools for a beginner writer. For example, a brief story on had I known can be read in about an hour and provides an excellent opportunity to practice your craft without investing weeks or months.

Short stories can take on many different forms, but character sketches, anecdote fragments, and twist endings are the most common.

What is a Short Story

Short stories are self-contained works of fiction ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 words. A novel, by contrast, can take months or years to finish and usually clocks in at over 50,000 words.

The most crucial difference between a novel and a short story is that the former cannot stand alone. A novel tells an entire story arc, whereas a single short story has one clear beginning and end.

Six Steps on How to Write a Brief Story on Had I Known

Here are the six steps for writing a brief story on had I known:

Write the Basic Story in One Sitting

Everything must begin from somewhere. So is the short story. The first step is writing a complete story in one sitting and editing session. This way, you would know how long your story is. Therefore, allowing you to market it accordingly.

 Focus on the Plotting

The next step is plotting or drawing up a story map. A story map is a plan for the short story. It contains all the details of your story from beginning to end, and it’s an excellent tool to keep you on track.

 Write the Details of the Story

Once you’re done with plotting, it’s now time to write out all the details. Think of this as writing your story’s blueprint. This is where you describe the events that will occur, one after another. Your short account must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The only difference is that the end should leave your reader wanting more.

Break the Story Into a Scene List

Every story is a composed onset of scenes. Break your story into a scene list and give a brief description/details of each scene. Breaking your story into scenes helps you in the following way:

• Provides the structure of the story
• It shows which part needs more work

It is not a must to follow all the scenes but can figure out which scenes need more work and which characters to cut.

 Edit the Details of the Story

When you’ve done all your research and storyline, it’s time to edit everything you’ve written. Check the grammar and spelling mistakes that you may have missed. The primary purpose is to ensure that your story is polished and presentable.

 Publish Your story

After all the hard work, it’s time to publish your story. This means uploading your story on the internet and sharing it with those who would be interested in reading it. Again, you can go traditional and submit to publishers, or you can self-publish your story.

Writing an Ending of a Brief Story on Had I Known

An ending of a brief story on had I known usually focuses on the idea of ignorance and consequences.

The brief had I known stories typically start with a character acting in a way that they cannot understand. Later, they come to a new realization that makes them change their behavior.

A brief story on had I known might end with someone regretting the choices that they have made.

These stories often involve a protagonist that should have known better or a character going through an epiphany.

In other words, “had I known” stories often have a character that surprises the audience or other characters in the story because they change their behavior after they have learned.

Guidelines for writing an ending of a brief story on had I known

Here is the guideline for writing a brief story on had I known – it’s always best to structure the beginning of your story in your own words.

• Introduce the element of surprise, give a context, explain how it feels to uncover the truth
• Describe how your life was before this discovery and how it will be from now on
• In the end, you should summarize the lesson you have learned

Example: Had I known that my partner was cheating on me, I would not have wasted all of these years of my life with him.

Elegant Essays Spanned decades on a Brief Story on Had I Known

There are many essayed collections, thus hard to choose the best. Every person has a strong centerpiece essay surrounded by other essays that are part of the author’s life.

What makes an essay collection stand out among others, then? Is it the writer? Is it the writing itself? Or is it a combination of factors, including the writer and their style and how they can express their thoughts and ideas?

Here are the several essay collections:

• “The Best American Essays of the Century” – a collection of nonfiction works chosen by essayist John Updike and many others.
• “The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction” – a collection of nonfiction works from the editors of the anthology
• “The Best American Essays of the English Language” – a collection of nonfiction works from the editors of “Houghton Mifflin.”
• “The Best American Essays 2003”
• “Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003”
• “On Liberty and Other Essays” – one of the outstanding works from “Harper Perennial Modern Classics.”

A Brief Story on Had I Known: An Essay from Barbara Ehrenreich 

Barbara Ehrenreich has committed her life to issues of social justice. Her story Essay on If I had known, published in the anthology Cultural Studies, sets up her goal of bettering the world. Ehrenreich writes about a day when she was a young mother, and she was cleaning her son’s bedroom. Her young son yelled for help as he tried to retrieve some toys from the top of a closet.

Ehrenreich rushed to her son’s aid and leaped up onto a box that she had been using as a step stool. Unfortunately, the box collapsed underneath her, and she fell to the floor, breaking both wrists. Ehrenreich describes how her life changed after this accident; she could no longer perform simple tasks as she could before.

She no longer had the same talent in her fingers to hold a fork, write, button clothes, or type on a computer. So instead, Ehrenreich used the example of her own life to bring attention to how socialized structures like work settings impact our daily lives. She also tells the reader that we should all consider working together to challenge otherwise trite observations.

Ehrenreich’s award-winning article titled

Ehrenreich’s award-winning article came when she won the 2010 American  Sociological Association Rose Monograph Prize for the writing. The main topic is how people’s lives could be better if they knew what they didn’t know. Ehrenreich talks about how high school students are not taught or are uninformed of the hardships they will face in college/university.

She talks about how much debt students are in and how they find it hard to make ends meet, but when they go home, they don’t speak to their parents about it and feel like a burden or that parents wouldn’t understand.

Essay collection

The essay collection is a notable anthology that brings together some of our time’s most exemplary and acceptable essays. Yes,  you might see these words countless times, but the truth is that these essays are out of the ordinary.

Among them, you can find writers who have already marked their names in the history of literature, such as William Shakespeare or Oscar Wilde. Their works are here so that the new generation could read them.

This way, students get the opportunity to learn about our classic works and explore how authors from different times have dealt with similar themes or problems.

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