Personal essays offer a window into the author's life, blending intimate storytelling with universal themes. They hook readers with compelling openings, weave a narrative arc, and leave lasting impressions through thoughtful conclusions. Literary techniques like dialogue and vivid descriptions bring these real-life stories to life.
Vulnerability and authenticity are key to powerful personal essays. By sharing honest experiences and emotions, writers connect deeply with readers. Developing a unique voice and perspective helps create trust and relatability, allowing the essay to resonate long after the final word.
Components of a compelling personal essay
Key elements and structure
- A personal essay is a short work of autobiographical nonfiction characterized by:
- A sense of intimacy
- A conversational manner
- The opening of a personal essay should hook the reader with a compelling:
- Anecdote
- Question
- Statement that sets up the overall theme
- The narrative arc of a personal essay includes:
- Exposition to set the scene
- Rising action and conflict
- A climax or turning point
- A resolution or denouement that offers reflection
- A personal essay should have a central theme, message, or insight about life that:
- Is explored throughout the piece
- Serves as the essay's thesis or controlling idea
- The conclusion of a personal essay should:
- Tie back to the opening
- Provide the reader a sense of closure
- Leave a lingering feeling, realization, or new perspective to take away
Literary techniques
- While personal essays are based on the author's real life experiences, they employ many of the same literary techniques as fiction, including:
- Dialogue to capture conversations and interactions
- Characterization to develop the personalities of people in the story
- Metaphorical language to express insights and emotional truths
- Vivid descriptions to immerse the reader in the story world
- Narrative tension and pacing to engage the reader
Vulnerability and authenticity in writing
Benefits of being vulnerable
- Vulnerability in personal writing involves a willingness to be open, honest, and exposed in sharing one's:
- Innermost thoughts and feelings
- Struggles and challenges
- Weaknesses and imperfections
- Being vulnerable on the page requires the writer to:
- Dig deep and confront difficult emotions
- Take risks in revealing potentially uncomfortable truths
- Connect with readers through resonance and relatability
- Vulnerability enables the writer to:
- Explore the human condition and universal experiences
- Elicit empathy and understanding from readers
- Inspire others through the power of shared stories
Developing an authentic voice
- Authenticity means staying true to one's own:
- Personality and perspective
- Unique writerly voice
- Emotional truth
- Personal essayists build trust with the reader by candidly portraying:
- Both the good and bad of their own character
- The complexities and nuances of their experiences
- Their story without artifice or false sentiment
- Authenticity can be developed by:
- Freewriting to find one's natural voice and rhythm
- Using specific, concrete details over vague generalities
- Replacing flowery, abstract language with more direct prose
- Taking responsibility for one's own role and perspective in the story
- Avoiding cliches and worn-out tropes in favor of originality
Narrative voice and perspective
Defining voice
- Narrative voice refers to the unique personality, attitude, and worldview that comes through in a writer's:
- Language choices
- Storytelling style
- Tone and mood
- A strong first-person voice makes the reader feel like they are:
- Engaging in an intimate conversation
- Connecting with a fully realized persona behind the prose
- Being let into the author's inner world and thoughts
Point of view
- Personal essays are typically told from the first-person perspective of the author, using "I" as the pronoun
- When writing about past experiences, an author may take the perspective of:
- Their former self living the experience in the moment
- Their current self reflecting on the past with the benefit of hindsight
- A mix of both past and present perspective to show growth and change
- An author's narrative voice may have a distinct tone and style, such as:
- Humorous and witty
- Poetic and lyrical
- Nostalgic and wistful
- Provocative and bold
- Quiet and contemplative
Descriptive language for engagement
Vivid sensory details
- Descriptive language goes beyond basic physical characteristics to capture a subject's:
- Sensory details (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures)
- Emotional qualities and undertones
- Overall essence and impression on the author
- Effective description activates the five senses, enabling readers to vividly imagine:
- Visual details (colors, shapes, patterns, light)
- Auditory details (music, voices, ambient noises)
- Olfactory details (fragrances, odors, scents)
- Gustatory details (flavors, spices, textures of food)
- Tactile details (sensations of touch, temperature, movement)
- Specific sensory details are more engaging than general statements:
- General: The beach was beautiful
- Specific: The fine white sand was warm and silky underfoot, and the turquoise water sparkled invitingly under the tropical sun
Figurative language
- Similes compare two unlike things using "like" or "as":
- Her laugh was like tinkling wind chimes
- The news hit me like a gut punch
- Metaphors make a direct comparison between two unrelated things:
- The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas
- The hospital room was a refrigerator storing cold, silent bodies
- Personification endows inanimate objects or abstract concepts with human characteristics:
- The ancient car groaned and wheezed up the hill
- Time creeps by slowly when you're waiting for important news
- Vivid verbs bring more energy and specificity to descriptions than passive or generic verbs:
- Bland: I ate the pizza
- Vivid: I devoured the pizza, savoring each crispy, gooey bite
- Bland: The cat went across the room
- Vivid: The cat crept silently across the room, stalking an unseen prey