General chemistry students are asked to assume the identity of an element and to write their own story. In the spirit of pedagogical approaches such as writing-to-learn and writing across the curriculum, this assignment has several objectives, most significantly to connect students to the discipline of chemistry in a robust way. Facilitating this process writing assignment and evaluating it using a three-dimensional grading rubric are discussed. Suggestions of how to convince students to write a story rather than a report and summaries of four student autobiographies are given. (Contains 6 notes and 1 table.)